Joy World 911! — Update
There is much to tell about Joy World, Ltungai, and now Gifted Hands School, in Kibera slum, Kenya. I’ll focus this blog on our most urgent need: Joy World.
If you read my 8 April blog (Joy World 911), you know the background. Since the U.S.-based non-profit that Dr. Lawrence Tharp started unexpectedly abandoned Joy World last November, Joy World has had to find emergency funding and create its own infrastructure to keep its 83 young residents — girls rescued from a range of desperate circumstances — safe and in an environment that fosters independence and community values. We see this as a significant challenge as well as an empowering opportunity.
Our community projects accountant, Rebecca Quintana, conducted a financial audit to assure the prospective Governing Board and donors of Joy World’s financial integrity.
I have worked closely with Purity Tharp, Lawrence’s widow and Joy World’s co-founder and director, to recruit an awesome Governing Board that will set policy and do strategic planning to guide and sustain the organization. Governing Board members work at the World Bank, the Cooperative Bank in Kenya, and the Kenya government Community Development Fund, to name a few. One member was Lawrence’s former student at United World College a few decades ago.
The Governing Board will set policy and create a strategic plan that involves identifying financial targets and priorities, networking with donors, boosting income-generating activities, and ensuring the viability of Joy World for the 83 girls and the matrons and other staff that make the home a safe and empowering place for residents of all ages.
I have been channeling donations to Joy World from this blog since March 2023. Thanks to an extraordinary exchange rate, our U.S. dollars go a long way in Kenya! A BIG THANK YOU to readers who have contributed. We have been able to send nearly $2,000 since April.
I am also very grateful to friends who run Douniatou Association, a grassroots, non-profit based in Paris, France, who have also gotten behind the effort. The Douniatou Association was founded in 2008 by Nadia Ferroukhi, nomad, ethnographer, and humanitarian, whose photography captures diverse cultures worldwide, with a focus on women’s communities. She has visited Africa several times, photographing the Samburu among others, whose images are included in her book, Les Matriarches — an award-winning documentary of diverse women societies across the globe, now in its fourth edition.
Dr. Karambu Ringera, founder of International Peace Initiatives and Executive Director of Kithoka Amani Children’s Home (KACH) and the Tiriji Foundation and Tiriji Eco Center, has also provided invaluable support.
Anything that Purity gets from her savings and donations goes towards Joy World utilities and food for the girls. In May, Purity told the staff (the cook, three matrons, and a maintenance worker) that she had to release them because she lacks money to pay them. They have refused to leave. I am as committed as they are to keeping Joy World’s doors open and the 83 girls and young women who live there safe and able to continue attending school and exceling in their studies.
Please contribute if you can with a donation, prayers, and/or ideas for supporting Joy World.
Thank you for your compassion and support.
Amani,
g.
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Special Note:
Donations are always greatly valued and have immediate value. All funds go to recipients in Kenya who I know personally. My community work account is monitored monthly by my accountant. ANY AMOUNT HELPS! To give, use the following options:
- Use PayPal via this link. PayPal takes 3.5%; everything else goes towards the project.
- Send a donation via Zelle to “GDLwrites@yahoo.com”.
- Send checks to: Gary Lichtenstein, P.O. Box 212, Bluff, UT 84512.
Thank you for your compassionate heart, and God bless.
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