Nkunga, Kenya

In our last few months in England, Paula and our friend Louise headed up an initiative to get our church to "sponsor" a community in Kenya through an organization called Food for the Hungry. I unfortunately missed Paula's passionate speach to the church to raise the necessary support as I was out of town. I am sad about this. It was clearly very compelling and the church made a long-term commitment to the community of Nkunga and the work of Food for the Hungry there.

Last year, a team of people from Highfield church went to Nkunga and assisted in setting up a rainwater collection and storage system at the village school. This water system was dedicated to Paula.

Louise and her husband Mark recently went to Kenya and shared with me her experience of going to Nkunga and remembering Paula there. She shared these pictures:

The above plaque hangs in the school's headmaster's office and reads:

Paula

Paula Brouwer was a member of Highfield Church and was killed in a car accident in May 2007. She worked hard to bring about the link between Highfield Church and Nkunga community. She prayed that the people of Nkunga would work together to make Nkunga a good place to live. She wanted each person in Nkunga to develop their gifts and skills so that they could become all that God created them to be.
This community water tank is dedicated to her.
Please continue to pray for her husband Darren and their baby son Micah who are left behind.
Paula's favourite verse was Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Louise wrote to me "The water tank is incredible. During the rains it fills up completely (from the roof of the school – it is in the school grounds). At the moment it is very low, they are praying for rain. The tank means that each child at the school (around 200 of them) can take one container of clean drinking water home per day to their family. It’s amazing because the walk to the lake for water is long and can be dangerous. Obviously they still use the water in the lake for washing etc but the clean drinking water is a huge blessing."

I hope that one day Micah and I can visit this place and find a village that has been transformed.