Columbus church collects donations for Kenya project - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

COLUMBUS - A Columbus church will soon travel 8,000 miles to show compassion for Kenya. It has made a big difference in a tiny village.

"I never got a chance to grow up in this community but I call this home," said Joshua Kiilu.

Kiilu's parents live about 40 miles from Kenya's capital city of Nairboi in the village of Katisaa, where the population is mostly elderly and very young.

"It's very remote but very stable. It's place where they never got the clashes which were in Kenya two years ago," he said.

They've never had an adequate building or church until now, thanks to Kiilu and the North Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana.

"It's that calling of trying to pitch in very little but will make a lifetime difference in somebody's life or people's life," said Kiilu.

Every other year since 2006, Joshua Kiilu and church members have gone to Katisaa to begin the first phase of the building project and establish a temporary health clinic. This summer, bricks and mortar will cement their vision.

"Providing them with a place where kids can go and get after-school activities, help with homework the long-term goal is to have at least a building we can call a library," said Kiilu.

They hope donations will help stock the shelves with books. Some 500 children in the village's only elementary school will also receive dental hygiene kits.

For Joshua Kiilu, helping his hometown of Katisaa, which means "shine," is the reward of a lifetime that he hopes others will also receive by giving.

"It's that calling of trying to pitch in very little but will make a lifetime difference in somebody's life or people's life," he said.

Kiilu and members of his church will travel to Katisaa this Friday for a two-week stay.

Learn how to donate to the project.