BayToday Picture Play Gallery: Travels to Kenya

Fresh off the plane from Africa, Sandy Foster shared parts of her journey titled “Travels to Kenya” with the North Bay and District Canadian Club at their February meeting.

After a year of fundraising, Foster once again gathered a group of people from the North Bay area and journeyed to Kenya for three weeks to deliver goods and supplies that will help make a difference in the lives of orphan children who have been left without families by poverty, war and HIV/AIDS.

Foster, who is quick to point out that she is not associated with an NGO and that her first journey to Africa was the American tourist plan complete with safaris, has now taken on the labour of love to help make a difference in the lives of orphans, families and single mothers in Kenya.

Foster’s commitment to the betterment of society locally and internationally is a solid example of a community leader.

In the past Foster has raised funds for a town to construct a well, purchase a cow carrying a calf that will in turn provide milk to an entire orphanage, as well as delivering 1,000 pencil cases filled with supplies donated by the North Bay community. This year her mission was to provide flip flops for all the children in the orphanages that her group works with.

Concluding her presentation Foster told the crowd simply she leads the mission because she appreciates what she has and her freedom of choice

“People often ask me why I go and my answer is always because I can, and because of the children. No child should be dying of malnutrition, water borne diseases, malaria, TB or aids. No child should be left an orphan with no place to go but the streets,” she states.

“The little I can do might help the child who may one day lead Kenya into democracy and peace. There is a frustrating helplessness one feels for Kenya’s young, who truly are playing in every way against a stacked deck, yet they bring to each day, a sense of hope and faith.”

“And brought home to me in the starkest of terms, our cultures aside, we are all human beings with only limited time on this planet. We all have the right to enjoy, as much as possible, the one life we have been given. Living and working in Kenya every year has changed my life forever. I discovered the value in one and the power in a few,” she adds.

“Not all of us are called to go to another country to do service work, but maybe we are called to be the best we can be, not only for ourselves, but for humanity. If each person takes responsibility and does the ‘one thing they can do in their homes or in their community it will make a difference to this world that we live in.”

Gallery photos provided by Sandy Foster