A concert straight out of Africa

Kindfund was established as a charity in 2004 to further the Gospel and to help relieve poverty among some of the poorest tribes in north Kenya. The charity was the vision of Fermanagh couple Ken and Pamela Dobbin, parishioners at Ardess, Kesh, and the visit by the children, who are mostly orphans cared for Kindfund, is in celebration of 10 years of Kindfund’s work in north Kenya.

The concert visit at Magheramason came about through the strong friendship which has built up between the Dobbins and another missionary couple, the Cowans, and Paul and Elizabeth Davis, from Desertowen Road just outside Donemana, who began to regularly undertake missionary work with Kindfund.

“We met Ken and Pamela the last time we went out in September for four months, to a place we have been many, many times, Samburu. It is the name of a tribe as well as the name of the area.

“We began missionary work through Mageramason Presbyterian Church, inspired by missionary Stephen Cowan who had been working in Samburu for over 20 years. Back 10 years ago Elizabeth and I picked up a church magazine and saw they were looking for a couple to go and cover the work the Cowan’s were doing while they came home for a few months,” said Paul.

He continued: “Elizabeth is a district nurse and I had studied at Bible College and was interested in missionary work. We loved it. We had never been to Africa before and we went for nine months.”

His studies had taken him to Kosovo, so he knew a little of what to expect, but the couple have been smitten with Kenya and it’s people. But even after the first three months were over, normally considered the ‘honeymoon’ period for long-stay missionary work, Paul and Elizabeth were still bowled over by their missionary work and the country.

“We got used to living in a challenging environment. There was a language barrier but, because Kenyan children are taught English in school it was a great help,” he said.

Smitten with missionary work and Kenya, the couple regularly take their summer holidays in Kenya, enjoying three-week stints in Kenya, but last year they stayed for four months. The language barrier wasn’t the only difficulty. The couple had to live in a tent for much of their stay, eventually having a round mud hut built for them, and their shower was bushes with a black bag shower suspended overhead. The bag, with a hose attachment, absorbs the sun, heating the water, allowing the couple to wash with a degree of comfort.

“Doing this has really stripped my life back. We don’t bother with a TV and we have become used to living without a lot of the trappings of modern life. In Kenya the nearest town is Nairobi, which is 300 miles away. You can get buy but you need to plan ahead. You need to do things like buy oats for five to six weeks ahead,” said Paul.

Meat for the most part came in tins, like mackerel or tuna and on Christmas Day that’s what they had for their dinner - fish.

“Most days you would not bother with meat. The local people supply you with things like eggs and perhaps a chicken, but there is not much on them, you are mostly sucking bones, but there is plenty of fruit and tastes tremendous. You really are living off the land and local people live on maize, beans and tea,” he said.

Returning to the present, and the arrival of the children, Paul reflects on how it was the couple’s faith which brought about the change in their lifestyle and led to the introductions that led to their desire to be involved and to help the orphans and underprivileged in north Kenya. They were not there long before they realised how the corruption of the country had led to hardship for the poorest people, given rise to alcoholism which was endemic in society leading to even more punishing hardship for families and impacting on children.

“The children suffer as a result. You felt for the children,” he said.

Banding together to help is the key to helping the local people, and the Cowans built a Land Rover for the Dobbins, and Paul and Elizabeth thought it might be lovely to go and see the work the Dobbins were doing for the orphans.

“We stayed with them for a couple of days in Namba in Isiolo. We got to know their work and they told us about how they were bringing a team of children out this year and we said it would be lovely to have them come to Magheramason,” said Paul.

The concert on Friday night will include a voluntary donation being taken up for the children in the orphanage and to help continue the work of Kindfund in Kenya.

There will be no admission charge, but those attending are asked to be as generous as they can afford to be .

There are no administration charges being taken from the donations, so all funds from the concert, or from those who make donations to the church for Kindfund this weekend, will go directly to the orphans and the charity.