Church donates $1 million to help drought-stricken Kenya
Donation helps the Red Cross purchase and distribute food and water in the country in the Central Africa Area
People in Katatek, Kenya, listen to speakers at an event marking the Church’s donation of food and water for people in drought-stricken Kajiado County on March 16, 2023. The Church donated $1 million and worked with the Red Cross and Kenyan government to purchase, transport and distribute the food and water.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Church donates $1 million to help drought-stricken Kenya
Donation helps the Red Cross purchase and distribute food and water in the country in the Central Africa Area
People in Katatek, Kenya, listen to speakers at an event marking the Church’s donation of food and water for people in drought-stricken Kajiado County on March 16, 2023. The Church donated $1 million and worked with the Red Cross and Kenyan government to purchase, transport and distribute the food and water.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is donating $1 million to provide food and water for people in the country of Kenya, which is struggling through a three-year drought.
Elder Ian S. Ardern, General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Africa Central Area presidency, recently traveled to Katatek, on Kenya’s southern border with Tanzania. There he oversaw distribution of 1,000 containers with enough food to sustain families of six for up to four weeks.
“The experience reminded me of the Savior and the feeding of the 5,000,” Elder Ardern wrote on the Africa Central Area’s Facebook page. “You will recall that it was a lad (John 6:9) who brought the five loaves and two fishes, and, figuratively, on this occasion, the Church was the lad. We brought what we could and felt that the Lord would bless the Church’s effort.”
Elder Ian S. Ardern, General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Africa Central Area presidency, center, is joined by his wife, Sister Paula Ardern, and Kaijado County leaders and recipients of food and water donations from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in collaboration with the Red Cross and Kenyan national government in Katatek, Kenya, on March 16, 2023. Rebecca Miano, Cabinet secretary in the Ministry of the East African Community for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, is to the left of Sister Ardern.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The March 16 event marked the first step of the Church’s donation of 40,000 containers of food over the next month to 240,000 people living in four drought-stricken counties of Kenya, reported the Church’s Africa Newsroom.
The Church is working with the Red Cross and the Kenyan national government to purchase, transport and distribute the food.
Rebecca Miano, Cabinet secretary in the Ministry of the East African Community for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, thanked the Church for the donations.
“We are here today because our brothers and sisters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have graciously heeded our calls,” Miano said. “Indeed, the Bible in the Book of James [chapter] 2, calls for us to practice faith in action. Caring for vulnerable people and the hungry is one of the ways we can be true to the scriptures.”
Kajiado County Deputy Governor Martin Moshisho Martine, left, greets Elder Ian S. Ardern, second counselor in the Africa Central Area presidency, Sister Paula Ardern, right, and humanitarian missionaries Sister Homer and Elder Homer, center, during a handover ceremony of food and water for drought-stricken Katatek, Kajiado County, in Kenya, on March 16, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Elder Ardern was joined at the event by other Church members engaged in humanitarian projects for east Africa.
“The Church is made of people, and people took from their pocket and put into an envelope funds that allow the purchase of these food products to help so many people,” he said that day. “So, I pause for a moment and express my gratitude for faces unseen and hearts that have freely given.”
Elder Ardern then wrote on Facebook that like many members of the Church around the world, he and Sister Ardern donate to the humanitarian funds of the Church — but he never expected to see those funds at work in person.
“It is quite an emotional experience seeing the ‘Church in action’ and knowing it is possible because of the thoughtful and generous members from all over the world who contribute to those in need,” Elder Ardern said.
“President Spencer W. Kimball said: ‘God shows His love to us through others.’ Once again, Sister Ardern and I felt His love for the grateful recipients.”
Representatives from the Red Cross distribute food purchased from a $1 million donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to people in drought-stricken Katatek, Kenya, on March 16, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
People receive food donations from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Red Cross in Katatek, Kajiado County, Kenya, on March 16, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
People in Katatek, Kenya, listen to remarks at a handover ceremony marking a $1 million donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help the Red Cross purchase and distribute food in the drought-stricken area on March 16, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
