Cicilia Koisenke visits Richmond to nurture her Maasai home

By Debora Timms

Nearly 14 years ago, Richmonder Suzanne Hall traveled to Southern Sudan as part of a St. James’s Episcopal Church medical mission to administer meningitis vaccinations to children in that region.

At the time, meningitis “was moving in a wave across Uganda and Sudan,” Ms. Hall, former director of stewardship and development at St James’s Episcopal, recently recalled.

After stopping in the Maasai Mara village with the medical team, Ms. Hall visited a Maasai marketplace that featured traditional beaded jewelry. There she met Kenya’s Cicilia Seleian Koisenke, now a mother of 10 children and someone she describes as “a visionary leader.”

Since their meeting, Mrs. Koisenke has traveled several times to the U.S. to sell beaded items and to raise funds for the Maasai children’s school. From March 17 through 23, Ms.