www.MaishaProject.org
AFRICAN MINISTRY

UPGRADING "BEST PRACTICES"

Providing child sponsorships, feeding the hungry, creating jobs, and our sincere desire to see orphans and widows come to know Jesus Christ as Savior comes with its own unique set of problems, barriers and even crises. Last year, we lost 18 of our donors because of spiritual warfare, but, now, we are stronger than ever as we move forward. 

The African culture struggles with government corruption, moral decay, and a lack of values, which cannot be remedied overnight. However, our new board of directors, which includes many hard-working members, does an amazing job. The board began with Producers Stephanie Musser and Julie Spencer working tirelessly to bring the ministry into plumb. Laura Watts, who faithfully served the State of Oklahoma as the Feeding Co-Chair with the governor for eight years, served diligently in leadership to launch this partnership. Since then, Laura rotated off and currently serves on the Friends of the Mission board of directors.

HEATHER OLIVE JOINS MAISHA

Heather Olive (pictured above), who works in Oklahoma Senator James Langford's office, took over as Vice President of the board.

AMY BOOTH - CPA AND BOARD MEMBER

A CPA and non-profit specialist, Amy Booth (pictured in the light blue shirt next to Heather), provides invaluable accountability to MAISHA and helped found the organization. Her step-father, a medical doctor, has helped with medical missions since the beginning. 

MAISHA WELCOMES ADE OKEDIJI TO BOARD

Amy brought in Ade Okediji (pictured above), who is our newest board member from Nigeria. As a 53-year-old pastor, Ade serves in Norman, Oklahoma providing oversight to forty-five members. He has a heart for the children of Kenya, Nigeria and all of Africa. We are honored that he works alongside our team. 

MAISHA ALSO WELCOMES OKLAHOMA STATE REPRESENTATIVE - MARK MCBRIDE

Oklahoma State Legislator Mark McBride has supported the ministry of MAISHA for decades and does an outstanding job. We are honored to have him on our board, and his wisdom on providing water wells in Turkana has been invaluable.  Mark has recently traveled on a mission trip for education to Africa with Beatrice, the Founder of MAISHA and had an amazing trip with our students at the Maisha Academy. 

HUMPHREYS MUNAI - BOARD MEMBER, NON-PROFIT COO FROM KENYA

Humphreys Munai (not pictured), originally from Kenya, served his whole life in the non-profit sector and currently works as a COO in Atlanta, Georgia. Humphreys assumed the role of Treasurer of the Board, and what a blessing he is, providing finance and budgeting oversight to the CBO (Community Based Organization) in Kenya and the world. Humphryes helped found the ministry and offers incredible insights into the Kenyan operation and culture.

MARK MCBRIDE

State Leader and Legislator Mark McBride has focused many years on education serving as an elected official in the State of Oklahoma.  He has been a long time supporter of MAISHA and recently traveled to Kenya to be on a medical missions journey. Mark has always desired to experience first hand how MAISHA has been feeding children, educating young people and reaching out to widows and orphans. 

NEW LEGAL UPGRADES

Most exciting is the assembly of our attorneys, who have been with the ministry since the start! In less than ten months based on the suggestions from the previous board members and the legal counsel, we have adopted new BY LAWS, put together a new practice for fiscal accountability and placed "best practices" into the process by transitioning into a check request only between the domestics and international worlds seamlessly. Next, our non-profit focussed on general giving as a fundraising approach, stopped social media interaction with all board members and aligned the United States side of the ministry with the Oklahoma Center for Non-Profit through extensive training. After addressing the issues in the United States, only two mistakes were discovered, and both were reconciled to the board's approval.

BEST PRACTICES IN AFRICA

In the last six months, we have had two teams working diligently on African trips for the purpose of reconciling our books in Kenya. Thanks to those who have served faithfully like Cody, Bea, Tonya, David and other leadership, we have streamlined our operations and are in the process of not over-committing. Streamlining our office staff in Oklahoma City, the board has been meeting monthly since we began this journey together.

CRISIS IN TURKANA 

Recently, while in Kissimu, Beatrice was approached by BBC Africa on a crisis story in Turkana about sharing the tragedy taking place. People are dying, and Bea was asked to see the problem first hand for three days. Bea shared the situation on Facebook, and thanks to the generous support of others, we raised over $4,000 to feed 800 children. More help is still needed in this arena. Please be in prayer for this crisis and how we can meet all the needs in Africa without compromising our commitment to Kissimu.

FALL 2019 MAISHA GALA EVENT

September 20, 2019, at the Skirvin Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City, hundreds gathered for an enormous GALA hosted by MAISHA. The hotel donated the rooms and offered lower food costs for our most important event of the year. We needed people to sponsor tables beginning at $1,500, and they gave. THANK YOU!

This year's gala was a huge success, raising over $100,000 in just one night, our biggest event to date. We thank the Lord for all those who participated and especially thank Senator James Lankford for his moving speech.

DR. KEVIN MCAFEE - CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

VMF stands behind MAISHA in a beautiful way. Our own Dr. Kevin McAfee serves as Chairman of the Board, so please pray for him, for Beatrice and the staff we are growing in this ministry. Your prayers have never been more needed.

Lastly, VMFA will be doing a movie entitled MAISHA BEA. In the same spirit of LEGACY MISSION VILLAGE in Rwanda, we will use the visual language to communicate the story of this powerful non-profit. Pray the Lord's blessing on this new movie!

We especially wish to thank the past donors, board members and staff who have faithfully carried this ministry. Please, prayerfully consider becoming an integral part of this powerful ministry today. 

May the Lord bless MAISHA!

GALA 2019 -  Chairman of the Board, Dr. Kevin McAfee, Founder Beatrice Williamson and U.S. Senator James Lankford & Cindy