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Meet Esther Makokha, a resilient 55-year-old mother of five and grandmother of four from Kivikiyi village in Webuye Sub-County, Bungoma County, Kenya. A widow, an orphan, and the fifth born in a family of ten children, Esther’s life is a moving testimony of endurance, faith, and grace. Esther lost her husband, the late Jonah Masinde Walucho, in 2002, when she was only thirty-two years old. Jonah’s sudden death changed her life significantly. She was left to raise their five children alone after being abandoned by her in-laws, who came and took away everything she and her husband worked for and owned. The journey was far from easy, but Esther pressed on, driven by love for her children and her unwavering trust in God.
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The Mt. Elgon region of Kenya, situated at the Kenya-Uganda border, has faced decades of hardship from tribal clashes and militia violence between 2006–2008 that left many families displaced, traumatized, widowed, and economically devastated. Many of these affected households rely on low-income activities to make ends meet, so that even affording basic things like sanitary pads for menstruation is considered a luxury. Girls in Mt. Elgon miss up to five days of school each month due to the lack of sanitary pads. This has led many girls to drop out of school, and enter early marriages, which shifts the financial responsibility of providing for them from their mother to their spouse. Other girls who cannot support themselves are exposed to sexual exploitation.
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Harvesting is what every farmer prays for, including Friends United Meeting. The third season of the Ambwere Farm sustainability project began with planting on 7 March 2025, and is currently in the first week of harvesting, which began on 15 August 2025. Ambwere Season 3 saw us shift our focus from planting commercial maize to planting hybrid maize for seed under a contract between Kenya Seed Company and Friends United Meeting. We signed a contract to plant seed maize of H6210 variety on 700 acres out of the 800 acres of arable land in our Ambwere Farm.
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We were driving to my mother’s home in Nashville for our Christmas celebration, and my daughter reacted to a new construction project we hadn’t seen before. Obviously it had been quite a while since we drove south.
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As a barista, mornings now bid me rise at 4 a.m. to fill enough carafes with liquid motivation for the 6 a.m. rush. Before the sun peeks over earth I’ve heard, “Thanks, hon” from the construction foreman with a gravelly, Sam Elliot-like voice; said, “Have a great day,” to half the hospital’s nurses as they caffeinate before their rounds; and poured refills for the jogging club whose daily circuit ends at the espresso machine.
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Not being much of a television watcher, I confess I’ve never actually seen the show Survivor. I understand many people really enjoy it. I simply cannot get my head around why it is so appealing. As with so many other things, I’m probably just missing something.
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Throughout our history, the people known as Friends (or Quakers) keep rediscovering an essential and enduring truth: There is one who speaks to our most basic needs and most significant hopes—Christ Jesus the Lord. Both individually and communally, we are learning to know and follow the Voice that guides us in the way we should go. Together, we seek to understand and obey that truth which sets us free. As a people, we share in the experience of that powerful life which makes all things new. Maybe you are searching for an authentic and transforming faith and community to call home—if so, come in and join us as we seek to know and follow Christ.
Friends United Meeting commits itself to energize and equip Friends through the power of the Holy Spirit to gather people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as Teacher and Lord.
