Mama Ada has lived in Kenya all her life, many of these years on a farm in a village called Ziwa. Her home has been open to all - a place where people sing, talk, eat, and pray together.
Many of Ada's neighbors are living in poverty. Ada has watched as countless of her community have suffered - many young people without school tuition, and farmers without seeds to plant in their fields.
So when Mama Ada traveled to stay with family in Minnesota several years ago, she shared stories from Kenya with her new friends at St. David's Episcopal Church in Minnetonka.
Mama Ada would hug her new friends and whisper in their ears: "Come meet my people." For she imagined a world where new friends could partner to help her neighbors in Kenya.
Well, several Americans did visit Mama Ada shortly after her return to her farm. These new friends sat together in a green gazebo on Mama Ada's lawn and imagined a plan....to create The Mama Ada Foundation.
Our work is very simple and yet it gives profound opportunities to students and farmers. We award scholarships so that young people can go to school and we give seeds so that farmers can grow a crop to feed their families.
You see, Mama Ada knows that friendships open doors yet unimaginable.