“Is there anyone among you who -- if your child asks for bread -- will give them a stone
instead? Or if the child asks for a fish -- will give a snake?” (Matthew 7: 9-10)

Dear Friends,

When our Lord Jesus spoke these words, He was offering His followers a message of hope . . . telling them that God the Father will care for them as we human beings care for our own children. Now -- as I write this letter to you -- I am hoping we will care for our children as well as God intended us to. Please read on and I will try to explain.

A few days ago, I received a letter from Fr. Bill Moroney -- one of our Missionary of Africa priests now working in Nairobi, Kenya, in East Africa. You may recall that Fr. Bill used to be in charge of our Development Office here in Washington, DC. These days, he is working in Nairobi -- among the African people whom he loves so much.

“There are Sisters working here who need our help,” his letter begins. “They are operating the medical dispensary that our late confrere, Fr. John Lamey, started some years ago.”

“As you probably know, the medical dispensary was created to serve some of the poorest people living on the face of the earth . . . the people of the Eastleigh and Mathare slums in Nairobi. While most of those living in these slums might have been children when they first came here -- as time has moved on they have become young men and women trying to carve out some type of existence for themselves and their families.”

“Because of this, the population of these slums has continued to grow in recent years.
As I write this letter to you, there are thousands upon thousands of young men and women
living in Eastleigh and Mathare who now have toddlers and infants of their own. As a result,
the medical dispensary is needed now more than ever before! Every day young women come
with their babies and toddlers . . . desperately looking for medicine to keep their children not
just healthy, but alive. But as the population grows, the people here need more than just a facility that dispenses medicine. They need urgent care as well!”

“The biggest problem right now is infant death. You see, a lot of the young women who come to the dispensary for medicine while they are pregnant -- deliver their babies at home. They do this because they simply cannot afford the expense of going to a hospital. To make matters even worse, the shacks where these young women live are often infested with every type
of vermin. It is a horrible place for a child to be born.”

“Many of the people are asking if we can provide some type of maternity services -- to help the poorest young mothers and their babies. As a result, the Sisters have decided to change
the ground floor of their convent into a maternity wing.. The local health inspectors have already given their approval!”

“I know that our congregation has many great needs -- but is there some way you can help? The number of infants who need care is overwhelming!”

My dear friend, will you help us reach out to these young mothers and their newborn babies? In order to develop the maternity wing, the Sisters will need an obstetrics/delivery bed; jet suction machines; surgical instruments; an autoclave; incubators; surgical lights; microscopes; 8 beds and additional medicine. In total, it will cost about $41,500 to complete the project.

In all honesty, I really do not know how much you can give. But you have been so kind and
generous in the past -- a real friend to those in need. Now, I am hoping you can do something to help once again. Please know that whatever amount you give -- any amount large or small -- will help us reach out to save the lives of infant children and their young mothers. If they could, these newborn children would be begging us for help . . . how can we turn them away? God bless you for whatever you can do!

Your Missionary Friend,

Fr. John P. Lynch, M. Afr.