Hello people of Kibera from Montreal, Canada. I just want you all to know that I think of you and and pray for you every night. I visited Kenya for 2 weeks in April 2008 during which time I married a Kenyan woman, she lives with me now in Canada as I have sponsored her here for permanent residence. While I was in Nairobi I saw your rooftops from a distance, I did not enter the district as it was during the post election violence and Mungiki rampage. It saddens me so much that the corrupt Kenyan government and economic elite pocket most of the wealth of the nation while a million of you live in poor conditions. I’m sure most of you are hard working and kind people. Your politicians have higher salaries, nicer cars/homes than ours in a so-called rich country and I think that is a moral obscenity.

I sit in my comfortable, well equipped apartment with clean/hot water on demand, electricity and full municipal services…enjoying free government healthcare. I ask myself what can I do alone to help 1 million people living in Kibera. As a deeply spiritual person who believes anything good can happen, I’m convinced that if I focus on the realization of a miracle without any doubt and from a feeling of love for my fellow man…the miracle can come true.

I think one of the most pressing problems in Kibera is water sanitation…clean drinking water and a decent sewer system for human waste. If you fix that root cause you take care of water borne sickness.

Here is the miracle I propose and I pray to God that he uses me as a vehicle to acheive it…I ask that you join me in this prayer every night before you sleep. Here in Canada we have a big tax free lottery. Every few months the jackpot grows to a staggering /maximum 50 Million Canadian dollars…about 3.5 billion shillings. The odds of winning are about 1 in 28 million. It’s only impossible if you think it is. It’s a random draw and therefore I believe it can be manipulated by a loving God. So I buy tickets every couple of months when it reaches the maximum amount. My promise to God and myself is that if I win it I will hand over a big part of it to pay for a large scale water sanitation project in Kibera. I probably won’t mind buying myself a few luxuries with it, I won’t deny it. But when I pray for it my focus is on you people in Kibera, I say that sincerely.

So please pray along with me even if I am 12,000 Kilometers away. It can happen and will if we believe it can. Remember the simple passage in the Bible ” As ye think so shall ye be. ”

I hope you can publish this letterin the Kibera Journal and you certainly have my permission to do so.

Love from your friend in Canada.

Hakuna Matata

Pierre