Winesburg woman meets Kenyan girl she’s helped support

Karen Gingerich found herself walking down a remote path in Kenya last January, holding a lavender dress she had sewn with her own hands. She hadn’t really known the girl’s measurements, but she put it together with love in her heart and a hope that it would fit.

There was a 10-year-old girl waiting at the end of that path to meet her, one she had never really thought she’d be able to meet. Several years ago Gingerich, who lives near Winesburg, had begun to support the girl through African Christian Mission International, but the day she found herself walking down that path, it became a reality.

Per its website, ACMI is a “holistic ministry of Christian Church International, reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, equipping men and women for the work of the ministry, helping them discover their potential, calling and mobilizing them to reach out to those in need.”

It was founded in Kenya in 1992 by the Bishop Mulandi and grew by preaching the Gospel in open air settings to locals, ministering physically and spiritually to refugees, and planting churches with the help of local congregations. Mulandi had come to the U.S. in the early ‘80s to study, connecting with people in the Wayne/Holmes area.

Paul and Cindy Mullet, who live near Mt. Eaton, have been involved with ACMI for quite a few years and have traveled to Kenya with teams numerous times.

One of the things ACMI does is identify vulnerable children, actively helping to find a solution to their needs, along with searching for sponsors in the United States and Canada. The financial sponsorship provides their school fees, uniforms, director visits and a yearly trip for break where they receive gifts. The program has 250 children enrolled.

“Education is their ticket. It’s the most important,” Mullet said.

About three years ago, Gingerich volunteered to sponsor one of the girls in need. The Mullets were planning to take a team to Kenya again, and Gingerich approached them with a simple question, “If I go with you, could we find the girl I sponsor and visit her in her village?”

And a plan was put into motion. They arrived in Kenya, Gingerich’s first time out of the country, and landed with the team, then traveled to their base camp. After several days Gingerich, along with Cindy Mullet, the director of Help the Children Ministry, and a driver, took off for a six-hour drive to the remote village where her sponsored child lived.

“So we took off on this trip, and we mostly had good roads,” Mullet said. “There were some interesting little off-road detours, especially one on a riverbed. We turned off and started going up a mountain, and just when we thought we couldn’t go any higher, we did. Finally, we got there, and they told us we would need to walk down this path.

“If you had told people we were going to travel these roads, they would’ve looked at you like you were crazy. But we walked down this path with the dress and several other small gifts. And down that mountain we went on a little path that wasn’t accessible by car. It was very rugged.”

When they reached the house, it was as if they’d hewn away rock on the side of the mountain and perched the house on its edge. It sat above a little hamlet of homes made of stone. They had chairs sitting outside, the hospitality of the home evident in this small gesture, and the mother of the girl came out to greet them, asking what their names were. As soon as she heard the name Karen, Judith — the little girl’s name — came running out of the house. For five minutes she hugged her and wouldn’t let go.

The native tongue of Kenya is Swahili, but there are 42 separate dialects in the country. In Judith’s home they spoke one of these dialects. The director of Help the Children Ministry, whose organization is the liaison to getting the children their sponsored funds, helped to translate the conversation. Help the Children Ministry makes four home visits every year, stays connected with their school and takes the children on a trip for break.

“She almost had me crying,” Gingerich said of the first meeting. “It was very emotional to see where she lived. It was very eye-opening because they have so little yet they’re so happy.

“When you get company here, you might give them a little snack. They gave us eggs and tea. Here you wouldn’t think of doing that. But it’s what they had, and they happily served it to us. I’m sure they didn’t have plenty of eggs. They served us what they had, and it didn’t have to be fancy.”

“I love the gratitude and love they showed to Karen,” Mullet said. “It was so sweet to sit there and watch.”

Along with the dress and other gifts, Gingerich had purchased a goat and lots of cooking supplies for the family, like rice, oil and other staples that were needed. When the gifts were presented, Judith ran into the house and changed immediately into the dress — and it fit.

“I didn’t have anything to go by but an age. I asked my aunt if she had a pattern for that age, so while I used that, I also made it my own,” Gingerich said. “I was so glad to be able to give to them. The amount of money I spent wasn’t a lot for me, but what it gave to them meant a lot. Just to be able to have the finances to give was everything.”

When they left Judith’s house, they went to the pastor’s house for supper. Children of all ages kept coming by — sponsored children — to see if their sponsor was there too. Gingerich had caused a stir with her visit, a good one.

“The biggest highlight of this trip was getting to meet my sponsored child,” Gingerich said. “I’ve always wanted to do a mission trip and didn’t know what or where. In 2021 I had also planned to go, but the pandemic interrupted those plans. That was so hard for me to let it go. But finally getting to go was so exciting. Don’t give up the chance to go if you can.

“I felt very blessed just to see Judith smile.”

For more information on ACMI, visit www.missionsafrica.org/.