Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Banquet Recognizes Kenya With Love

The Rev. Noland Henson and Pastor Terry Henson have spent over 20 years serving not only their local community but also a community on the other side of the world. Their nonprofit organization, Kenya With Love (KWL), works with organizations in Kenya to support hundreds of children in orphanages and children’s homes, helping provide them with better living conditions and education.

On January 16, the Hensons and 16 other civil and human rights activists were honored during the 38th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Banquet. The ceremony took place at La Fontaine Bleue in Glen Burnie and featured Governor Wes Moore as keynote speaker.

“It’s always gratifying to be recognized for the work that you’re doing,” Terry said. “I’m always mindful that it’s very much a group effort, a team effort … So I was real pleased and excited that some of them could be there as well.”

KWL was founded over 20 years ago, during the husband-and-wife-duo’s time leading New Life Church in Arnold, which has since closed. Friends of a friend from Kenya gave a presentation at the church about feeding beans and rice to hungry children, leading the Hensons to take interest in helping kids in Kenya. Since the foundation of KWL, the organization’s impact has grown to help hundreds of kids across different children’s homes and orphanages, prisons and schools.

“We work with 10 different organizations that we help over there,” Noland said. “A lot of them do Christian ministry. I’m mostly concerned with humanitarian work.”

For some of those organizations, KWL provides the primary funding, while for others, KWL steps in to help with emergency situations.

During the second week of February, a team of more than 30 people from KWL, including Noland, will take an annual trip to Kenya. Many of the organizations KWL works with have communicated things they need assistance with.

The Happy Life Children’s Home Juja campus will receive new tracksuits and fleece sweaters for 120 orphans. In previous years, the children’s home has requested they bring items such as shoes.

One place that Noland is especially involved in is the Moses & Mary’s Girls Home in Elburgon, Kenya. KWL supports the girls who live in the home all the way through college, university or certificate school. Twenty-nine girls currently live at the home.

“We’re actually out here changing lives,” Noland said. “We’re sending girls to university. Full ride.”

During KWL’s annual trips, girls from the Moses & Mary’s Girls Home travel to meet Noland and the KWL team in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Once they graduate from high school, they’re given a phone, enabling them to keep in touch with Noland throughout the year.

“We talk by Facebook Messenger as much as they want, as many times as they want,” Noland said. “I try my best to make them feel important. I try my best to make them feel like they have a real father.”

KWL receives support and funding from people in the Severna Park and Arnold area. Once or twice a month, the organization sends a newsletter out to keep donors informed.

“If there’s a need for something simple like blankets or mosquito nets, we can let the donors or our supporters know. They provide funding, and we’re able to purchase those things,” Terry said. “So what I really like about (KWL) is the impact, that we’re really quickly able to meet a need.”

The Hensons are busy with KWL all year. Though Terry isn’t traveling to Kenya with the group, she plays a large role in the organization from home.

“Every day we’re doing something toward the effort,” Terry said. “I’m very involved on the back end of it.”

“You tell me, ‘Put the hat on,’ and I tell you I’ll wear it,” said Noland.

In addition to their work in Kenya, the Hensons have also spent years serving their local community. They’ve done food giveaways and helped food pantries, done back-to-school giveaways for kids, provided toys for children and families during the holidays, and helped with summer camps for kids and Bible studies in the community with their church.

“We’ve been doing community outreach for decades in Anne Arundel County and in the state of Maryland as well. It’s what we do,” Terry said.

During the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Banquet, the Hensons were presented with the Drum Major Award, which was awarded to four other honorees as well. The award is named after a speech on the “Drum Major Instinct” that King gave in February 1968.

“I believe that to some extent, the work that you do chooses you,” Terry said. “You don’t always choose the work. Sometimes you are just called to certain things. … And that’s how we feel about this outreach and civic engagement."