Published: Thursday, 3rd April, 2008 9:50am

Mary"s dream almost complete

A CHARITY coffee morning next Saturday (April 12) could seal one woman"s remarkable church building project in one of Africa"s poorest regions.

The event, at Haddington"s Trinity Centre from 10am to 12.30pm, is the latest in a series of fund-raisers organised by big-hearted Mary Wallace on behalf of St Peter"s Presbyterian Church of East Africa at Ihindu, Kenya.

In just two years, Mrs Wallace has raised an incredible £15,500 towards the £17,000 cost of building a stone church at the remote settlement, 50 miles north of Nairobi.

It all started following a holiday to Kenya with her husband Henry. While on safari, they swapped details with their tour guide and driver, Sammy Karanja.

'It was only after we got back to Scotland and started e-mailing Sammy that he told us about his church at Ihindu,' she told the Courier.

'He revealed they were conducting their services in a corrugated shack and were in need of a proper stone-built church. At the time, I thought I could never manage to raise the large sum of money required to make his dream become a reality.

'I thought I might be able to contribute a little, so I arranged for him to send me some photographs of the church and I had a fundraising leaflet printed. It all went from there and before I knew it I was totally immersed in it all.'

Mrs Wallace"s fund-raising events include opening her garden at Yestermains, Gifford, to the public, and selling home-made jam.

She has been supported by members of Haddington"s St Mary"s Parish Church - which is forming an official link with Ihindu through the Church of Scotland - and her own Holy Trinity Church in Haddington.

'I have been taken aback at the public"s generosity and, God willing, we will have raised the remaining £1,500 required to complete the building work by the end of this year,' she said.

Once the new church is opened the original small corrugated metal church will be used as a pre-school facility and it is hoped this will eventually be used as a base for a clinic.

'The local hospital is many miles away and there is no public transport from the village,' said Mary.

'There is no electricity or running water in the village and life is hard. With the recent troubles, Kenyan people need to know that there are still people caring about them.'

Mary was present at the laying of the church foundation stone late last year, and plans to return to Kenya in November.

Sammy Karanja and his wife Terry are due to visit Haddington in May.