Ahadi Family Kenya

Dear Extended Family,

          Greetings from Kenya.  We have just had an exciting week-end when 3 of our Ahadi boys graduated from Daystar University with Bachelor degrees (from left to right, Gilbert, Victor and Paul with my husband and me in the middle). Around 80 guests came to our house to celebrate with them and were served by our “alumni” boys who had prepared the 3 goats, rice, stew, chapati, and salads, and I baked 4 of my famous cakes. The boys did a great job.

          Below are some of the 25 Ahadi boys and houseparent who managed to come for the occasion. Others were busy serving guests, and others couldn’t come because of school. Seeing their big brothers finish university is an inspiration to the younger ones. 

Gilbert, who  was secretary of Daystar Christian Fellowship, was given the Evangelism Award for successfully planning and carrying out an evangelistic trip to Rwanda and Burundi with students. His major was marketing. He also preached, sang and played his guitar for Canini Beehive, a local orphanage once per month. Around a dozen of those orphans came for the celebration.

Paul missed graduating with honors by .01 point! His major was Management Information Systems, and he is the designer of our website http://www.ahadifamilykenya.org. He was also in student government in which he was the one to arrange for student busing, health care insurance, the catering contract in the dining hall, etc.

Victor was busy helping to edit the student newspaper while doing his degree in Communications which is Daystar’s first and most famous major, even gaining recognition from the UN for its quality. We are thankful for the sponsors who made the education of these 3 young men possible.  We look forward to seeing these boys blossom further as they bless Kenya with their expertise and lead with a servant’s heart.  Pray that they may find good jobs in a country of nearly 50% unemployment.

To the left is a photo of 3 of our board members who graced the occasion. I am taking the photo but appear in other photos. The only missing member was attending her own daughter’s graduation from MIT! (She had received the highest score in Kenya for a girl on the national exam a few years ago.) None of our board members receive payment for serving on the board, by the way. On the left is John Nderitu Macharia who is an architect.  Then there is Rev. John Katee who is a psychologist at Kenyatta National Hospital. On the left is my husband, Jon Masso, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Daystar University. Lucy Kimeria, who was in the US, is a retired Standard Chartered Bank employee, who worked in human resources. I am a library consultant occasionally, but mainly administrator and more importantly Mom of Ahadi Family Kenya (a volunteer position), largely through mobile phone, online banking, and zipping around in my car, driving through the bush to Ahadi from my home 15 minutes away and to Nairobi. 

          Six of our boys are in “limbo” as they have finished high school and want to continue their training in college or university.  Some are pursuing cheaper courses or doing nothing because the funding is not available for them to do anything else.

I am especially concerned about Michael who was accepted at Daystar in pre-university but does not have a sponsor yet to begin (pictured in the hat on the right at the funeral of his father). He is living in a slum, painting greeting cards while he waits. He is the oldest of 7 orphans, 3 of whom are Ahadi boys (the others are girls). Around $5,000 per year would allow him to begin in August. This can be paid in installments.  I know that coming up with that big of a contribution is difficult.  In fact, two of our boys began university last year, and their sponsors are unable to continue with their tuition payments. If enough of us pool our resources and send contributions marked specifically for college/university boys, we can help these boys finish their educational training. Please pray about it. Last year, sponsors sent Kes. 2,177,000 (US$32,000) for 12 boys in colleges and universities.

          Having said the above, I cannot minimize the need of a steady income to keep Ahadi Family Kenya thriving and do not want current donors to divert their money to the college fund. Only about 1/3 of our income comes from regular contributors, so each month as we face the usual bills of food, rent, salaries, petrol, utilities, transport, and education we depend on your good will. Thank you to each who have contributed in the past, and we encourage new people to come on board as well. Our audited report for 2008 shows that we spent on these running expenses Kes. 4,265,169 (US$61,000) which is on average, per month, around Kes.355,000 (US$5,100). Approximately 1/3 of this is for educational costs.

          The fact that I said we spent it means that God provided it through you following the promptings of his Holy Spirit to be generous.  Thank you.

          My husband and I will be coming to the US for the month of July to visit two of our daughters and their families in Maine and Massachusetts as well as other friends and relatives and our home church. (Another son and daughter live in Southern Sudan and Kenya, so we see them at other times.) We will be bringing with us an 11-minute colorful video that we have just produced, thanks to a sponsor, showing lots of photos and short video clips of Ahadi Family Kenya.  It also showcases our boys singing and dancing a really peppy original song entitled, “I Want to Give You Thanks And Praise,” written by one of our boys, Clement. I know you will really enjoy it, especially the youth. I even find myself waking up in the night singing the tune and feeling like dancing (and I’m not a dancer). Please write to Dave Wassenar at 85 Heights of Hill St., Whitinsville, MA 01588 to request a free copy. We hope you will also show it to your friends and churches so that more people will be aware of our work here and can expand our extended family of concerned and supportive “relatives.”

Be blessed, and be a blessing to others, especially the poor and vulnerable.

In Christ,

Phyllis Masso

Ahadi Mom

Financial contributions may be made to our tax-deductible organization in the US called SCREAM--USA and sent to Dave Wassenar, 85 Heights of Hill St., Whitinsville, MA 01588 or contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for wiring info from other countries. 

PayPal can also be used using our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it account. We have successfully received donations so far from England and Australia using PayPal.

Donations in Kenya can be given to Jon or Phyllis Masso at Daystar University. Call 0733-713484 to make arrangements.  Cheques in Kenya can now be made payable to Ahadi Family Kenya, or can be electronically banked to the NIC bank, Masaba Road branch, account number ICA 1 110 000432 (bank code is 41-102)