The Laying & Blessing of the Foundation Stone

Children with huge, cheeky grins and representing a rainbow of colours from the darkest ebony to the lightest ivory brown were once again waiting to greet Ken Boyce as he made his way through the traditional mud huts of the Nyamasaria community. He was on the way to the construction site of the new World Youth International Owiti Children's Home.

I accompanied Ken Boyce on the same walk that he had made every morning over the past months in his quest to build our latest children's home in Kenya. Having flown into Kisumu the day before, this was my first visit to the Nyamasaria community that over the coming years will become a very big part of the vision of World Youth International.

Ken along with the Co-founder of our home, Deb Merchant, had arrived in Kenya three months earlier. Over this time, work had progressed along quite well to the point where the home was over 50% complete. Introducing a completely new technology in construction to Kenya, building the home in the shape of domes, the three months prior had been a time of anticipation, learnings and excitement.at seeing the end result. It was initially our intention to hold the opening celebration on the 26th July but after observing the pace that things happen in Kenya and in most developing countries, it was decided to postpone the official opening and celebrate the day with the blessing and laying of the Foundation Stone. It is interesting how when you let go of how you think things should be and accept them for where they are at, it turns out to be perfect, as was the case with the laying and blessing of the Foundation Stone.

We were very fortunate to have many people from Australia attend the ceremony including Deb Rugari and Barry Matto from The House of Healing Charity Committee. Deb and her committee had financially assisted in making this dream become a reality. The day was very special. It began with a church service where the majority of the community were in attendance.

Attending church in Africa is like no other experience with their love of music, song and dance combined with their belief in their religious heritage. A procession led by the original land owners, the Owiti family and Deb Merchant the Patron, weaved its way through the grounds to the gate of the children's home where Deb Rugari and myself had the pleasure of opening the doors to the future of many orphan children. After this, one of the orphan children then unlocked the door to the newest dome, the kitchen. The Bishop and his Apostles blessed the building and all the future food that will eventually feed the many children in the home. After this the procession of people made their way to the next dome, the girls home where the Foundation Stone was blessed and unveiled by Deb Merchant on behalf of the many people who had worked so tirelessly both in Kenya and Australia to make this happen.

The celebrations continued for the remainder of the day with lots more singing, dancing and a feast large enough to feed the community of Nyamasaria.

Habari, Habari Mr Ken!
August 2003