Matthews-Mint Hill - Carolina Weekly Newspapers

Community
Hughes poses with children from Kandaria,
Kenya.
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Kandaria
(continued from page 1)
It’s a fact that wasn’t lost on 17-yearold
Matthews resident Mariah Hughes.
Last year, the teen traveled with fellow
members of Matthews’ Carmel Baptist
Church and Waxhaw’s Five Stones
Church to help renovate the school and
install pipes that brought the first clean
water to residents.
“While we were there, we got to hike
up that hill,” Hughes said. “It was a
tough climb for me, and I could only
imagine how difficult it would be for
these women in labor and children who
are sick.”
Soon after, Project Kandaria was
born. The organization, which aims to
give residents in western Kenya local
medical care, has one goal: fund the
construction of a medical clinic in Kandaria.
The center will be built to Kenyan
government standards to ensure continued
government funding.
A fundraiser in Waxhaw Oct. 14
raised about $27,000 for the project, the
group’s first public fundraiser. Plans for
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the clinic have already been sketched
and are displayed on Project Kandaria’s
website, www.projectkandaria.org.
Churches help raise funds
Carmel Baptist and Five Stones have
teamed up with Christian organization
410 Bridge and Grace Community
Church of Pennsylvania to raise
$168,000, to pay for a medical center.
“This medical center will have a huge
impact,” Hughes said. “Not only will it
affect Kandaria, but it will also affect
surrounding areas. People will realize
the need for medical care in other areas
as well and hopefully do something
about it.”
More than $40,000 has been raised
through Grace Community’s golf fundraisers,
410 Bridge’s grants, and about
$12,000 has come from personal donations
through Project Kandaria.
Kandaria’s medical needs do not simply
consist of a physical facility. According
to Project Kandaria’s website, the
village also needs physicians, nurses
and other clinical care staff, training
for prospective employees and supplies,
such as medicine and operational
tools.
Hughes believes public knowledge
and involvement is essential to improving
the conditions of Kandaria and
other communities in need across the
globe.
“There’s the Third World stereotype
that these people are just looking for
handdowns,” she said. “They’re really
amazing people and some of the most
hardworking people I’ve ever seen. They
just don’t have all the resources.”
Drew Ezzell, a member of Five
Stones, has gained insight to the way
their mission teams and Project Kandaria
have benefitted the village. He
believes Americans can have a dramatic
impact on places like Kandaria.
“We need to realize that we in the
United States are so much better off
than the majority of the world,” Ezzell
said. “It is our responsibility as human
beings to care for those (who) lack basic
necessities.”
Project Kandaria’s website takes donations,
which are given to 410 Bridge
and deposited into a fund designated
for Kandaria’s medical needs.
However, Hughes believes that contribution
should not be strictly monetary.
“410 Bridge is based on a Bible verse,
1 Peter 4:10, which talks about using
your gifts,” she said. “I encourage people
to use their gifts, whatever they
might be, and get involved, not just in
Kandaria, or even Kenya, but in Third
World countries everywhere.” q
Want to help?
For more information about Project
Kandaria or to donate, visit www.project
kandaria.org.
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