Terri Martin

Page 2

Ron made a presentation to St. Paul's about his trips to Africa. I asked a few questions and was generally fired up about the idea of doing something to help. My daughter Heather was with me and spoke with Ron about taking me along. She told him of my background and that she thought I could do a lot to promote his ideas. Ron, being Ron, did not immediately agree. He truly didn't believe I had any real interest. I was a bit "fluffy" by his standards -- I have no technical skills and working in the dirt is not my forte.

As time went on, Ron and I talked more and more about Africa. He was still reluctant about my becoming involved with the project. Ron and a couple of other people were working on plans for a trip to Africa in the summer of 2002. They met over lunch and were putting a rough agenda into shape. After much badgering, I finally pushed so hard that he invited me to one of the lunch meetings. That day Ron saw another side of me. He realized that I just might have something to offer this group. Not everyone had to have a technical bent; someone needed to coordinate "stuff", and that someone might just be me. And so we began to dream -together- and put some of the dreams on paper.

Soon there were four of us meeting regularly but very informally. We worked, we planned, we dreamed. I loved being involved with something that was nebulous but aimed at helping others. One evening we were meeting at my house and brainstorming the formation of a formal not-for-profit. We talked of names. We had been calling ourselves the East Africa Project -- Yuk. We knew Africa was our focus, but would it always be the only focus? Sustainability was a major goal for us. We wanted to help others, but not to own the projects. The people of Africa needed to own the projects. Okay, so we wanted to be international, and to help with development. That was our mission. And, International Development Missions was born.

Late in June, Ron invited a few people who had expressed interest in Africa to meet with John Nodolski of Lifewater International. Lifewater was the group that Ron had first worked with in Africa. That evening, we watched movies of Lifewater trips and listened to people who had worked on many projects tell of their experiences. The more I heard, the more I knew I was onto something that really moved me.

At the Lifewater meeting, I met Cathy Fitzgerald, an engineer and long time Lifewater participant. Cathy had just returned from Bolivia where she had been working with the Peace Corps. Cathy was interested in any project having to do with helping people, especially African people. She had given up a very healthy six-figure position and joined the Peace Corps. I watched her eyes fill with tears as she spoke of the children drinking contaminated water and in such desperate need for medical care. Like Muthoka and Ron, her face lit as she described the joy of the African people.

Recently, Cathy had met a physician who was interested in building a clinic outside the Mara Masai Reserve in Kenya. My mind began to spin: clinic, Africa -- Muthoka, my old and dear friend. I had not talked with or seen him since my return to Reno but I remembered his dream. I told Cathy about Muthoka and his connection to Kenya. We decided that I needed to contact him and set up a time for him and Cathy to talk together. I was so excited -- a chance to talk with my old friend Muthoka. I called him the next day and coordinated a meeting between him and Cathy. Muthoka talked with Cathy and the physician in great detail.

Muthoka and I had made a date to meet for coffee after work. We met -- it was as if we had seen each other the day before. He came armed with photo albums, pictures of the home he had built for his father in the Mua Hills. We talked and talked. Again, I was humbled and fascinated by this man. I invited him to come to our next meeting. In my heart, I knew he belonged with us. He could help us focus on the needs in Africa.

At the next group meeting, held at my daughter Courtnay's home where I was babysitting, a bit of prodding got Muthoka to tell the group of his dream. He, like Ron, is not one to talk boastfully of the things he does. We learned that much of the medical equipment necessary for a clinic was already stored in a garage in Machakos Town, Kenya. We listened as he explained that there was a church - and African Inland Church - willing to donate land for a clinic in the Mua Hills, near his ancestral village. But, he was overwhelmed. He said that he realized that he could no longer do this on his own. The cost of this project was much more than he could afford.

We asked him to describe the clinic, to show us a sketch. His face was blank; he had never put pen to paper to design the clinic. So, right then and there, we all sat down on the floor and together began to sketch Muthoka's dream -- a clinic for his people. Before our eyes, the dream suddenly had form -- rough, but it was becoming a reality. [Later, Muthoka's son made proper architectural drawings from the sketch.] I felt so alive and throughly fired up. I have never felt as spiritually moved by anything as I did that afternoon. I knew I had found our focus and I was hooked. We were going to build a clinic. We were so naive we did not even question ourselves. We just moved forward.

We elected a Board of Directors, wrote bylaws, and incorporated in the State of Nevada. We officially became International Development Missions (IDM), Inc. It was so exciting. IDM became a central focus for me. All of my spare time, and even some that wasn't spare, was spent developing the operation, setting up books, and all that goes with a start-up project. It felt so good -- and a bit overwhelming.