Helping the world’s poorest
MAL PROGRAM IN AFRICA
March 23, 2006
Lauren Thompson
Five hundred hungry African children will be well-fed this school year, thanks to the efforts of one Trinity Western faculty member. Stan Remple, Director of the Master of Arts in Leadership (MAL) program, has raised over $18,000 for a school lunch program in Nairobi that gives impoverished kids a chance to eat one hearty meal every day they attend school.
The program started when TWU teamed up with Pan-African Christian University in Nairobi to bring the MAL program to African students who could not afford to come overseas to Canada. While Remple was in Nairobi helping to implement the program, he saw first-hand the devastating conditions faced by families living in the slums.
“Poverty in this slum is different than what we call poverty,” he said in an email asking for donations. “In the Nairobi slum people may not eat for a day, have no place to go when washrooms are needed, drink water that we would not use for anything, indeed, would get sick on.”
Remple later teamed up with Shelly Kauffeldt, wife of Pan-African Christian University’s president, and student in the newly established leadership program. Kauffeldt works with school administrators to start lunch programs. These programs use donations to buy and prepare lunches, for kids who usually can’t attend classes because they are searching for food.
After hearing of these programs, Remple decided to raise money himself before his next trip to Africa. Just one month before he left [March 17], Remple sent out about 30 emails, plus letters to all the MAL staff, students, and alumni asking for donations.
“My target was $8000, which feeds 500 kids one lunch per week for one school year,” he explained, “but the project has raised much more.” In this short period of time, over $18,000 has been donated to the cause, enough to feed those same 500 kids five meals per week, instead of just one.
All funds were processed by volunteers at Maple Ridge Community Church.
Remple believes that providing the lunches will not only feed empty stomachs, but hungry minds as well. His basis for the project is a strong belief in following Christ by living a life of servant leadership that helps people reach their potential.
“If they can eat, they can learn, because people with empty stomachs aren’t good students, or students at all,” he explained, “and without education there is no hope in our global economy.”
This project is indefinite, and Remple is still accepting donations to go towards more lunches. To donate to this project, make cheques payable to Maple Ridge Community Church and send them to Remple.
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