News Story

Stake President Launches Mormon Helping Hands Project

Hundreds of Mormons in Nairobi set to offer service to Kenyatta National Hospital

This year’s Mormon Helping Hands project is designed to have members of the fifteen congregations of the Nairobi  Stake to visit a pediatric ward at Kenyatta National Hospital on the Saturdays of 5th July, 12th July, 19th July, 26th July, 2nd August and 9th August from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. At the hospital the members will play with the children and help them to read and perform any other tasks that will be advised.

During the start of this project, about 30 members of the Church from Upper Hill and Ongata Rongai congregations gathered at one of the cancer pediatric wards of the hospital to help approximately fifty children to read, write and have fun by playing games. The other thirteen congregations of the Church will also be going to the hospital every Saturday to continue with the service until 9th August 2014.

A major clean-up and blood donation drive at the hospital is planned for 16th August 2014 which close to 1000 members of the Church projected to participate.

Those who attended this launch were touched by the experiences they had with the children, some of which were in pain initially but whose faces glowed with the interaction. Brother Betterman Simidi wrote on his Facebook account after the visit, “Children are closer to God than any of us.”

Every year, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints carry out a community service drive commonly referred to as, “Mormon Helping Hands”. During this time Church members partner with local communities, other faiths, corporate organizations and the media to conduct projects ranging from clean-up exercises, planting of trees, donation of blood, working at health centers, digging trenches, unblocking drainage, visiting children’s homes and other less advantaged members of the society, among others. Projects are being planned or ongoing in Kisumu, Mombasa, Naivasha, Chyulu, Eldoret, Kitale, Mtito Andei, Kilili and other places. It is estimated that over 5000 volunteers will have participated in these projects when they culminate on 16th August 2014. 

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