Mother Teresa once said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” Acclaimed fantasy writer Margaret Weiss also wrote:
… I argue, if a single drop falls into the ocean, it creates ripples. And these ripples spread. And perhaps - who knows - these ripples may grow and swell and eventually break foaming upon the shore. Like a drop in the vast ocean, each of us causes ripples as we move through our lives. The effects of whatever we do - insignificant as it may seem - spread out beyond us. We may never know what far-reaching impact even the simplest action might have on our fellow mortals.
Margaret Weiss, The Seventh Gate
Both of these women, though very different in their faith, vocation and of course the context in which they said these things, shared the same sentiment. The small, sometimes even seemingly insignificant actions people make, can have a profound cumulative impact in the world. Though we are not able to clearly measure the impact of every action we take, we can take small steps to know we are ‘casting our stones’ in the right direction. Through prudent decision making, and wise judgment, we can evaluate whether the ‘ripples' we are making will likely result in waves of God’s love and grace being shared in our world, or result in tsunami’s of despair and destruction.
When we first started our work as the Kenya Children Project in 2007, we served 27 students in makeshift shack classrooms in and around the Believers Center Church in the Jangwani community of Mathare. Today, we currently serve 466 students from our preschool to our high school across our two facilities in Mathare and Wote along with graduate alumni. Yes we have grown in number, but we also need to know, have we made a difference? Small or large, are ripples of change that honor God, happening in Mathare? To this end, our eduKenya team in Kenya has begun to undertake a process of evaluation and monitoring of eduKenyan's impact in the community we serve, so we can continue to steer our programs, ‘cast our stones’ and ‘create ripples’ in the right direction.
Jacky Kasyoka, an eduKenya volunteer and sister of Hannah Kalunda, a 2019 Chelezo graduate, recently started the process of collecting and collating data on our students and skill training programs. This includes student and family social and financial data, financial data of our programs, and also up to date demographic data on the Mathare North population and the surrounding public schools. We have various pieces of this data that we evaluate in our work, but this comprehensive, extensive research will collect specific information relevant to our work and its impact in the Mathare North area where we work. All this information will help us develop a logical framework in which we can evaluate our 7 Transformation Milestones, helping us very clearly map our impact in Mathare as a whole, while also helping us determine any future programs.
At eduKenya we desire to make an impact for God’s Kingdom in Mathare, in Nairobi, in Kenya and the world. We desire to do work that changes the lives of those living in abject poverty not just for their financial betterment, but also for the benefit of their souls for eternity. To break the cycle of poverty and change the lives of the children in our care, and impact their families ripple by ripple, until the whole community is transformed is a lofty goal. But just as Mother Teresa said, we cannot change the world alone. As eduKenya ‘casts our stones’ and continues to ‘create ripples’ in Mathare, we need your prayers, your partnership, your support and commitment. Cast stones across the water with us and join us in seeing what God can do with the ripples we create together.