Bread for the World
The word companion has its roots in the Latin com, meaning together with, and panis, meaning bread. To companion someone literally means to break bread with one another. This is what we do together every time we celebrate the Eucharist. We break bread together. The bread we break is no ordinary bread. It is the body of Jesus, blessed, broken and shared. Because it is extraordinary food, we who receive it are called to be extraordinary--to love and to serve as Jesus did, in extraordinary ways. One parish family is doing just that. Here is their story.
Robin Hagemeyer’s journey began when her daughter Corey went to Malindi, a town on Kenya’s coast, two years ago for a medical internship. During her stay, she visited an orphanage and was appalled at what she saw: 28 children living in a 3-bedroom house with no clothes eating only five meals a week. She called her parents who were planning a visit to Kenya and asked them to bring material goods for the children. Weeks later, Robin and her husband Todd arrived with six suitcases full of supplies. Once Robin and Todd saw the situation with their own eyes, they knew they had to help. Since then, the Hagemeyer family, which also includes older sons Eric and Christopher, have helped raised enough money to feed, clothe and educate the now 31 children.
Robin says she has noticed a huge difference in the children, “It’s really amazing to see the difference a year of real food makes in the life of the kids. They look entirely different. They looked almost skeletal when we were there before. Some of the teeny ones are 7 years old but looked like 3-year olds because they’ve never had any nutrition. Now their faces are filled out. They look like real children. The poverty there is something we can’t imagine.”
Robin says education is the key to counteract the poverty and secure a brighter future.
Because the public school system in Kenya is unreliable, part of their resources goes to sending all 31 children to private school. Five of the children attend a STEM boarding school north of Nairobi. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Robin says the past two years have been life-changing, “I see Jesus in every one of these kids. If you meet them, it’s hard not to, because they love you unconditionally. They just want you to be with them. They just want to know that you care.” For more information, visit www.homeofhopemalindi.org, or email Robin: rhagemeyer@mac.com.
Like the Hagemeyers, all of us are called to be blessed, broken and shared. Today, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a good day for us to ask where and to whom we are called.
