Thirteen years old and just receiving your first pair of shoes, EVER. This is the story of our friend. And he isn’t alone, for many this is their norm. Can you wrap your brain around that? Walking the streets barefoot for your first 13-14 years of life? And what would it feel like to finally put shoes on your feet for the first time after so many years without?

This is the reality for many. When we visited Western Kenya this last September we were reminded once again about the desperate need for shoes as we attended several jigger clinics. Children lined up by the hundreds to get their jigger-infested feet treated.

You see, jiggers live in the dirt, they burrow under the skin and lay eggs, the larvae spreads, they multiply, they itch, and eat away at the skin leaving big open, puss filled, sores. If left untreated toes can be damaged beyond repair. Once these jiggers take up residence within the body it becomes painful and itchy. The person affected loses sleep and any sort of comfort, it can literally drive you mad.

Shoes can really help to resolve this problem. By covering the feet the jiggers are unable to get to the vulnerable skin. One pair of shoes dramatically reduces the risk of jiggers. ONE pair of shoes. It is that simple. $10 can help keep a child’s feet protected for up to a year easily. Jigger free feet mean children can get a good nights rest. Jigger free feet mean children can walk themselves to school. Children attending school means they can achieve their dreams of a career.

This project brings the BIGGEST smiles. These kids are so delighted to have proper shoes. Just look at those smiles!

Our Giving Catalog project is listed at $50 - that amount covers 5 pairs of shoes for 5 kiddos. Here is the link to the Giving Catalog: Shoe Drive Project

If you can’t swing that you can easily click on the donate link and give a smaller amount to it - just make sure you leave a comment of what project you want it to go to: general donation page

We understand that this time of year can be stressful for many - giving financially may not be an option. There are still plenty of options for you to get involved in helping to make a difference.

1. prayer is powerful

2. sharing the different needs and giving options with friends in person, on FB, through email or messenger.

3. making your Amazon purchases on Amazon Smile and selecting Pamoja Love as your charity of choice.

We have had several Pamoja Love support team members come up with creative ways to raise funds for projects. Several chose it as birthday gift options. A member of our dream team is getting married and suggested people give to Pamoja Love in lieu of gifts. Others are donating their skills and talents to save us money from hiring the work to be done. We can’t wait to see what creative ideas other people come up with. We would love to hear your ideas!

We still have a few more project areas to cover before Giving Tuesday. So keep checking back! Share, share, share.

Here are a couple of the other project areas to check out: (just click the title and it will redirect you)

Food Bundles for Widows and the vulnerable

Medical Clinic in Kibera Slum

Technology Classroom in Kibera Slum - Kenya

Nearly 600 students attend Saviour King Educational Centre in Kibera Slum, Nairobi, Kenya. We have seen first hand how much these kids LOVE their school and their teachers. This place is beyond just a school. This center is filled with HOPE BRINGERS (teachers and staff) that speak into these children’s lives, bring them a solid education, along with the encouragement to DREAM BIG and GO FOR IT! No wonder these kids love school.

This isn’t the only reason these children love coming to school. They also come for the food. The meals they are provided at school can easily be the only solid meal they may receive that day. So imagine the thrill when 600 bananas arrive on the scene, along with an added dose of nutritional veggies for their lunch bowls.

That is what a $100 donation can achieve. The basic cost of one families holiday meal can light up the faces of 600 children! We would love to be able to offer this to the school kids once a month.

What if a classroom of kids gave $4 per child to cover one days food gift? Or what if co-workers came together and instead of a HUGE outpouring of food for the staff party you put some of the budget towards bananas? When many people are willing to invest their “little”, together it amounts to a lot. That is what we LOVE about our nonprofit. It is all about working together as we give with the little we have to accomplish something BIG in the name of LOVE. Pamoja Love. Together Love.

If this is something that makes your heart sing at the idea of - please click this link : https://www.pamoja.love/givingcatalog There you will find the 8 giving catalog projects we are highlighting this year. Click the “DONATE” button below the project you would like to join in. And make sure to keep checking back on our blog, we will be sharing more stories about the incredible people we are partnering with to make a difference around the world.

We would love to have you be a part of the Pamoja Love family!

If you didn’t happen to read our previous post on the Teachers Helping Teachers Around the World - then you will want to make sure and click that link (article title) and read up on what community this particular project serves.

Kibera is the largest slum in all of Africa, second largest slum in the world. It is about one mile square with an estimated 1 million people living within it. If you are one who lives on a plot of land this could be very hard to imagine. I’ll try to help you here, the average home is 12ft x 12ft, built with mud walls, a corrugated tin roof, and dirt or concrete floors. Some of these homes have a partition to create two living spaces within them. They do not have running water, plumbing of any kind, and many do not have electricity. And the shanties often house 8 or more people with many of them sleeping on the floor.

Kibera is filled with story, just like everywhere else: tight-knit families, broken relationships, joy, challenges, and dreams of a better life. However, the biggest struggle is probably finding an affordable wage to provide for your family. And with that kind of struggle you find all kinds of coping mechanisms, numbing agents, and desperate, risky, options to provide just enough for that day.

We are so thankful to work alongside local partners who understand what it is like to live here, and who are taking steps to help bring the change people are looking for. Thomas and Beatrice Omolo are bringing hope, dreams and opportunity to the next generation of Kibera. They founded a school in 2008 with 100 students attending, they now have nearly 600. These children are earning an excellent education but let’s not stop there. When families enroll their kids at Saviour King they are cared about and loved on as a whole unit. How could one couple possibly do this for 600 students? Well, they couldn’t. But the teachers, they are the ones carrying out the mission on a daily basis.

These teachers at Saviour King Ed. Ctr. don't just teach these children, they choose to live in their neighborhoods and do life with them. They daily pour their hearts and lives into the well being of these precious children and their families.

So Maddy, one of the Pamoja Love Dream Team Members, came up with a brilliant idea in October as she was in Kibera walking the school grounds and witnessing the teachers loving on the kiddos. She dreamed up the idea of the Teachers for Teachers Project. A project that a school, or a group of friends, could join hands to make a global impact with. We know teachers understand the joys and challenges that come with teaching, and then to imagine the extra demands put on these teachers when parents are struggling to provide the basics like food, medical care, etc.

But we can send them some encouragement and remind them they are loved and cared about. Every $250 donation will provide 5 teachers with a Christmas meal package for their families along with a personal gift. This will be such a huge encouragement to them.

We have made this giving opportunity super easy. You can go to our giving catalog page online and select Teachers for Teachers. Or if you want to each give individually to one teacher you can go to the “Donate” tab and make a $50 donation with a comment listing “Teachers for Teachers”.

We hope you will share this giving opportunity with people you know that would have a heart for It.

Click here to visit the Giving Catalog Page

Together we can make a difference.

-Pamoja Love

The holidays often bring a certain pressure with them, don’t they? Or is it just me? I feel like our culture (here in the U.S.) has created this need to, well…. to perform. To put in immense effort to please people, to out-do others, to have it all look and feel just so.

I’m not sure how fulfilling that is really. I mean, yeah, we can pull it all off and at the end of the day kick our feet up with pride. Plink… done. Yes, I am certain in the mix of events and thought-itudes (don’t worry, I made that word up) we succeeded in pleasing the people around us who were blessed by our efforts. And that’s good. After all, we want our people to know they are loved and cared about. Sharing love and life together is important.

But what if we are missing a ginormous piece of the puzzle? What if we are so focused on our inner circle we are missing the uncomfortable needs outside of our cushy little lives? What would be accomplished if we simply turned our gaze? Would we be able to forget with a blink and a nod… or would we feel pressed to be a part of something bigger than our norm?

There are a TON of opportunities all around us to expand our hearts. You can probably look outside your front door and find someone who can use an extra dose of love. I challenge you to do that.

I also invite you to look and listen to the different stories we have collected working alongside the local leaders in Kenya and Tanzania. They are doing some incredible work reaching out and loving on people who have no options, have perhaps lost hope, or simply need help problem solving a basic need.

Over the next 10 days we are going to highlight different giving project areas. If you feel a little tug to step up and get involved we will show you how to do that easily. Keep your eyes peeled, we are SO excited to have you join us as we share what has captured our hearts. (if you just can’t wait and you are ready to DIVE IN now - click here it’s the link to the online giving catalog)

TOGETHER we can make a difference.

I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. - Maya Angelou