By FORRESTER PACK/Murphy News Service

 The distance between Maple Grove, Minnesota, and Nanyuki, Kenya is well over 8,000 miles. However, with the important link these two cities share, they may as well be neighbors.

“With the services of Imara International, a volunteer is helping make a huge difference in the life of a mother and for the children. These children can go out into the community […] before they come to Imara, these children don’t have much hope. They may not be able to attend school, they may live on the street, they may not have clothes or shelter […] Imara is a rescue house helping people for a lot of different reasons,” Barb Kula said.

Kula serves as board secretary for Imara International, a Maple Grove-based non-profit organization, and recently returned from a visit to Nanyuki in October. Imara will hold a fundraiser Sunday, Dec. 6 at Maple Grove’s Rush Creek Golf Club to gain financial resources for the creation of Imara Village, an expanded social service shelter in Nanyuki dedicated to assisting young women in need. Imara’s current facility is a private home that is nearly overwhelmed serving nine mothers and nine children in a roughly 2,000 square-foot area. The children range from around a month old to roughly age 4.

 Imara International

Kula and many others are continuing a vision sought by Imara’s executive director Carol Erickson.

A Concordia University graduate with a master’s degree in human services, Erickson first visited Kenya about a decade ago and bore witness to the many inequities young women and mothers endure daily: lack of educational or employment opportunities, risks of violence, and the grim cycle of poverty. Determined to help, Erickson thought the creation of a learning and care center that offered social services and inspiration for some of Nanyuki’s most oppressed people could a long way to exacting meaningful change.

Fred Hegele, vice-chair of Imara’s board of directors, said he couldn’t be prouder to be a part of the vision Erickson helped create.

“We are providing education to the mothers in Nanyuki, who in most cases are in the early skills of math and reading,” Hegele said. “We are also providing vocational skills for them-baking, sewing, cosmetics. We include parenting support, early childhood care and spiritual support.”

Several faith communities in the United States partner with Imara’s efforts; Erickson was and remains director of children and family ministry at Messiah United Methodist Church in Plymouth.

After helping construct the administrative and business model of Imara four years ago, Kula said she thinks the effort has greatly benefited the local community. To continue building upon the effort, Kula hopes the fundraiser will help much-needed expansion.

“The current house we use has its challenges. It’s cracking, due to expanding and contracting from wet and dry patterns,” Kula said. “We’re bursting at the seams with the amount of people involved in a relatively small space. While it’s enough to get by, we want to serve more mothers and children, but we also need proper accommodations too.”

Fundraiser and beyond

Kula continued by explaining how the 2015 Holiday Gala Fundraiser will help fulfill Imara’s plans to expand the facility to eventually serve 100 participants at one time-50 mothers and 50 children. Imara Village will be about 20 acres in size, with five acres dedicated to residences, and 15 acres used for crops and animals.

“The local community, from our moment of arrival, was very supportive of our efforts because there is zero [administrative and financial] support for such in effort in Kenya. I would say that four years later, I am [grateful] for the support and encouragement the local community has put forward assisting Imara,” Kula said. “Medical and mental health, spiritual help, supportive neighbors […] I’ve worked all over the world, and Nanyuki has embraced us in such a good way. At the fundraiser, people will hear even more about Imara through Carol Erickson, who will provide an update. Sue Badeau, an advocate for at-risk children, will be our keynote speaker. This will be both a time to raise money and a time to celebrate our accomplishments.”

Hegele said he is excited about the fundraiser because of the chance it offers to deepen and create new partnerships among groups interested in what Imara offers.

“I would estimate that between half and two-thirds of Imara’s supporters are associated with Messiah United’s community, but we have recently partnered with the United Methodist Church of Taylor’s Falls, a Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, and another church in Virginia,” Hegele said. “Carol’s [Erickson] hometown church in Spokane, WA is among our supporters. We even have a small church in Hawaii that is supportive of the effort in Kenya.”

More information on the fundraiser can be found at the “Building Imara Village” webpage or http://imarainternational.org/. It is scheduled to take place at the Rush Creek Golf Club, Sunday, Dec. 6 from 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Reporter Forrester Pack is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.