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June 2023 newsletter

From the Founder

I’m in Kenya! Woo Hoo!!! I’ve been here for a week already as I write this article very much enjoying my time, the people, and checking up on a few things that required some extra attention from me. It has, as always, been an amazing time, even though there have been a few challenges. BUT, if God is for us, who can be against us?! (Romans 8:31) We use every challenge and obstacle to strengthen our resolve to accomplish the mission! As my Pastor says, “Heroes do the hard thing.”

SO, moving on to the successes thus far this trip…Our new friends, Jeff Titak and (Ali) Nasser Wanjala had a wonderful day with the children teaching them disc golf.  And it looks like the star disc golf pupil was our young man, Bruno! He seemed to really catch on, which was great to see! The children will continue playing, practicing, and learning. We look forward to much progress on the next visit.  

After being on-site with the children at Motivated By Love King’s Academy, we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon laughing at our own adult disc golf game! Certainly, Jeff and Ali were the stars, while our Sharon, Leo, Peter, and Louis did well!! Margaret and I…not so much. Regardless of the score, it was a lot of fun and relaxation after a day with the children!

Our second day in Opoya culminated in two meetings: one with the farmers and one with the widows. The widows asked that we resume the assistance we provided to them during covid-19, so after much discussion, I am excited to announce that we are launching a microloan program with 10 of them! The ladies will prepare both a personal and business budget and will each have individual repayment schedules based on what their home and business needs are, plus beginning a personal savings plan. It was an energizing conversation, to say the least, and we are expecting great success from them! Of course, we will keep you posted with progress reports!

Tonight, we are awaiting the 1^st of our health professionals to arrive at our apartment, with the rest coming in tomorrow morning and tomorrow night! Our cook, Fattmah has already gone grocery shopping to prepare our meals, we’ve purchased the other items we need for the apartments, we’ve already assembled the team’s gift bags, gone shopping for many of the supplies we’ll use at the schools, (plus we will see what other goodies the team is bringing)! 

In addition to our four Educational Enrichment Program team members, four of the Feed My Sheep ministerial team are joining the health professionals to provide both translation and spiritual support. I’ve also invited the parents of our Kibera Soweto high school students who have younger children so they can receive services. They will join us at Victory.

The entire team will be at Victory School for 3 days (75-100 students), SmartMinds (formerly Bright Academy) for 1 day (197 students), Langata Women Maximum Prison for 1 day (50 women and their children). Because there’s a limit on the number of people who can go into the prison, the team members who won’t go to the women’s prison will return to Victory for a 4^th day. The 2 recreation days for the team are also jam-packed, but they will have the opportunity to both experience and serve the best of Kenya: the people and the culture!

We are positioned for another epic trip and look forward to sharing the testimonies and success stories in our July issue of the newsletter. 

Until then, remain blessed and hopeful for a bright and glorious tomorrow! Love, hugs, and blessings!

Donna V. Werner

Founder/Board President

Games day

Victory School held its first Games day this year. This was marked by a group of 4 teams participating in the competition. The teams identified themselves as Team Blue, White, Red, and Pink. The Educational Enrichment Team led the day with the help of a couple of other volunteers.

Each team was given a different ribbon to help identify themselves. Amongst the games played were Tugg of War, potato race, sack race, blowing balloons, belly balloons, relay racing, soccer, and singing game. 

Winners were given sweets, glucose, chocolate for the girls, balloons, and a special lunch sponsored by DDI. Games Day is a competency-based curriculum special segment that involves discovering the talents and abilities of individual pupils and helping promote physical exercise.

Disc golf

We had so much fun with the children at Motivated by Love Academy playing disc golf with our Kenya-based team and our new friends, Jeff and Ali.

The children and teachers enjoyed a whole day of playing disc golf competing amongst themselves in different groups according to their ages. Winners were gifted and motivated. 

Jeff shared below how he started playing disc golf and how he met the Dorcas Destiny International Founder and ended up in Opoya village.

How I met and worked with DDI - Jeff Titak

I’ve been playing disc golf in Kenya for almost as long as I have been playing disc golf. I started playing disc golf in September 2020 and came to Kenya with my discs in December 2020.

When I came back to Kenya a second time with my discs and basket, that’s when I introduced the sport to Ali. We played at Impala Club and were playing disc golf in Kenya before there were ever plans to build a disc golf course in Kenya. I could have never imagined that disc golf would take me across this beautiful country and meet such amazing people.

Back in February, I saw on the Paul McBeth Foundation Facebook page that they had sent discs and a basket to Opoya village. I looked up where it was on my maps app and saw that it was in western Kenya. I was planning a trip to western Kenya during my stay here. I figured that I would take a slight detour since this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce the sport to more people in Kenya.



I contacted Donna about the opportunity to teach a clinic with Ali in Opoya village and she responded enthusiastically. Donna and the people at Dorcas Destiny International are doing great things for the schools they work with in Kenya. I’m just excited that I was able to do a little bit to help the children in Opoya village and raise awareness for Dorcas Destiny International. 

1st Annual Healing Hands Medical Missions

Our first annual Healing Hands Medical Missions trip is underway!!! Our team is led by Dr. Briana Bonner (aka Bri The OT). The goal is to provide health assessments and basic first aid to children and training to adults on how to handle certain health emergencies. Beneficiaries of the trip are Victory School, SmartMinds (formerly Bright Academy), and the Langata Women's Prison. This will be an annual mission trip for healthcare workers.

Are you looking for an easy, don't-have-to-think-about-it way to donate to Dorcas Destiny International? Sign up for RoundUp App!! You can set it and forget it AND/OR change your donation level maximums and minimums whenever you'd like! You get a receipt directly from RoundUp App every month so you can have a running tally of your contributions!

Sign up at https://roundup.app/p/DDI4KENYA today! Thanks in advance for your support and for being one of our co-parents!

Meeting with the Farmers

Donna (founder of Dorcas Destiny International) and our Kenya-based DDI team met with the farmers in the Opoya village to discuss the way forward on the joint food availability program for the children at Motivated by Love Academy.

Last year DDI provided micro-loans to each farm owner of seeds and fertilizers. In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture in Migori County, the farmers, most of whom are also parents of children at Motivated by Love were taken through an introductory program to help them identify the right choice of seeds suitable for agriculture in Opoya village. 

The aim of this initiative was to help create a revolving funding cycle of rotating crops so local farmers will harvest and also donate a portion to the school for the children's lunch feeding program. 

Unfortunately during the planting season, the region was struck by unexpectedly dry conditions causing some of the crops to dry and little yield was realized. 

However, the meeting was very successful as mitigation measures for handling emergencies were identified for future challenges. 

Meeting with the Widows

DDI founder and our Kenya-based team met the windows from Opoya village who thanked DDI for its continued support. These widows are parents and guardians to children at Motivated by Love. 

The widows raised various challenges they face as they support the children they assist, some of whom are not even relatives. They requested that DDI help uplift their living standards and suggested the provision of loans to assist some with existing businesses, and those wishing to start businesses to help them provide income.

By mutual agreement, each widow is drafting a business plan, personal budget, and business budget to aid DDI in facilitating the loan provision, which will be payable according to each entrepreneur's ability to pay it back. 

The loan repayment program process is intended to help each person become accountable and be able to help others who might need similar help in the future.

Fundraiser in August 2023

DDI wishes to invite you to a fundraiser in August. We want to thank all of you for supporting us and ensuring we help and support less fortunate children and women in Kenya Africa through your donations and support. To donate now you can scan the QR code below.

Happy Birthday Donna V. Werner!

The month of June came with blessings, amongst the many blessings is our founder Donna V. Werner celebrating her Birthday on the 26th of June. We surprised her in Kakamega with a Cake.

Happy Birthday Donna

Sponsor a child

Some of the children we seek to serve come to school willing to learn however they come hungry, with broken shoes, unkempt uniforms, or clothing. Your monthly donation of $30.00 will support a child and provide food, clothes, and payment of their school fees. Email us today to meet your Kenyan child. Someone is waiting to meet you!

Ready to join us on an upcoming trip?

If you have your passport, come on! Contact us!