Two years ago, exchange student Lydia Odhiambo attended Clarion-Goldfield-Dows High School. Lydia is from Kenya and was in the U.S. through the Iowa Resource for International Service’s Youth Exchange and Study Program. Tamara and Bob EnTin, along with Dr. Jon and Becky Ahrendsen acted as her host families. During the 2018-2019 school year, Lydia made many friends among the students as well as adults in our community. She volunteered often at the movie theater and helped with other projects in the community. She was generous enough to share photos and stories about her home and culture during a special presentation at the library early on in her stay. Lydia attended both the Lutheran and Presbyterian churches in town.
According to her former host parent, Bob EnTin, Lydia is now back in Kenya. Her generous spirit has continued in her home country. EnTin reports that Lydia has been working to transform a neighborhood trash heap into a community garden in her town.
EnTin shared an update about Lydia in hopes of helping her and her family. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Lydia’s father has been unemployed since March. Unfortunately, the family can no longer afford the rent to live in their home in the city. Her family wants to move to the country on land they inherited, but the recent rainy season flattened the mud hut they planned to live in.
EnTin and others are working on efforts to provide the family with a new home. Sukup in Sheffield, Iowa, makes Safe T Homes that can be shipped to Kenya. According to their website, these homes, which can be assembled on-site with simple hand tools, measure 18-feet in diameter and are made entirely of metal, making them resistant to termites and moisture. Each home can sleep 10 or more and features a double-roofed system that displaces heat, a full-size, lockable steel door, two windows that can be locked from within and a water collection system. You can see what the homes look like at safethome.com.
The EnTins are working to raise funds to get one of these Iowa-made homes shipped to Kenya for Lydia and her family to live in. They are hoping to raise $8,000, the cost of building and shipping. To that end, they have started a Go Fund Me page. People can donate to the fundraiser by going to https://gf.me/u/yyza5j or you can find it by searching “Lydia’s home, Clarion IA” at gofundme.com. As of September 22, the amount donated had reached $2,000.
