Newtown Congregational Church invites the public to hear Pastor Nelson Ida on Thursday, May 12, at 7 pm, in the Great Room of the church, 14 West Street.

Pastor Ida will give a presentation on the Kakamega Orphans Care Centre, as well as the challenges orphans face in Kenya today and the importance of faith, community, and purpose in healing trauma.

Friends of Kakamega is a nonprofit organization, based in Freeport, Maine, that supports the USFW (United Society of Friends Women) Kakamega Orphan Project in Kenya. The grassroots undertaking assists children whose parents have died of AIDS and other diseases.

Kenyan Quaker women founded the project in 2001 as a feeding program for local orphans. The following year they partnered with Friends of Kakamega and have since devoted their lives to serving the needs of these children. Since the project's inception, hundreds of children have been reached. The project is currently supporting 250 children, receiving primary, secondary, and postsecondary education.

Pastor Ida is an inspiring Quaker pastor and compelling speaker who has lived and worked at Kakamega Orphans Care Centre since 2008. His deep thoughtfulness, spiritual insights, high energy, and loving perspective change the lives of project children and all who know him. He will provide a look inside a Kenyan orphanage, and give additional insight into the lives of the children the project aids.

For more information on the Kakamega Orphans Project, visit friendsofkakamega.org.

For additional information about the May 12 program, contact Reverend Carra McFadden, transitional associate minister at NCC, at carra.mcfadden@gmail.com or 802-490-0522; or call NCC at 203-426-9024.

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