The students during the donation drive with the Missionaries of Charity – Langata held on campus. The Community Service course gives students an insight into the lives of people in the community around the university. Photos courtesy of Franklin Rashid

By Antonio Longangi

Concluding their community project under the Community Service course (CMS 3700), a group of USIU-Africa students donated several items to the Missionaries of Charity – Langata in a handover ceremony held on Friday, March 26, 2021 on campus. The group consisted of 11 students from various undergraduate disciplines in their final year.

The project was aimed at alleviating some of the needs for the charity, which looks after hundreds of vulnerable and disabled individuals. Primarily funded through individual contribution from students, the project was able to offer three electric massage machines, sets of pegboards for motor skills, diapers, and a supply of toiletries worth over KSH 30,000 donated to the project by Chandaria Industries.

The Missionaries of Charity – Langata is a local branch of the international catholic congregation Missionaries of Charity that was established in 1950 by Mother Teresa (1910-1997) beatified as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. The organization operates in various countries in the world on a mission to provide “wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.” It consists of members who have taken vows of chastity, poverty and obedience dispensing care to vulnerable individuals in various communities around the world. The local branch exercises the same mandate providing care to hundreds of people aged between 12 and 50 and living with disability without caregivers.

The project was supervised by the course instructor Dr. Robi Koki (Lecturer, Journalism Department) who hoped that the project would initiate her students to a culture of service to the community.

“The project was more than an attempt to get good grades, and more about extending our humble privilege and learn how to practically serve the community,” said Nicole Njambi, a group member. Another group member, Michael Appia noted that the charity had a powerful story and engaging them during the project was an honor and a motivation to do more. “It was about supporting the work of one of the most selfless humans the planet has known, Mother Teresa,” he added.

As a university requirement and part of its core values, students engage the community through a mandatory course Community Service (CMS 3700) acquiring an insight into the lives of people in the community around the university. It is also an opportunity for students to exercise their ability to think globally and act locally.