Cyclists Ride to Build a High School

June 5, 2012

BY ANDREA ANIBAL

Bishop Nixon Dingili rode with the group.

Nine participants and three support members recently returned from a fundraising bicycle trek through Kenya.

Cyclists on the 600-mile “Serving Safari,” so named by trip leader John Hay Jr., aimed to raise awareness and $40,000 to build the first-ever high school in Kenya for International Child Care Ministries (ICCM).

Although Hay has cycled long distances in several countries for various Free Methodist causes, one thing was unique about this trip: participation by an in-country bishop. Hay writes on the Bike Kenya blog, “We thank Kenyan Free Methodist Bishop Nixon Dingili for his invitation to do a fundraising bicycle ride in Kenya and for his inspiring participation as a cyclist on the team. Here is a man of both great vision and great heart. He trained seriously and rode the ride of a lifetime with us. I challenge every Free Methodist around the world to dare to follow Bishop Nixon Dingili’s example in projects like this.”

Besides Hay and Dingili, the cyclists included Mark Booth, Megan Booth, Becca Lamp, Bob Burtch, Alex Drummond, Jack Hughey, and Kevin Williams. Kenyan ICCM leaders Daniel Shanzuh and Bernard Kimanzi also participated in several legs of the trip. Ellen and Evan Guse and Emma Buterbaugh, all from Columbus, Ind., served as a support crew in the vehicles driven by missionaries Vickie Reynen and Ken Myers.

Even though $30,000 of the needed $40,000 had been raised for the high school at the time of their trip, the team pressed on, confident that the Lord would use their efforts to make a way for ICCM students to receive a secondary education in Kenya.