Important Announcement from Soulfari Kenya Inc.

Dear friend of Soulfari Kenya ,

We are writing you today with very important news so we ask you to take just a moment to read this letter with your full attention.

The founders and the board of directors at Soulfari Kenya Inc. have voluntarily and faithfully dedicated their personal time, money, energy, and resources to the mission of this organization for many years. Many of you have joined our efforts to fulfill the organization’s mission… to connect, educate, and empower Africans and Americans. We are very proud of the accomplishments that have taken place within this organization, including facilitating 8 volunteer trips to Kenya with more than 100 travelers, serving hundreds of children in the slum areas of Nairobi, inspiring a transformation of service provision for children with disabilities at the Missionaries of Charity home in Huruma, providing medical supplies, clothing, mattresses, and food for 50+ children at the Villa Teag orphanage in Dandora at a time of great need and tragedy, providing the gift of a personalized portrait for hundreds of Kenyan children that participated in the face.africa project, and a new and safe home upcountry for children who have nowhere else to go. With a voluntary staff and minimal administrative costs, your contributions have been steered directly towards funding efforts that improve the quality of life of the children that we have identified need our support.

We have built a strong foundation in Kenya and we believe we will always be invested there to some extent. However, we are in a season that poses great challenges for us. We have directors that need to concentrate personal resources on their own families, and we have a suffering economy that is challenging the survival of many not-for-profits. Soulfari Kenya has persisted and evolved despite many setbacks, however, the board of directors has determined that the time has come to officially dissolve the organization.

We will no longer be accepting tax-deductible donations and there are no volunteer trips scheduled. If you have been giving to Soulfari Kenya , we are very grateful for your support, and we will make sure that you receive a tax receipt for your givings in 2009. We invite you to continue extending your generosity in a way that benefits orphaned children in Kenya . The founders remain personally committed to financially supporting the children who are currently living at our property in western Kenya, and we are entrusting our sister, Florence Were, to apply those funds to their daily needs. Please let us know if you would like to help, but please be aware that your contributions will not be tax-deductible.

If you have innovative ideas, valuable networks, or just personal conviction, and you want to partner with Julius to serve children in Kenya, we encourage you to contact him directly.

Sincerely,
Soulfari Kenya Inc.
Founders and Board of Directors

To contact the Soulfari Kenya founders:

Julius Were- jwasal@yahoo.com
Sarah Were – sarahbwere@yahoo.com
Josie Mai– josie@josiemai.com

The vision unfolds in Western Kenya...

Dear Friends,
This year has presented us with several opportunities of community service in a rural town in Western Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria called Port Victoria. We have set forward ambitious community service programs addressing child education and literacy, protection of children at risk, community health, and micro-finance initiatives. We are aiming to invest in communities in this region to advance sustainable and self reliant programs that improve children’s quality of life and standard of living.
It is with great humility and gratitude that we express our sincere appreciation to each of you. Thank you for contributing your money, time, and suggestions towards our relocation campaign. Our immediate aim is to provide monthly academic scholarship funds to 20 orphaned children in the rural area needing extra support, and your generous contributions are making this happen. All of the children who are and will be receiving monthly tuition were orphaned after losing their parents to HIV/AIDS. The funds have also enabled us to continue with the construction of the new orphanage home that includes six bedrooms. We are working on installation of a 50,000 cubic liter septic tank to hold the sewage waste, indoor plumbing, kitchen appliances, and furniture. Your contributions have already allowed us to install electricity in the existing facility, put perimeter fencing poles in the five acre property, paint the rooms, construct beds, and create a tree planting nursery.
We are working on plans to construct a learning center for those children in the area who are between 3-5 years old or are older and have never attended school, including children with special needs. This center will also offer tutoring services for older children who attend school in the local areas. Our goal is to expand the property to also include four classrooms, a kitchen, restrooms, offices, library, and playground. The school will be designed to integrate students with a variety of needs in a positive atmosphere of learning that promotes self-confidence and self reliance. The learning center will also provide training and education for parents in the area who have children with disabilities including physical impairments, communication and behavior disorders, learning disabilities, and mental retardation. This will be the only school of its kind in western Kenya providing education that integrates children with and without disabilities.
We are also planning to establish a community health clinic that provides basic assessment, intervention, and education for critical medical issues such as malaria, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and other childhood illnesses. The clinic will be managed by local doctors and nurses in collaboration with international medical partners. We want to use the clinic to educate families and individuals on ways to prevent the infection of Malaria and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
We have set goals that will enable us to promote micro-finance initiatives and job training for individuals and families. We want to compliment individuals’ efforts of becoming economically self reliant by connecting them with resources. The hope is to construct a facility that offers training and provides loans in computers, cooking and baking, clay brick making, tailoring, fishing, driving, poultry farming, and honey bee farming. All of these projects will utilize local resources, and be organized and managed by local communities.
We acknowledge and value what is meaningful to you as we continue to serve children in Kenya. Thank you for generously enabling us to serve children at risk in Kenya with a respectful, inclusive, and accountable approach.

Julius Were
Founder and International Director

Final Call for Summer Volunteers!

If you have dreamed of going to Kenya and seeing smiles like these, consider joining us July 5-22, 2009 for a special trip!! We're recruiting travelers who want to partner with us as we move forward with opening our new children's home in rural Kenya. We still have a few spots available and are seeking those who will open their eyes, hearts, minds, hands and resources to us during this crucial time in our development. The trip will include time in Nairobi and at our new property in western Kenya and will end with a phenomenal safari at Masai Mara.

Deadline for application and deposit: March 15, 2009. Please email us immediately if you are interested participating.

Soulfari Kenya is inspired by our new President, Barack Obama, and is encouraged that he has entered the White House with a pledge to address the unique needs of Africa, specifically Kenya.

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

Inaugural address Jan 20, 2009

"But for all the progress that has been made, we must surely acknowledge that neither Kenya nor the African continent have yet fulfilled their potential - that the hopefulness of the post-colonial era has been replaced by cynicism and sometimes despair, and that true freedom has not yet been won for those struggling to live on less than a few shillings a day, for those who have fallen prey to HIV/AIDS or malaria, to those ordinary citizens who continue to find themselves trapped in the crossfire of war or ethnic conflict."..."I believe that my country, and other nations, have an obligation and self-interest in being full partners with Kenya and with Africa."

Speech in Nairobi, Kenya

Aug 28, 2006

Soulfari Kenya is hopeful and committed. to positive change in Kenya.

announcing face.africa 2008-2009

face.africa 
2008-2009

The Creamery Arts Center www.springfieldarts.org 
411 N Sherman Parkway
Downtown Springfield, Missouri
February 11-27th 2009
Opening Reception Friday, February 13th  6-8pm

30 young women from Carolina for Kirbera's Binti Pamoja program were matched with 30 emerging young emerging artists from the Missouri Fine Arts Academy. Binti Pamoja translates to “Daughters United” in Kiswahili, and provides a forum for young Kenyan women to discuss issues that concern them. The Missouri Fine Arts Academy provides a unique program of artistic, extracurricular, and social opportunities to Missouri’s talented high school students.  This is the third annual cycle of the project. It has been shown at George A Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, Missouri Citizens for the Arts in Jefferson City, and the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in Kansas City.  The portraits here will be delivered to the young Kenyan women at a ceremony in Kibera,Kenya in July 2009.

Josie Mai is Assistant Professor of Art at Missouri Southern State University, Visual Arts Faculty at Missouri Fine Arts Academy, and the Director of Soulfari Kenya Inc, a non-profit engaged in humanitarian service in Kenya. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas in art education and a masters of fine arts degree from Parsons School of Design in New York City.

In Remembrance...

It is hard to believe that a year has already passed since the death of our brother, Melitus Mugabe Were. With the anniversary of his death, January 29th, coming upon us, we stop to take time to reflect on his legacy. There is not a day that goes by that the Were family doesn't grieve the loss of Melitus, and also feel such utter disappointment at the lack of justice that followed his brutal murder. Melitus was a husband, a father, a brother, a leader, an advocate, a truth teller, a peacemaker, and a uniter. He loved his family, his friends, his community, his country, and the children he faithfully served in Dandora. We celebrate his life and we honor him as we continue his legacy of service and advocacy in the country he believed in, hoped for, and loved. His name will live on in our son, Jonah Melitus Were.

Our sweet Jonah

Some Soulfari Kenya alumni have requested an updated photo of Jonah, so here it is. We look forward to the day that we take him to meet his family and all of the children we love there in Kenya. We are proud of his heritage, and we are excited that the year he was born, the man who became president has the same heritage as him: a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas.

Soulfari Kenya in the News

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/988382.html

Co-founders, Julius and Sarah Were, were featured in today's issue of the Kansas City Star, on behalf of Soulfari Kenya. Check it out! We were honored to be included in the newspaper on Martin Luther King day and the day before Obama's inauguration; a day dedicated to service.

SFK Board Member releases his CD

Soulfari Kenya Inc is proud to announce that board member, Antony Gitau Omondi, has accomplished his dream of releasing his first cd. Anyone who has met Antony knows his contagious energy, love for music, his love for God, his devotion to his country, and his ability to work a crowd. Congratulations Antony!!! Please go to his website to check out his video and touring schedule, and to find out how to order his cd, entitled, "You Can Make It, Now!" http://www.kamnao.com/index.php