Nancy "Reenie" Ernest
Global Teams Missionary since 2001
From
USA
Missionary to
Kenya
Currently on
Home Assignment
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In 1993, Reenie Ernest became a missionary in Kenya.
Operating out of the Rondo Retreat Centre in Western Kenya’s Kakamega Rain Forest, she quickly learned that, outside of the capital city of Nairobi’s metro area, there was no real infrastructure in the country.
People in the outlying areas were desperately poor, living hand to mouth, day to day. Topping these tragic conditions, the AIDS pandemic, one of the worst in Africa, was leaving scores of children orphans with little or no real future.
Thus, Reenie, seeing the need, created a non-profit program to care for as many of these young people as possible. She named it Rachel’s Lament, taken from the biblical passage where Rachel was lamenting for the future of her children. Specifically, the program funds education and job training. Without an education and job skills, Kenyan children are at an extremely high risk to become street people.
Rachel’s Lament is virtually an all-volunteer effort. All monetary contributions are tax deductable.
Reenie and her husband, Hal, along with her granddaughter, Carrie Wallace, go to Kenya each summer to administer care to over 35 children. Many women in the region, to show their love and appreciation for her and her program, have named their little girls after her. Reenie has lost count of the number of Little Reenies running around there.
Since 1999, Reenie has been a missionary with Global Teams and greatly appreciates all the support they have given. To learn more about Reenie and her Rachel’s Lament program log onto www.rachelslament.com and view a video that fully chronicles her mission.