Goodbye Maxine

Maxine Talbert, one of the greatest supporters of Christ's Gift Academy, passed away this past week after a battle with cancer. Maxine first visited CGA in 2004 with two friends from her home church of Bethany Presbyterian Church in Seattle. They came bearing book bags that members of their church had made for each one of our students. She had visited very many different ministries in Kenya, but for some reason CGA was her favorite place. There were three more visits to Mbita in the next few years after their first visit. She was the main catalyst in mobilizing her church to support ministries in Kenya especially CGA.

Maxine and her husband Gary had even talked about moving to Mbita and becoming full-time missionaries serving here. It wasn't meant to be, but we are happy that Maxine is at home in Heaven. She will be dearly missed by many friends in Kenya.

Our orphan overseer, Lillian, shared a story today as we were greiving the passing of Maxine. She was recalling how much Maxine loved the song Tutaimba Hosanna. It is a Kiswahili song that means "We will sing Hosanna" and it talks about dancing around the throne of God praising Him. A few years ago they had gone and ministered to one of the CGA widow groups in Nyamanga. When they were returning home, Maxine kept singing it and dancing along the dirt road. She drew many amused looks from the Africans watching this Mzungu (white person) sing and dance along the road. It is comforting to think that now Maxine is literally in the presence of the most High God and dancing around his throne singing Tutaimba Hosana.