Here at Seeds, we believe in sharing BIG DREAM GOALS, over-and-above our $5,000 fundraiser goal. If you or someone you know would like to make an impact with a larger tax-exempt donation, we invite you to consider the following two giving opportunities:

• $10,000 (in addition to our $5,000 Seeds fundraising dollars) is needed to fund the center for one year, and
• $20,000 will fund the expansion of the Center so it can serve more girls.

Thank you, dear friend, for your consideration of how you might join Life Bloom in their commitment to make a mighty difference in their community in Kenya. Read below for a glimpse of this extraordinary community’s heart and mission. Please feel free to email me with questions and more information. (How I would love to hear from you!)

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As Floods Bring Destruction, Injury, and Loss of Life … a Story of HOPE and HELP

April 29. The day before we planned to launch this fundraiser, we heard from Catherine Wanjohi, founder of Life Bloom, who had just returned to Kenya from the USA:

We are in need of prayers and “holding space for us” here in Naivasha Sub County (Mai Mahiu zone) where at about 4 am today, Mother Nature burst her river banks and caused massive floods, carrying houses and families and trees and rocks along. 110 persons are admitted in hospitals, so far 71 bodies retrieved from the muddy waters, tens still missing. A team of 26 counsellors from Life Bloom, Red Cross, Kenya Counsellors Association, St John’s Ambulance, and the County Government volunteered all day long to support survivors and families. We have offered sessions to 147 people in one day. Tomorrow families will be identifying bodies of their beloved ones, one family having lost more than 10 members. The counsellors are still calling me to register for volunteering. I can only thank God as I lead in the coordination and reporting to the government. Please hold us in your prayers. That Mother Nature forgives us and that we love her back. Blessings. I am embracing self care, and encouraging others to take time for same. 12 of the 26 counsellors are Life Bloom trained counsellors, I thank God for the ongoing counsellor training for community counsellors. -Catherine

Here is a video from BBC, followed by several photos from Catherine, about the flooding and response of many organizations to care for survivors:

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• Photo 1 | April 29 – Section of Life Bloom team at the Information and Tracing tent, which was followed by counselling for groups and individuals. Share your energy this way. It’s needed. God bless.
• Photo 2 | April 29 – Time to consolidate the data for today between the County Director for Mental Health and myself. Its been a day of blessings: am thankful
• Photo 3 | April 30 – Today is an lighter day, we thank God. This early morning we I moderated a counsellors debriefing and prep session where we allocated ourselves roles. With more than 30 counsellors showing up to volunteer, we can only thank God. Bodies of beloved ones are being identified by families, emotions and reality is dawning, more bodies being unearthed, more family members looking for their beloved. Families settled in a school for coordinated services etc etc. Life will never be the same again for them, however, we support them on this dark path. All in all, we thank God that service providers are all here. And doing self care for counsellors and our Red Cross rescue team. We are blessed.

May 2, 2024. Together with our partners at Her Future Coalition (the fiscal sponsor and collaborating organization for ongoing work with Life Bloom), we were able to send $2,800 to Life Bloom’s emergency operations fund to care for the survivors of the flood.

May 10, 2024. I just got off the phone with Catherine in Kenya. Her team is supporting hundreds of families right now impacted by the flooding in Kenya, many of whom are burying their family members this weekend. One family lost 6 people, another lost 15. Her team is walking with and supporting this community in extraordinary ways – she is the REAL DEAL. This is in addition to her mission to protect vulnerable youth from human trafficking, child marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), which is being supported by a robust team of Kenyan nationals and other strategic collaborations around the world (including Seeds of Exchange and Her Future Coalition) – powerFULL!

Why do YOU do this work? (What’s YOUR WHY?) What really moves you to do what you do? “My ‘why’ is for survivors of exploitation is to get support to experience transformation in their lives, so they can pursue their visions and their dreams. I became compelled to do this work when I was working as a high school principal and encountered parents who were in prostitution to provide school fees to keep their children in school, and without help, their daughters would soon be exploited alongside them.”

One of the traditions that have existed at Life Bloom for the last 20 years is that the members of staff – me included – continuously remind ourselves that it’s not about the physical door that we have to the office. It’s about the doors to our hearts. That matters much more. Can we keep our doors open in a way that anybody who has nowhere else to go can find a place to go, can find a home? -Catherine Wanjohi

Why is this fundraiser important now? “Oh my goodness! As I think about the doors being able to remain open in the center, I see the faces of our 43 children who would likely drop out of school in May without our organization’s support. And what a gift it would be, not just for the children, but also for the staff of Life Bloom who love and take care of these girls and boys through counseling and mentorship, which has increased the school retention rate from 45% when we started to 95% today. All of these children are survivors of abuse, survivors of various forms of violations, like female genital mutilation. It’s practical and it’s deeply personal.”

What specifically will these funds do to support your mission? “Help keep the doors open for our rescue shelter, peer mentorship and counseling program for 43 survivors and high-risk kids, and prevention/awareness for 1,000 people in the tribal, pastoral communities around Suswa, Kenya … so they can remain free, safe, and educated – and help build the future of our country.

What are 3 words that give you hope when days are tough? “I’m Not Alone.”

What is 1 thing you’d like to TEACH/INFORM participants during this campaign? “The importance of engaging with the community where they are at – meeting them at their level. Also ‘ABCD’ – Asset-Based, Community-led Development.

I am a believer in horizontal mentorship. Peer mentors, they’re survivors. They lead the hope process. They lead moving forward. We have more than 2000 of them since we began our trainings in 2006. -Catherine Wanjohi

What is 1 act – big or small – you’d like to encourage folks to do, in addition to giving money? “To find or get closer to their own purpose through our work.”

Do you have a favorite quote or poem you’d like to share with folks? “It’s our light that frightens us, not our darkness.” Marianne Williamson

Are there any books you’d like to share? These are things that will FUEL people to learn more, engage more, and feel more a part of things. My books: A Walk at Midnight, Stepping Out and Stepping Up, Transformational Leadership for Individuals and Institutions: Awakening the Giant in You and Those in Your Circles; Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela

Tell us a bit about your youth. What were some of the formative influences on the work you do today? “I was raised in a family where my parents were privileged. My dad worked in the prison department as an officer and my mom was an elementary school teacher. So, I was among the privileged in the village where I grew up. I came from a family of seven children. I would say at that time in the seventies and eighties, we got the best of education.

However, my parents also taught us heartfelt and deep values for life. Part of this was their encouragement to be humble and adaptable: To fit in everywhere we went. For example, they would send us to our grandmothers’ homes, who had very little and may not have enough chairs in the house on which for us all to sit. So, we quietly would sit on the floor. Often, instead of a fancy cake or special food, they would serve us hard corn – the maize as we call it in my community. From childhood, my dad and mom encouraged us to not ask for anything special. What the rest eat, is what you eat.

Apart from that, in our home where I grew up with six siblings, my dad and mom always did everything they could to help our cousins who came from less fortunate families. They came to our house, they stayed with us, they grew up with us. They went to school, not only because my parents sponsored them financially, but also because my mom and dad provided guidance and mentorship for life. As I look at them today, most of them are doing very well. I grew up with a concern for other people modeled for me by my parents, with a special focus on those who were less fortunate.” More about Catherine here.

From our long-time Seeds collaborator and soul sister, Sarah Symons (founder of Her Future Coalition, this fundraiser’s fiscal sponsor – and partner to Life Bloom): “I really appreciate that I couldn’t do this alone. As our organization grows, we rely on sisterhood and partnership more than ever. I’m so grateful and excited to be able to bring Seeds of Exchange into this beautiful collaboration. I think it’s going to have a huge impact. This program in which the rescue shelter is inside the school is practical, innovative … and just so cool!

And it’s something that came from the teachers themselves because they were helping the kids and they needed help helping the kids – Catherine needed help, helping the teachers help the kids – and I needed help, helping Catherine to help the teachers help the kids. It’s all just beautiful. It’s helping on so many levels and relieving so many concerns!”

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JOIN US as an EVERYDAY PHILANTHROPIST

As part of our call to all to be an everyday philanthropist, each month I spotlight a project or program in the world. Our partner’s focus is in at least one of these five categories: human rights, education, health, community emergencies, and art-activism. I am blessed with a huge pool of changemakers in my community – so there is never a lack of trusted organizations with whom to partner.

This sort of “everyday philanthropy” is about an unrestrained generosity rooted in the reality of your everyday life. Generosity feels good. It is part of your purpose on the planet. It finds ways to share with others the treasure trove of whatever you have and whatever you love. It makes a difference with your small and large acts alike … living with a commitment and connection to your sisters and brothers near and far. Explore and discover your unique – right here and now – calling to be an everyday philanthropist today.

I get it: These stories and the very invitation to give and to BE philanthropists isn’t always comfortable. Or easy. Sometimes it’s the world’s pain pricking our hearts that wakes us up to see – and say yes! – to our destiny.

When you donate (THANK YOU!), we invite you to JOIN the Seeds Giving Fund as a monthly donor. It’s simple to set up once and your donation will be automatically directed towards our fundraisers throughout the year. Know that you are helping people each and every month. Consider stretching and giving as much as you can. If that’s $10 (=2 lattes a month!), that is plenty! *All donations are tax deductible.*

Over the past 10 years, we’ve partnered with people in more than a dozen countries around the world and raised over $200,000. We raise funds to support communities in need and people who are making a powerful difference. Our partner’s focus in each fundraiser is in at least one of these five categories: human rights, education, health, community emergencies, and art-activism.

So, today and together, let’s dispute the suggestion that philanthropy is an exclusive club only for those deemed wealthy. Today and together, let’s dispute that the only thing that matters and makes a difference is giving in “big” ways. The movement that will be unleashed when we live as generously unrestrained philanthropists WILL light up the world.

You are loved.
We belong to each other.
Let’s standTALL together and light up the world!

xo, -Sarah Davison-Tracy, Seeds of Exchange