Who We Help

WE ARE CURRENTLY SUPPORTING BOTH A PRIMARY SCHOOL AND A VOCATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL IN NAIROBI KENYA. $5.00 FROM EVERY SHIRT SOLD GOES DIRECTLY TO THESE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS INCLUDING COMPUTERS, SCHOOL UNIFORMS AND OTHER NEEDS.

On July 9th 2009 my wife and I and a team of colleagues embarked on a 30 hour journey to Nairobi, Kenya for a mission trip. Africa landed on me like a thud.  My heart and soul were smashed to pieces by the sheer magnitude of the poverty there.  I witnessed a level of poverty that is simply unacceptable. We toured through multiple communities and areas of Kenya.  At every turn people were battling in a front line fight for life and survival.

Under these circumstances you think you would see a defeated people. It is certainly true that drought, famine and tribal wars have pushed them to the brink. Their faith in the very God who tests them by epic biblical proportions is incredibly humbling.  Instead of being downcast, they give thanks and always say, “God is Good.”  You instantly realize on meeting the people of Africa that you don’t know what faith is.

Hope abounds where it seems there is no hope to give.  These people are not looking for handouts.  They only wish for opportunity.  Lack of rain has stolen their food supply and without it everything else shrivels and dies.  Jobs fade away.  Education fades away. What Africa needs is a helping hand; even though the need is so great and watching the hundreds of communities and millions of people suffer in these conditions is overwhelming.  You have to start with one place, one school and one community.  With this small act on our part, a world can be changed.  If we step outside ourselves we find that we have the means to give even when we think we are struggling.  And the joy that comes from giving replaces the emptiness of a self-serving lifestyle.  One act pushes the lines further toward hope for the future and a new chance at creating real long lasting change.

There is a war on Poverty.  It’s being waged in the slums of Kibera, Kenya and the desert plains of the Sudan. You must make a choice on which side of this battle you fall on. Either you are giving or you’re not.  Either you are serving a bigger purpose or you’re not.

Thank you for your courageous choice to join us!  By meeting the needs of the “least of these” the truth is that “you make a living by what you get, but you make life by what you give.”

- Michael Lewis, founder of This Shirt Changes Lives

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