Kenyans Overcome Tribal Barriers to Raise $20,000 For Dead Mother of Two

Mr. Stephen Kanyoni announces the final figure raised by Kenyans from many communities towards the burial expenses of the late Prisca akinyi Odhiambo.To the far right is Rev.Dr. Mumbui Karimi, who together with members of PCEA Ushindi church in Lowell took it upon them the burden of mobilizing Kenyans for prayers and fundrasing.To the left of Dr. Karimi is Rev. Joshua Wambua of Rapture Harvest Mission International and and Rev. Samuel Kimohu of St. Stephen's Anglican Church . A total of $ $13,000 was raised on the spot

 by Harrison Maina
AjabuAfrica.com     
LOWELL, Mass- MARCH 17- In a rare, landmark move by Kenyans from different communities in Massachusetts, $13,200 was raised in a single sitting to make it close to $20,000 in total raised to meet the burial expenses of the late Prisca Akinyi Odhiambo.

$2000 was raised over the past one week at the deceased woman’s former apartment in Dracut while $4000 was raised through a bank account created by former colleagues of the late Akinyi based in Anchorage, Alaska, who have been involved in HIV/AIDS research. see details.

The groundbreaking event took place at the Kenya Community Presbyterian Church (Ushindi) in Lowell, MA on Sunday, March 15, 2009.

The late Prisca Akinyi Odhimabo, a member of the Luo community in USA passed away a week ago at the Lowell General Hospital.

She had barely settled in the USA since she arrived form Kenya last October (2008) and was living with a room mate, Mary Auma, in an apartment in Dracut, a few miles from the Lowell General Hospital.

The death of a roommate in a foreign land and in these bad economic times sent Auma into a world of total confusion and despair until a pastor of a Kenyan Church in Lowell, Rev. Dr. Mumbui Karimi intervened .The situation was made dire as the late Akinyi and the room mate Auma were not actively involved in the Kenyan community affairs and did not attend any known Kenyan church in the area, hence very few people knew the ladies.

The late Prisca's Akinyi's roommate, Miriam Ouma,(in purple) and her sister in Law, Mary Atieno during the fundraising at the PCEA Ushindi church in Lowell, MA

When Dr. Karimi, who lives in the neighboring apartment block where Akinyi used to reside, he immediately set of a process to mobilize the large number of Kenyans in the Lowell and Dracut areas for daily prayers. A large number of Kenyans led by the PCEA Ushindi church Community members responded to the pastor’s call while others who read of the sad story on www.AjabuAfrica.com shared the information with their friends and showed up.

During the fundraising on Sunday at the Ushindi church, Dr. Karimi welcomed Kenyans who came for the fundraising and urged them to give from their hearts. He also reiterated the discussion that is currently going on in the Kenyan community that time is ripe for a community organization outside of church boundaries that will be a voice of the community, and serve to bring Kenyans together in celebrations and in mourning.

“We need to come together now and form a Kenyan organization so that even those who do not attend church will have somewhere to belong to,” said Dr. Karimi.

Such community organizations have served other immigrant communities in USA well, the largest and most powerful being the National Council of La Raza, a private, non-profit, and non-partisan organization focused on reducing poverty and discrimination, and improving opportunities for Hispanic Americans www.nclr.org

The Ugandan Community also has a large national network of Ugandans called Ugandan North American Association (UNAANET) that holds a huge annual conference bringing together Ugandans from all states in USA to discuss their community’s Economic, social political affairs.

Speaking during the fundraising, Bishop Joshua Wambua of Rapture Harvest Mission International decried the tendency by some Kenyans in the Diaspora to live lonely lives and shy away from attending the many community churches available that they feel are conducted in Kenyan local languages.

“You can not possibly live by yourself without the community knowing of your whereabouts. This is a foreign land and many people in this country will not come to your aid if you need help. It’s only your Kenyan community that matters most,” said the charged Bishop Wambua

Bishop Wambua said that even back home “if you cannot attend a church where you make connections with other members the community, then attend a club where you can drink with others for heaven’s sake! This issue of Kenyans becoming a burden when they pass on is not acceptable”.
Another Death

Bishop Wambua is also embroiled in another case where a Kenyan young man was discovered dead and badly decomposed in his apartment last week in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bishop is trying to sort out who the next of kin is and make arrangements to ship the body of the deceased home for burial.

He asked Kenyans to come out in full on Sunday, March 29 for another fund-raising so as to transport the body of the other dead Kenyan home.
The event will take place at 33 West Water Street, Wakefield, MA 01880 at 3.00 PM.

The Lowell fundraising was conducted by Mr. Stephen Kanyoni, a gifted fundraiser-cum MC of the PCEA Ushindi Church. The humorous Mr. Kanyoni drilled the Kenyans of all communities who came for the fundraiser down to their last cent saying, “We are not leaving Miriam with this burden by herself, we have to fly this body back home so that the husband back in Kenya can see his wife’s body and the children can bid farewell to their mother, We therefore need to keep bringing those dollars upfront.”

The congregation broke into song, ululations and wild cheers when the final figure was announced marking the huge achievement, exceeding 10,000 needed to transport the body of the late Prisca Akinyi to her home land of Kisumu. Rev. Samuel Kimohu, pastor of the St. Stephen Church, Lowell led the prayers for the family, while Rev John Wachira of Christ is the Answer Church, North Chelmsford, MA, passed the vote of thanks to those who heeded to cry for help.

“Thank you for coming out today in big numbers, I also urge those who do not attend community churches that there are many different Kenyan churches that are conducted in different languages and all you have to do is attend one of your choice,” said Pastor Wachira. “You don’t have to be lonely out there as churches are open, warm and welcoming to anybody”. See a list of some of the Kenyan and East African Churches in USA here.

“This is unbelievable, we now feel as true united Kenyans if people from all walks of life can meet and achieve such a thing regardless of tribe. The Bible tells us to cry with those who are crying, and rejoice with those who are rejoicing,” said Mrs. Violet Elizabeth Anabaka, a Luhya lady who had traveled about 100 from Worcester together with a handful of Luo and Teso friends from the further away city of Springfield, MA. “I would like to sincerely thank the pastor who took this burden on himself and contributed to the success of this event,” she added joyfully.

Edited by Peter Gaitho

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