Help the orphans at the Bismarck Diocese Mission in Africa

Now it is our turn…It is time for us, our local church, our diocese, to send some of our men and women in our name, to other fields, to other people, to be with the Church elsewhere…
 
Those are words spoken by Bishop John Kinney at the Mission Sending Ceremony when the Bismarck Diocese first sent missionaries to Kenya, Africa in 1990. Those four were Deacon Jim and Henrietta Nistler, Fr. Bruce Krebs and Cathy King. Now, nearly 30 years later, Fr. David Morman has established his home at the Bismarck African Mission in the Diocese of Kisii in western Kenya. Father Morman and the many missionaries who have come before him continue the strong tradition of faith in action serving the poorest of the poor among us.
 
Below are his words as he reflects on the last several months as the priest administrator of the program that serves 400 orphans and assists in bringing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments to the surrounding outstations (mission parishes).
 
No glamor. No frills.
 
In the life of an orphan, there is no glamor nor are there frills. Orphans have lost both mother and father, traumatic events in the lives of children; their living situation can be tenuous, not knowing with whom they will be living, though, usually a grandparent or aunt.
 
These families, more than likely, would be subsistence farmers or people who live at or below the poverty level in Kenya. At the African Mission of the Diocese of Bismarck, currently, we serve just under 400 orphans. Our mission seeks to give some stability in their lives in the form of tuition assistance and other school fees, a monthly allowance of maize, and a small amount of “pocket change” for use in purchasing school supplies or assisting the family with whom they are living. One orphan receives six kilograms of maize per month—food to assist in the sustenance of the child. Also, when enrolled in the Orphan Education Program, they receive medical attention when necessary and yearly HIV testing and de-worming.
 
We serve people of various faith traditions including Roman Catholic (270), Seventh-Day Adventists (99), Pentecostal/Assembly of God (20), Legion of Mary (8), and one Lutheran.  Some of the students attend boarding schools and others are day-students; we have orphans at over 175 various schools in the two-county (Kisii and Nyamira) area and beyond.
 
Gifts to the Annual African Mission Appeal support this program and other programs that make a difference in the lives of those where there is no glamor and no frills. Rather, through the generosity and prayer of the people of the Diocese of Bismarck and the presence of missionaries who walk with the orphans in their daily life, we seek to give a glimmer of hope and reassurance of love through faith in action.