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I am an Adventurer , a World traveler , A community minded individual, a People Person , I am Kubwa Jack !
I am married to a wonderful woman that loves and cares for me , Annette .I have a daugher Rececca and son-in-law
David and a beautiful Grand daughter , Brooke . I have a son Brett who has gone back to school full time. I also have
a step son , Michael who has a great life in Atlanta , Ga . Michael also has given us another beautiful Grand daughter,
Kiley. We are also very blessed with Agnes who came to live with us in 1997 from Kenya. She has completed her college
and she has given us two very beautiful twin Grand daughters , Aleyo and Janet. LIfe is good !
I have traveled to Canada ,Mexico , Venezuela , England , Netherlands , several Islands in the Caribbean and I have been
to Kenya East Africa six times and I am planning my return in January of 2009. I have an ever growing affection to the
people of kenya , their culture , their ecology , their economy and their future.
I became interested in Kenya through a very good friend of mine and my wife , Dr. Mark Bean , a local Doctor and
another world traveler. Mark had always had foreign exchange students staying with he and his wife , Rena , and he
asked if we would be willing to be home stay parents for a Kenyan youth .We knew nothing about Kenya and could not
speak swahili , the national language of Kenya , but yes , we would. Mark was the Founder and President of a group of
friends that had started a group named Amesbury for Africa . They were a non-profit group that had orginized in 1986
and had become tied to a small , very rural and agricultural village in western Kenya called Esabalu , through Sister Cities
International. Some of that group had already traveled to Kenya to visit their village several times and were very
knowledgeable about the area and the people that lived there and were about to have their very first exchange of
people from Kenya to the USA. Our daughter , as we introduce her , was one of those people consisting of eleven
youth and two adults. Four of the youth were high school graduates and the others were still students . Each youth
was suposed to home stay with each family from our area for two weeks and then move on to the next family so that
they could see the diversity of the different families and they way that they lived. Agnes stayed with us for the entire
three months that she was in the US. This trip started in July of 1996. In January of 1997 I made my first trip to the
village , I thought with Mark Bean and a nurse, Mary Cooney but , at that same time , Bishop Mundia form the village
passed away so Mark left a couple of days before us to attend the funeral. On that first trip I stayed with Agnes Family
and was welcomed with open but very curious arms , for they had never had a white person stay at their home before
and I had never stayed with an African family before. Everything turned out fantasticly and I have stayed with the
Amasa Family on every trip and concider them all as my extended Family as does my wife who has now made this
trip tp Kenya four times herself. As of the writting of this first page of " My Geocities book " , I am the president of
Amesbury for Africa for my second term and loving the entire experience.Our last two trips we have taken 14 new
visitors including our nephews Jake and Sam and Jakes friend Irene. They were both on both of the last two trips. We
took Irenes friend and co-worker " Sammy " and Maryann Moughan and her Grandson Kyle. This was Maryann and Kyles
second trip. They had gone seven years earlier when Kyle was only 10. Maryann was a past president of the group and
sadly I must say that she passed away about six months after that trip.
In 1997 the Rotary International through the co-operation of the Rotary Clubs of Amesbury , Mass and Kisumu Kenya,
gave us a very large sum of money to start a Water supply system for our village because the residents were getting water
from polluted springs and rivers which did not help the health of the area in general..Through a very long and painful
process , we completed most of our task in 2007 and presently have four boreholes, two 25,000 gallon concrete tanks,
two pump houses and four kiosks and have an underground system that is supplying about half of a population of
some 12,000 people with fresh , clean and very cold " Maji " , water. Life is Good !
Over the past 10 years , Amesbury for Africa , has helped to build additions on schools , we have funded and built a health
Clinic and it is now staffed and operating. We have and are still supplying school books to our schools. We have a fund
raiser going to plant trees in honor of Ester Macomber , the grandmother of one of our members , Katie Nye,and a
member herself and well as a member of another simular group. The project is called " ONE TREE". Last year the people
of our village planter some 16,000 fruit,medicinal and firewood trees.Another project that just started is " One BOOK ".
Each of these projects sell bracelets with the Kenyan colors and either marked by ONE TREE or ONE BOOK and they
sell for $ 2.00 each. Another project that we are working on but are not quite ready to start is our " Literacy " program.
The object of this program is to make reading an interesting and fun thing to do for the young children by having
volunteer young ladies or older sisters after being trained , come into the homes and read childrens story books to the
younger children . This very well may end up being a very hugh project throughout the area. My favorite project is the
" School Uniform Project ". It was started three years ago and I am very proud to say it is chaired by my wife, Annette.
Three years ago, the Government of Kenya made education in Kenya from grade one through grade 8 free to all
students. Our problem was that there are so many orphans of HIV/AIDS and so many very poor students , that they do
not have enough money to eat properly some time and are living with older grandparents or aunts and uncles that have
nothing and can not afford a school uniform. Our idea was to furnish a uniform to each of these children. For $ 20.00
in US money , we can supply a child with a school uniform and a book bag. All of the material is purchased in Kenya and
all of the sewing is done by ladies in the village and they can earn some money for their own families. Each school has
their own school colors so that each student is dresses the same.As of this date , March 28, 2008 , we have supplied
1,175 children with uniforms in six elementary school and also 90 children that attend and live at the school for
deaf students. 100 % of the $ 20.00 goes for the uniforms. We have other fund raisers for our mailing costs and what ever
comes up for expenses. The Rotary Club in Amesbury has an Interact club in the High School that is very active. When Irene
Sammy attended , they were the spark plugs of the club and helped last year to raise enough money to purchase ,
install and connect a Solar refrigerator for the Health Clinic. Life is Very Good !
If you are interested in donating or just finding out more about this very interesting and useful group, just check us on
the WEB at AmesburyforAfrica.org or contact me at my posted e-mail address on this page. I also have about 2000
pictures of our trips and the two Safaris we have gone on. One at Massi Mara and the other a Amboselli " Kilimanjaro ".
I will figure out how to post them in the near future.
I would like to close this writting by Honoring my Parents , William and MaryJane Walton who have both passed away, for
puting up with me for many yeras and my Sisters , Betsy , Shirley and Robin.Also a great Thanks to Annette and my
Children and GrandChildren. LIfe is so very Good !
I would like to add a comment here. I love and respect Oprah Winfret very much. She has come along way from a very
rough start in her early years. We have tried on severl occassions to contact her through e mail and letters but she
never never answers or even acknowledges that we did. WHY ?
www.AmesburyforAfrica.org
