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
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