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Maji Mazuri seeks to address the root causes of poverty and focuses on alleviating poverty by empowering people to bring about change in their own lives. This is our latest news...
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 19:56

Shine

Written by  Alison
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High-LIGHT-ing Dr. Wanjiku Kironyo


In My life, as a child, I was taught the song, "This little Light of mine, I'm gonna let it Shine." And as an adult, I now understand the concept of the "light within " and allowing it to "shine." We all know persons who have this beautiful ability. The bride "glowing" on her wedding day. The man who's "eye light up" when he sees his child. The magnetic friend who walks into a space and "lights up the room." We all have these persons in our lives: friends, family members, our children. They "light up our life," and we are drawn to them.

In My life, I have had the opportunity to sit down and speak with persons who radiate warmth and truly shine. These persons light up our world. I've been able to speak with Greg Mortenson, activist for girls education in Afghanistan and author of Three Cups of Tea. I've had conversations with Suzanne Whang, comedian, host of International House Hunters, and RESULTS activist against poverty. And I've had the great honor of sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at midnight, speaking with the globally renown speaker and bestselling author of Return to Love,Marianne Williamson. All three persons are known throughout our world. All three are bright lights.

In My life, it has been my greatest of  honors, to meet and now volunteer for an "everyday woman" who embodies living an EnLIGHTened life, Dr. Wanjiku Kironyo. For me Wanjiku Kironyo is my example of "when one believes, all things are possible." She is a bright light. A hero to all. Those who know her would call her a Saint. There is a quote by Felix Adler, it reads, "The hero is the one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light." I believe this quote applies to Wanjiku. She is a modern day Saint.

In Her life, Dr. Kironyo has chosen to walk the darkest of paths and Shine her Light onto those living in the depths of disparity and darkness. Today and everyday for the past 30 years, she walks the slums of the Mathare Valley, the second largest slums in East Africa, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Kironyo, holds her Ph.D. in social work and was at one time a professor at The University of Nairobi. In the beginning she applied her knowledge and expertise of grief and stress counseling to the women & mothers of the Mathare Valley slums. She provides a place of comfort to these women, a shoulder to lean on, and someone to hear and feel their burdens at the depths of her soul.

In Her life, Dr. Kironyo left her prestigious position at The University of Nairobi. She left the stability of income. Something deep within her called her to the people of the Mathare Valley slums. She began Maji Mazuri in the 1980s, to EMPOWER the people of the slums through microcredit loans, education and a change in environment (an exodus from the slums). First was instituting the microcredit for those living in levels of deep poverty. Out of the microcredit rose the need to safely keep and educate the children. Then she learned of children with special needs, and orphans, as well as children victim to AIDS/HIV, and began The Children's Centre. Wanjiku saw firsthand the powerful effects of education,  and so more houses of education spread across her home land of Kenya.

At the present time, because of the vision of Dr. Wanjiku Kironyo, Maji Mazuri educates well over 500 children in four different locations. Maji Mazuri has set up boarding schools for High School girls that are refugees, are orphaned, and are deeply impoverished. This boarding school is in the rural, untouched farmland in the Great Rift Valley. Here they are using organic farming methods, solar panels, windmills and water irrigation techniques for sustainability. It is Dr. Kironyo's vision and the vision of Maji Mazuri to begin to move families out of the overcrowded, diseased slums to plots of land to assist these families to begin anew in a healthy and sustainable environment. This phase is on the horizons of Maji Mazuri.

In Her life, Wanjiku Kironyo is a visionary, never giving "No" for an answer- she always manages to find a way to care for the sick, the needy, the poor, the orphaned.  She is a woman who has risen to the best of herself. She went without income for years. Her home became (and still is) the Maji Mazuri office. She is a Queen, her castle is the epitome of  love. She is selfless, magnetic, and I count myself blessed to know her. All those who know Wanjiku are eternally grateful for her and the inspiration she provides to us every single day.

In Our lives, each and every day, we get the opportunity to make the choice whether or not to turn on our light. To shine, to fade, or  to remain in the darkness. To make a difference, to have a voice. To connect or to disconnect. To Love or to fear. The times we live in are dark times: disease, crime, famine, war, terrorism, racism, bigotry, an environment in crisis. We have rising poverty at home and around the globe. Barry Lopez, in Arctic Dreamswrites, "How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing question. You continue to live them out, making your life a worth expression of leaning into the light."

In Our lives, we are all connected. We are our brother's keeper. It doesn't matter if our "brother" is our neighbor or a stranger. We are all equal and beautiful in God's eyes. A dear and close friend of mine recently shared her grandmother's quote with me, "There is a destiny that makes us brothers. No one goes his way alone. What you send into the lives of others, comes back into your own." All of us can be a hero of sorts to another. We don't have to be Saints. We can, as Norman Rice says, "Dare to reach out our hands into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light." This is the meaning of life: sharing love, joy and pain~ connecting. And finding our happiness within first, so that we may be able to connect at the deepest of levels with others. As Marianne Williamson writes in A Woman's Worth, and as all of the great religions of the World would agree- as it is their common theme, "Our function on earth: that we should love one another."

In Our lives, we can chose to follow in the likeness of those that have demonstrated what it means to live in the light. Now is the time to act. For the sake of my children and the children of the world, I hope and I pray we choose to be a Beaming light in this dark world. Choose to Shine. In doing so collectively, we can cast away the darkness.  For, as Ben Sweetland says, "We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own." Each of us holds a torch. Each of us has a gift. Now is time to raise them in the name of Love and all that is Good and Godly. May we all strive to be, as we walk through our days, our highest possible selves. May we all strive to be, a little like the beautiful, selfless visionary, Dr. Wanjiku Kironyo. 
Last modified on Wednesday, 05 October 2011 20:18
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Alison

Alison

Alison Wachtel, has been working with children with special needs since 1995. Her early experience includes working as a teacher's assistant for a self-inclusive classroom designated for children with autism in Alpharetta, Georgia. Since 2002 she has been a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2000 with a BS in Communication Disorders and went on to complete her Masters in Speech-Language-Pathology at Kent State University in 2002. Alison was awarded a grant at Kent State University where she and her fellow team members completed research and treatment for children with Low Incidence Disorders (disorders that affect only 1% of the population). Upon graduating from Kent State, Alison was selected for the fellowship position at the highly esteemed Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.

Her Speech Therapy work has taken her to five different states wherein she has gained valuable experience in a variety of hospitals, nursing homes, elementary schools, and pediatric clinics.

Alison traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to assist the teachers and students at the Maji Mazuri Children's Centre in July 2009. While at the Children's Centre, Alison shared her knowledge of how to increase communication opportunities for their children without verbal language, how to position and feed their children with medical impairments so they can eat safely, and modeled a circle time lesson plan to demonstrate how to engage all children at all levels at the same time. Alison believes in the programs the Maji Mazuri Organization is running  and is incredibly inspired that this organization was started by one passionate woman with dream for a better life for her fellow Kenyans!  She is very honored and humbled to be assisting the Maji Mazuri Organization!

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MAJI MAZURI CENTER INTERNATIONAL

is an organization incorporated and registered in Kenya as a social service. For more information about Maji Mazuri and how you can help please contact:

The Director
P.O. Box 45603 – 00100 G.P.O Nairobi
       Tel: 254- 20– 3003274
       Mobile: 0722-466971
     info@majimazuri.org

Message from Wanjiku, Maji Mazuri Founder

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Maji Mazuri USA (EIN # 201871180) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible in full or in part.

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