Kenya 2008 Trip

There were endless smiles and a tremendous show of appreciation from several Kenya orphans and their grandmothers after board members of the local non-profit, Dream Sponsors, Inc., brought much needed support to the children recently. The children live in Bunyore, a small rural village in western Kenya, and they dream of having enough food, clean water, shoes and schoolbooks – and they dream of getting an education.

Two Dream Sponsors board members were visiting the village as part of the organization’s efforts to provide orphan youth in Africa with basic needs, school fees and emotional support to help transform their dreams into reality. The children revealed dreams of becoming doctors, nurses and eleven year-old Abel stated he wanted to be a teacher.

While in Bunyore, Neumann and Kahindo collaborated with board members of Kijana Educational Empowerment Initiative (KEEI), another Palm Beach County based non-profit which promotes and cultivates youth empowerment through educational development; cross cultural dialogue and sustainable and environmentally friendly economic growth.  By working with people in the village, the needs of orphans were identified. Kahindo and Neumann visited the children’s dwelling units and met with the children, their grandparents and schoolteachers.

"I was overwhelmed by the level of poverty that the children live in,” Neumann said. “These children had no running water or electricity, very little clothing and getting enough food is always a struggle."

The elderly grandmother of newly sponsored, 8-year-old Elizabeth was extremely ill with malaria during their first home visit. “It took a small gift of $5 to provide medication to improve her condition in just a short time,” Kahindo explained. “We were able to provide mosquito nets and other supplies to help with their living conditions to keep Elizabeth functioning in her small rural school.  She must walk in excess of two miles each way to her school and had never owned a pair of shoes until our visit.”

The two realized after showing the children their faces on a digital camera that they appeared to have never experienced seeing themselves before. “It was so rewarding to see the smiles on their faces when dressing them in new clothes and to watch them giggle at themselves in a store mirror for the very first time,” Neumann said. “We were delighted to experience many “firsts” with them, including a car ride, tasting chocolate, getting fitted for their first pair of shoes and trying on clothes. They had never been out of their local village prior to our arrival!"

Dream Sponsors board members are also working on plans to assist Kenyan professionals develop their very first official Grief Counseling Center. The organization welcomes volunteers, and donations to help more orphans. Neumann explained that upon leaving the village they were given an overwhelmingly long list of all the children in just one school that had lost one or both parents. One goal is to get Palm Beach County youth involved in fund-raising and other projects, with the hope being that American and Kenyan youth will learn more about each other. Some high school organizations are already helping out including two local Interact Clubs.

Contact Carla Neumann for more information.