|
 |
|
Letter regarding situation in Kenya post national elections from Fr. Martin Martiny OP ...click here! Christmas Letter from Fr. Martin Martiny OP ...click here! Please do not hesitate to contact me or Fr. Benedict OP croell@op.org (USA mobile: 1-917-370-5357) if you have any questions or concerns. We are grateful!" - Fr. Martin OP martinyop@op.org Greetings
to New Orleans Fr. Martin and Fr. Tom's Kids
send blessings to the family and friends of Fr. Martin in New Orleans
after his safe return to Kisumu, Kenya. Aug 2007 Letter from Fr. Martin Martiny OP to Benefactors, Sponsors & Friends of Fr. Tom's Kids & Dominican Friars of East Africa ...click here! Easter Holiday Break 2007 Fr. Tom's Kids return to Kisumu for Easter. During the break the students are tutored in their respective subjects... more Benefit Concert hosted at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church (SEAS) in San Antonio, TX. This concert feartures members of the UTSA Department of Music faculty. Performers will include Catherine Nix, soprano, John Nix, tenor, The UTSA Women’s Choir directed by Gary Mabry and accompanied by Christine Debus, piano. Other performers include Melody Rich, soprano and Kassandra Keeling, piano. Asante Sana (“Thank You!”…in Swahili) for your support!!! Fr. Tom’s Kids Christmas Pictures 2006 ...a few pictures of the children preparing the manger in the chapel and attending the Christmas liturgy. click to see the pictures. click here to see the pictures Celebrating the birth of Jesus Fr. Tom's Kids prepare the chapel for Christmas... and Fr. Ben presides at the Christmas liturgy for the children. 
Fr. Tom’s Kids Activities
for the Christmas Holiday 2) ANNUAL MKENDWA SHOOT-OUT 4-7 December 2006 was our annual games tournament of Soccer, Basketball, Netball, Volleyball, Table Tennis and games for the youth/children in the area. The MKENDWA SHOOT-OUT is organized by our Dominican Novice friars each December holiday. This year was a great success with fierce competition. We had 21 soccer teams registered from the area parishes and villages. We had a total of 684 players registered for basketball, netball, table tennis, volleyball and football (soccer). The registration cost per player was $.14 for those under 18 and $.43 for those 18 and over. This helped us offset the expenses of the tournament, to feed the volunteers, the referees and the policemen! For the registered players we had subsidized plates of food available as many of the youth traveled a long distance to participate. We have traveling trophies that the teams have to win 3 years in a row in order to keep the trophy. The last day of the tournament we had children’s games with prizes and sweets! One of our Dominican boys soccer teams made it to the semi-finals! This is pretty good considering most of them played barefoot as we had no soccer cletes. We are hoping to obtain soccer equipment for them before next year’s tournament (can you help us?) The purpose of this annual tournament is to build community in our village between the Muslims and the Christian Youth and to foster good sportsmanlike conduct and competition. It is a project for our novices to coordinate with other religious brothers and sisters in the area for the sake of building up the Youth. We do need donations to offset the expenses we incurred. We spent about $400.00 this year on Mkendwa shoot-out. Kids who were on our star football team included: Thomas
Magana, Ignatius Maloba, Lameck Outa, Joshua Milau, Moses Ogutu,
Victor Odede, Samuel Otieno, Maurice Ocholla, John Otieno, Dalmas
Kita, Stephen Atiang, Festus Ndoa, Dominic Ogonda, Jack Oduor. If
any of these kids are the ones you sponsor – your student
is a star football (soccer) player! 3) Attendance by students who are at least 14 years of age to participate in the KISUMU CATHOLIC YOUTH CONVENTION(11-18 December). We received a generous donation from one of our sponsors to take 130 of our kids including some kids from the local parish – THANK YOU! If your student is middle school to high school he/she probably attended. Each holiday we try to organize or participate in something for our Kids to form them spiritually. The Dominicans assisted directly with this convention and we normally don’t have enough funds to attend such events. If you remember last holiday we took many of our youth to the UZIMA Youth Eucharistic Retreat which we organized on Mt. Kenya in Nanyuki. A number of the sponsors who said they would send money for their kids still have not sent their donation. If you are able to contribute to such events please let us know as we have a special account to help our kids spiritually!
 
4) Our Christmas Party with the children of our village usually take place after 25 December. We rely on donations to pay for this celebration which includes games and a Christmas meal. We have already received some donations but we expect to spend close to $1,000.00 for the celebration. Fr. Tom’s Kids Program new Coordinator
in Kenya! Mr. Tim Strick (Colorado resident) is in regular contact with the Dominicans in Kenya and can answer any questions you might have about your sponsorship or how to communicate with the Friars in East Africa. Please don’t hesitate to e-mail Tim at networksales@earthlink.net. He may be contacting you via e-mail or a telephone call to make sure everything is OK with your sponsorship and that you have received any letters sent from your sponsored student(s). Students send at least one letter to their Sponsor each year. If you have not received a letter from your sponsored student please contact Tim or one of the Friars. Thank you Tim for your assistance in helping us run the Fr. Tom’s Kids Program state-side! May 2006 - NATIVITY PARISH, Broomfield Colorado THE DOMINICAN SISTERS OF HAWTHORNE ARE COMING! May 2006 - Aquinas School, Woodridge Virginia Cincinnati, Ohio - St. Gertrude’s Parish rosaries Nairobi, Kenya - Cancer treatment changes the life a Kenyan
teen Kisumu, Kenya - Child with cerebral malaria is saved
|
 |
