POWERGRAMS

COMMUNITY 23 RETIREE, WIFE TEAM WITH KENYANS TO AID CHILDREN When Steve Robertson's wife approached him 10 years ago about building an orphanage in Africa, it was no surprise. After 47 years of marriage, he knew his high school and college sweetheart well. "During high school, Charlotte had wanted to be a missionary," said Steve. "She has been the most godly person I've ever known, so I wasn't surprised when she told me what she wanted to do." Charlotte's idea has blossomed beyond her wildest dreams. It started with the opening of Mescal's Children's Center of Hope (MCCH) in 2015, an orphanage in Luanda, a village in western Kenya. Now a nearby school has been added for at-risk children in the community, thanks to Charlotte, Steve and their team of partners in the U.S. Answering the call Charlotte said it all began after she became friends with Ruth Owuor, a woman from Kenya who was living with her daughter in Montgomery. Owuor sold African jewelry and shirts at her small shop in the Selma Mall. She sent the money raised from sales home to Kenya to support fatherless children in a building operated by another daughter. "Ruth would talk about her children in Kenya and how she wanted to go back there," said Charlotte. "For a while, I thought she was talking about her own children. But I found out that this remarkable woman was supporting 30 children on her own. What kept her here was, 'Who would take care of the orphans?' if she returned." Charlotte said that's when she first felt the call to help. She encouraged her church, Frazer United Methodist in Montgomery, to take up a collection for the children, and the response was overwhelming. Charlotte invited Owuor to share the orphans' story at the church she and Steve were members of growing up in Lineville. When a man pressed a $1,000 check into Owuor's hand after the service, Charlotte said her own path became clear. "We didn't go there to fundraise," said Charlotte, adding that she had not slept for a month as she wrestled over the issue of how to respond. "That was when God spoke to me and said, 'You just tell the story of what's going on in Kenya, and I'll touch hearts.'" Meanwhile, Owuor had met Charlotte's mother, Mescal Kelley Griffin, and the two felt an immediate connection. Later, people at Griffin's funeral told how she had helped the Lineville community. Owuor was inspired by Griffin's life and decided to rename the old orphanage in her honor. "At that time, I was sending money home to help a small group of vulnerable children, but it was not enough," said Owuor, founder and executive director of MCCH. "I heard the testimonies of how Mescal had taken children to church and families to the doctor. That encouraged me greatly and influenced my ministry." Rebuilding lives Owuor returned to Kenya in 2012, when MCCH received nonprofit status. Steve and Charlotte traveled with a mission team to Luanda to meet children and get a firsthand look at living conditions. "It was really heartbreaking to see how the kids were living," said Steve, who retired in 2010 as Alabama Power Montgomery Call Center manager. "The children were living in a compound with a falling-down building and awful toilets." The Robertsons went home to Alabama and began "telling the story" in earnest, with the goal of building an up-to-date orphanage. Charlotte and Steve Robertson with children in Luanda. Robertsons during their first trip to Kenya in 2012.

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