Africa Village Update

As you have read in our previous BLOG, Designer Beef  supports a remote village in Kenya, Africa. A team from Designer Beef was able to go over there this summer to help work on the maternity ward project that we have been funding. Thanks to our incredible Designer Beef Team and to you our awesome Designer Beef Family! 

Designer Beef has completed many projects in this specific village already. Once we arrived we were able to see the hope that the local people embrace in this area of Kenya. The way the village is situated, it helps support and provide for 16 other villages around it. The team was able to talk to the nurse who shared with us that since the distribution of the mosquito nets, one of our first projects, there has not been one death from malaria! It brought tears to my eyes that such a simple gift could turn into a huge blessing!  

We were able to go to their school and see their school rooms as well as play soccer with the children. The school serves them all one meal a day. We visited with Faith, their school’s cook and checked out her new kitchen. It has been such a blessing to her to not have to cook out in the open air where the wild animals and livestock can come and interrupt her cooking. She was cooking the biggest pot of rice I have ever seen! She said that since getting these tools the kids have had so much more energy and are doing so well academically!!

The school’s principal agreed and saying that since the rocks were cleared out of the soccer fields the kids have been excelling and doing well physically as well. One of Designer Beef’s investor’s sons, who came with on the trip, brought the school soccer balls and had such a fun time running around with the kids playing a few rounds of soccer with them all! They were impressively good!

While in Kenya we also went to see Designer Beef’s latest funding project: The Maternity Ward! While a few of our team was in Kenya about a year ago, the village nurse said what they village really needed next was a safe place for deliveries when issues came up during childbirth. Before, the women of this area had to walk over 30 km (one way….while in labor…over a very steep mountain with all the wildlife that comes with it…..did I mention WHILE IN LABOR?!) to get to the nearest medical facility! As you can already imagine this presented many issues. Many lost babies during that journey and some lost their lives as well. Once we heard of the need, the whole team at Designer Beef was ON BOARD! Although it was a big project, we trusted that this was the next project the Lord wanted us to work! 

We wanted to be able to help finish some of the project while we were there, but we were all extremely impressed at the quality of the building that had been done by a local contractor in Kenya. There are several rooms as well as a shower to use after delivery!  They did incredible work planning and building and we CAN NOT wait to see the first baby that is able to be born in that facility!

We were able to celebrate with the community there and pray over the maternity ward, the babies to be born and their community! We all enjoyed the day spent there celebrating what God had provided for their village and for Designer Beef! 

While I have been writing this blog I realize how blessed we are to be able to have such incredible tools, like businesses and community, to equip others. We share this with you all to show you what an impact this company is having across the world and also in our own local communities. When we come together we can bring HOPE, we can spread JOY, we can do all things or maybe just the next simple thing. This trip in return has brought hope back to me personally. It has cultivated a heart of contentment, an energy to keep up the hard work and a desire to want to help the next need that gets placed in my path. If you get the chance to help someone today, whether it be in your business or maybe it might be a smile to a stranger, please take it! This world needs a whole lot more of that and who knows maybe you might bring  the HOPE someone needs for today! 

For now live at peace and remember Hakuna Matata…everything is going to be ok!