Helping Young Kenyans

• We first visited Amazing Grace Children’s Home, in the district of Nakuru in 2013. It is currently home for up to 25 orphaned or abandoned children.
• OK Kids provides a monthly food allowance to assist with purchase of food not grown on the farm.
• We pay school costs for several students at Amazing Grace plus assist college/vocational student(s) with bursaries.
• After Amazing Grace compound was struck by lightning in September 2022, funds were provided by OK Kids to repair/replace electrical sockets and lights and replace the bore hole pump to once again provide running water to the home and for the crops. In January 2023 the crops were thriving in the greenhouse and in the field, with the irrigation system fully working.

The Betty Carroll Memorial Bursary is available to a student attending college/university in Kenya, who has a history of support from Our Kenyan Kids.  This bursary of KSH 45,000 (equivalent to $500 CDN) per year is being administered in honour of long time teacher and Our Kenyan Kids supporter Betty Carroll.  “To teach is to touch a life forever” and this bursary ensures Betty Carroll continues to touch lives of deserving young students in Kenya.

In 2023 there were 4 bursary recipients.

• Tracy Waithira is a 21 year old student attending the Technical University of Mombasa. She is in the third year of a four year program completing a Bachelor of Studies in Broadcast Journalism.  Tracy was raised by her grandmother following the death of her mother, but when Tracy was just over 10 years of age, the grandmother could no longer care for her, and Tracy and her sister went to live and be cared for at Gathaithi Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s Centre.  Tracy continues to return there when on holiday from school.  We were fortunate to meet Tracy during our 2020 visit to Kenya and were impressed with her grace and her plans for the future.  She is doing very well at university, with her most recent report showing almost all grades to be As and Bs.
• Emmanuel Lorekois a 17 year old student attending the Milangine Polytechnical School. He is in his second year of a three year program, and will have his motor vehicle mechanic license when his program is completed.  This young man has no parents/guardians and has been cared for at Amazing Grace Children’s Home since being placed there as a young child. He hopes to open his own business one day.
• Brenda Akinti is a 20 year old student attending Milangine Polytechnical School. She is in her first year of a two year program in hair dressing and beauty therapy, and hopes to one day open a hair salon of her own. She has no parents/guardian and she and her brother Tyson have been cared for at Amazing Grace Children’s Home since being placed there as young children.  She still considers that her home and returns there on holiday from school.
• Hellen Otieno is a 19 year old student attending Meru University of Science and Technology. She is in her second year of a four year Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program.  Hellen is the daughter of Monicah Otieno, who has a tailoring shop in the Kawangware slums of Nairobi, and she also runs the Kawangware Community Tailoring School, which Our Kenyan Kids has assisted for many years. Hellen is doing very well in her studies.

• OK Kids representatives first visited Gathaithi OVC in 2009.  The home was located in an elementary school, with empty classrooms being used by the children’s home as a kitchen and as dormitories for the children. By 2014 OK Kids had provided funds to renovate the kitchen and dining hall, removed asbestos roofing, provided books and school supplies, provided money for food and medical supplies and with funds from Maitland Garden of Hope had built a greenhouse  to grow vegetables for use by the home, with surplus being sold in the community.
• As of May 2023 a total of 108 children receive daily care at Gathaithi OVC, with 26 living in residence and 82 receiving outreach services.  Staff provide care and support for children who are orphans or whose relatives are quite challenged, either economically, socially or physically.  There are 60 children from Gathaithi OVC in primary school (on site), 28 in secondary school, 15 in college/university and 5 waiting to join college. 
• We currently provide funds quarterly to purchase beans, rice, maize flour and basic cooking supplies, to supplement food grown at the home.
• We pay for medical supplies to support the jiggers treatment program.  Jiggers are bugs, similar to ticks, that bore into feet and cause loss of toenails and damage to soft tissue, making it painful to walk.  It can lead to amputation.   During the pandemic we also provided funds for hand sanitizer, masks and thermometers. 
• We pay school costs for a number of high school students and assist university student(s)  with bursaries.  One of our sponsored secondary school students, Joseph, has graduated and next year will begin college to earn a diploma in education.
• Staff at Gathaithi hope to replace electric power to run the borehole water pump, with solar panels ($1625 CDN) and use the water for crops, bathing and cooking – certainly economical in the long run.  OK Kids hopes to help with these expenses

• Hope House Babies Home receives no government funding and relies entirely on donations to continue operating.  Opened in 2002, Hope House is home for up to 25 orphaned/abandoned babies from birth to age 2, with staff devoted to finding loving Kenyan families seeking to adopt a child.
• During the Covid 19 pandemic no babies were allowed to be adopted, and in late 2020 to meet the needs of the toddlers OK Kids (with support from Retired Teachers of Ontario -District #48) financed a Montessori based Stimulation Program for toddlers. This program was very successful and has continued for the older babies post pandemic.
• In late 2022 we provided new cots (7) and mattresses (10) for toddlers with a special donation from a supporter.
• Our most important support to Hope House is through the Adopt-a-cot program.  For $150/year, a supporter can “adopt-a- cot” and receive quarterly photos and updates on the baby being supported in that cot.  If your baby is “adopted” you will receive news of a new baby in that cot.

• In 2005 Doug met a little deaf boy (Frederick) and provided school fees so Frederick could attend a special school – Kambui School for the Deaf.
• Kambui School for the Deaf is an elementary school for children from pre-school age to Grade 8.  As of 2023 the enrolment has increased to over 300 students, and MANY improvements have been noted in the past 18 years.
• In 2017 OK Kids received a provincial grant of $4000 from Retired Teachers of Ontario. Funds were used to purchase furniture and books to establish a library, purchase new mattresses and mattress covers for the dormitories and make repairs to playground equipment.
• After heavy rains collapsed the pit latrines in 2022, a new ablution block (toilets/sinks) was completed with assistance from OK Kids. The school has a new computer lab, and UNICEF has built a tower to enable WIFI and continues to pay for internet use at the school each month.
• In late 2022 OK Kids received a special donation for new sports equipment at the school.
• OK Kids currently pays school fees for several elementary students and high school students. We were honoured to meet the students and their parent/guardian during our visit in 2023.  Although students were still on Christmas vacation, they travelled up to 3 hours to meet us and thank us for supporting them in their education.        

• This tailoring school is located in the slums of Kawangware, with adult learners receiving instruction in sewing and tailoring skills, and working towards a career in tailoring. Monicah Otieno and her husband Richard, who had become the guardians for 14 of the children of her siblings (who had passed away during the AIDS epidemic), first began this school with the goal of teaching these young men and women a trade that would one day allow them to be self sufficient.  In 2006 OK Kids purchased 10 Singer treadle sewing machines to help get the school underway.  Financial support with rent and a portion of one of the teacher’s salaries has been provided over the years, with student fees helping to cover costs of electricity, water, soap, and maintenance and repair of sewing machines.  In 2019 OK Kids received a generous donation to assist with machine maintenance.
• We currently provide monthly financial assistance with the rent only, as the school continues to strive to operate independently and become self sufficient.

• NCRC was the first partner of OK Kids after Doug’s visit in 2004.  It is a government run institution (very poorly funded) for children age 0 – 6 years, who are placed there by the courts following abandonment or removal from their homes.  It has had a population as high as 150 children, but currently houses between 40 – 50 children, for up to  6 months.
• In 2005 a well was dug and a bore hole pump installed using generous donations to Our Kenyan Kids, in order to provide fresh water to the orphanage.  In late 2022, replacement of the water pipes from the bore hole was completed by OK Kids,  and this has meant that the home has clean water once again for bathing and cooking.
• OK Kids provides financial support for 8 workers at NCRC, a security guard, caregivers, cooks and a cleaner, plus additional funds for diapers and Dettol for cleaning.

• St John Ambulance began a partnership with OK Kids in 2005, endeavouring to service Embu County with training and emergency care. OK Kids has helped St John Ambulance with the supply of bicycles and uniforms for the Youth Volunteers, who provide home care and HIV/AIDS education in the rural communities.  In 2011, following a generous bequest from a Cardinal resident, the Doris Coons Resource Centre was completed, providing a home office for St John Ambulance in Embu.
• By our visit in 2020 the St John Ambulance had outgrown the original office and built an addition called the Youth Training Centre, and OK Kids agreed to purchase tables, chairs, computers and a projector and screen for training staff there and at remote locations. This space is an investment in the youth of Embu and the future of St. John Ambulance.
• For many years we have provided assistance to 3 groups of people with HIV/AIDS, providing selenium (Seleno Excel – courtesy of Paul Willis and Cypress Ingredients), food, chickens, goats, seeds for crops and water storage tanks as the members struggled to become healthy and self sufficient.
• It was celebration time in 2023 as years of support for the 3 groups came to an end. Thanks to the multistorey farming project and a LOT of hard work the members of the Itabua, Rwika and Kagumori Joy groups are now self sufficient.
• Meeting new people in need — members of 2 new groups (Tumaini and Makima) shared their hopes and desperate needs with OK Kids, and we have started a new journey providing selenium (SelenoExcel) to boost their immunity and raising funds to provide a water tank ($375 CDN) for each family (clean water for cooking, washing and watering home vegetable crops).  This will be a multi-year project, as 54 tanks are required.

• We first visited Turkana in 2020 and were excited to revisit in 2023. With no rain since February 2021 we were again struck by the heat (near 40 C), dust and the challenges of life in Turkana, where the goal is “simply to survive.”  This already vulnerable population has also been affected by the war between Ukraine and Russia, since most of the area’s wheat, cooking oil and fertilizer comes from these two countries.  Current access to these items is limited, and prices have skyrocketed. 
• OK Kids currently provides quarterly food support for the Uji (porridge) program for children living in 30 remote villages of Turkana. The Uji program provides a cup of porridge once per week (usually Sunday) to children.  Our contact person, Dan Kuriuki, visits Turkana on a regular basis, and with the help of 5 other local ministers delivers food, hope and education to villagers.
• 5 of the villages now have “informal schools” with children meeting to receive instruction in beginning reading and math skills from a volunteer teacher. Children receive a cup of porridge at least 3 times/week at these locations, instead of just once a week, on Sunday.
• A school shelter for Centre #5 (over 150 students) has been completed, financed by OK Kids (structure) and Retired Teachers of Ontario #48 (storage locker and supplies). We were fortunate to visit this new “iron sheet classroom”  in January 2023, and Dan’s most recent report states that the school has now grown to over 300 children.  The local county government now recognizes that the villagers believe “school is important” and so have agreed to provide a qualified teacher for this village moving forward.
• Dan Kuriuki has expressed a hope/desire that we will agree to assist in the construction of a similar “iron sheet classroom” for Centre #18, which currently has 100 children meeting for school.