Raising Funds for Treatment

....Chris Story....my son has down syndrome and this is the continuation of his story...

Raising funds from others in any circumstance is not a piece of cake. It needs well planned coordinated and a very wide sympathetic network of people. And yet again, Godly intervention can wipe away the tears of any mother seeking to provide medical care for their child.

I work in the social sector and had a network of people who I thought were well placed and connected to provide me the support I needed for my son. I went out full blast to talk to family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and beneficiaries of projects I implemented. My friends helped me set up a facebook page informing people concerning Baby Chris fundraiser, set up WhatsApp page for information and even announced it at my local church. I went to heart foundations, organizations and groups. by the end of the day, 90% of those I approached gave me a negative response or no response at all. But I will forever be grateful to Nafisa hotel Manager of Castle Royal Hotel Mombasa, when approached by my colleagues, she gave us the biggest hall in the hotel for free to hold the fundraiser, Grace Ajode who went out full force to mobilize every person we knew both in Kenya and abroad to give to the course and kept the facebook page running, Pastor Chege of Glory Tabernacle for being there, taking the front seat and assuring us that with God all is possible and mobilizing so many of his friends to stand with us.

On the fundraising day, less than 50 people came for the fundraiser and on the natural in such a big hall, it looked like were never going to make it. None of the big shots I invited whom I had worked with turned up, nor send their contribution. But God be praised, out of the people who turned up, 80% were people from my local church, family and friends. Through them we managed to raise $6000 within a span of 2hrs!, together with the mobile money we had collected earlier, we had $8000. To us God had come through and I knew the rest will be easy.

I later learned that God always has a plan for everything, in all things he desires to be glorified. Those who were invited and did not come nor send their contribution, were not meant to be part of Baby Chris Journey and I embraced them as such. Also if the guys with the big monies came, maybe they would have said, ‘if it wasn’t for my contribution , that baby would not be alive today’ hence taking the glory for themselves instead of God.

This lessons have been valuable in my life and have taught me that God will not allow just anybody to be part of my life or be involved in it. He sets up specific people for specific situations along the way to meet my needs. And this he did throughout our journey to India and back