St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church
Laytonsville, Maryland

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Mirembe means "peace" and for the past three and a half years, St. Bartholomew's has been providing a measure of peace and stability to 10 Kenyan girls who have been orphaned as a result of AIDS. Kenya is a nation of some 32 million people, almost 2 million are living with HIV or AIDS. In Kenya's male-dominated culture, orphaned, un-educated young women can easily fall between the cracks into abject and continuing poverty.

St. Bartholomew's and Mirembe
The primary focus of St. Bartholomew's International Outreach program is to support the Mirembe Girls Home in Migore-Suna, Kenya. Mirembe was founded and is operated by Sosiness Demo, a retired Anglican priest, and his wife Mary, a high school teacher. The goal of the Mirembe project is to provide "our" girls with the opportunity and the skills necessary to become self-sufficient, contributing members of Kenyan society. Through God's grace, the unwavering commitment and hard work of Father Demo and Mary, and the collective love and generosity of our parish, our girls are living in the new Mirembe facility. Under the loving and supportive care of the Demos, the girls attend school regularly and now have realistic dreams and aspirations for the future.

Support needed to sustain and maintain
Despite this considerable success, much remains to be done at Mirembe. Three of the 8 rooms for the girls are unfurnished and unpainted, which means 6 of the girls are sleeping elsewhere, but otherwise spend their time at the home. The septic system of the facility is incomplete, and there is no electricity or phone service. In addition, the building has yet to receive a critical paint job and the compound requires a perimeter fence - absolutely essential in Kenya.

Outreach reaching out
St. Bartholomew's current level of support is targeted exclusively to supporting the girls - their tuition, books, uniforms and living expenses. But in order to ensure the home's continuing viability, additional support is essential. With this in mind, the International Outreach Committee is reaching out, not just to St. Bartholomew's, but to other parishes and churches - regardless of denomination - to increase support of Mirembe. We encourage you to look into your heart, evaluate your individual capacity to give and determine if you can join us in this important and worthwhile endeavor.

Contributing and pledging
St. Bartholomew's parishioners who want to participate in the project can do so by contributing to Mirembe on an as-needed/as-able basis, or by pledging to support the girls on a regular basis, sponsoring either all or a portion of a girl's living and educational expenses. For complete details, contact either Les Cannon (301/482-0675), or Stevie or Brent Grimes (301/972-3072).

Kenyan school year
In Kenya, there are three trimesters that begin in January, May and September. The students have April, August and December off. Graduation is typically at the end of November. The girls live at the home, and commute about 7 miles each way every day.

Financial breakdown
The estimate is that the ministry needs $92.27 per month per girl for the coming year. That number has increased over the past year, because the savings of the boarding costs have been offset by the reduced exchange rate of Kenya shillings per dollar and by the costs of the staff at the home. We have sent $11,748 (~876,000 Kenya shillings) this year making a total of $26,589 (~2 million Kenya shillings) over the past two years.

Mirembe in 2006
The International Outreach Committee is planning a meeting with those who have been supporting as well as those who are interested in joining this effort. The objective of the meeting is to renew our commitment to Mirembe, evaluate the project thus far, determine what changes or enhancements can be made to increase our success rate and to set objectives for the upcoming year.