Group raising money for aid center in Kenya

Karen Morrison is working to make a difference in Kenya.

She is the founder of Odyssey World International Education Services, a nonprofit group dedicated to raising funds to build a community resource and education center in Nyahururu, Kenya.

She’s been traveling to Kenya on her own for the past six years and wanted to create a center where the locals could learn to read and write English, the national language, build interviewing and resume skills, learn about computers and find jobs in the neighboring city of Nairobi.

Transportation to and from the center is among the many challenges people in the area face, and Morrison is working to get wheelchairs and bicycles donated for the project. She has been collecting business clothing for people to wear to job interviews.

A receptionist at Spokane Detox by day, Morrison runs the nonprofit out of her own apartment, has enlisted plenty of volunteers, and has a board of directors and many donors to help her.

Most recently, she organized a fundraiser at the East Central Community Center – “Carbs for a Cause” – which featured music, crafts and educational speakers.

Held last Saturday, the event raised almost $2,000 for the center and was attended by about 150 people. The KuUmba Drummers welcomed guests, kids got their faces painted and there were representatives of Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda there to answer any questions visitors may have had about their countries.

Morrison also takes groups of people on what she calls educational safaris. For $2,500 to $3,000, which includes airfare, hotels and transportation, people can travel to Kenya with her to learn about the people, the local politics and the needs. Her next trip is in October.

She is also collecting donations and putting together hygiene packs containing washcloths, soap and more, as well as school packs containing pencils, crayons and other supplies.

She said her group tries to send 250 of the packs a year.

“I do this to pass on a legacy to my children,” Morrison said. She feared that she wouldn’t have much to leave Loveita, 27, a schoolteacher in Seoul, South Korea, and Julian, 20, a store manager in Great Falls.

Now she has Odyssey World International Education Services.

“They support this 100 percent,” she said.

The project is expected to cost around $150,000.