Archive for May, 2010

Our latest update on what we are doing for the children. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Newsletter May 2010

With two volunteers working on the Sponsorship Program, one in Michigan and one in Kenya since January 2010, we  have 30 young girls sponsored.

Only $480 yearly provides food, clothing, an education and a safe, caring home for an orphaned girl for an entire year. We are so grateful to the generous individuals and high school groups who have embraced this worthy cause.

Thank You! Thank you!

Girls come to St. Clare from 17 different Kenyan Tribes.

Last Saturday they participated in  an inter-school competition sharing stories, poems, songs and plays in their mother tongue.

What a wonderful learning experience and community builder.

John Trumbore wrote: “What really happened during those weeks in Kenya is gradually being revealed. It begins with the second great commandment, ‘Love thy neighbor.’ If my neighbor is all people, how do I express my love for those whom I have never met? This visit allowed our group, privlileged Americans with careers, educations and networks of loving friends and families, to meet, know, and fall in love with our neighbor, the orphaned and abandoned Kenyan children. We will never be the same.”

The first construction workers for the sisters’ home were Father Riwa and Sue Ozar as they officially broke ground for the Siena House, the future home of the four Adrian Dominican Sisters who will assist Father care for the children at the Children’s Village.

The drilling rig pictured here was brought from Nairobi to dig a well next to the water tank. Water is pumped up into the tank to provide clean safe water. Not only for The Children’s Village, but it is plentiful enough to provide water for the whole neighboring community. This is a gift given to thousands, and will end a long history of stomach diseases and intestinal problems.

During two years working in Kenya, one afternoon after another, I sat in my small make-shift office at The Children’s Village, listening to children talk of sleeping on stree verandas, foraging gutters looking for garbage, fighting animals for a crust of bread, and in desparation, eating cigarette butts to appease hunger pangs. I wondered if there could be any children lining as difficult an existence as these former street boys?

One year later I discovered the answer when a group of 140 war-torn children arrived at the village who witnessed their homes burned, their families lost of killed by machetes during the post-election violence of 2008. Clearly the children of Kenya continue to suffer. This past winter I returned to The Children’s Village. This time Father Riwa asked me to listen to the life stories of a few young girls recently rescued from the desert in northern Kenya, girls from the Samburu Tribe. (more…)

My dear friends,

Since my return to Kenya in November many of our ‘dreams are being realized.

One side of the St. Clare building now has a roof and the workers will begin plastering the walls, putting in tile floors and adding windows and doors. Once this wing is completed, it will be a dormitory for 108 girls. The Cracchiolo family donated the funds for this wing; it will be dedicated to Sam and Annita Cracchiolo.

I always believed safe water was accessible just below us, but I never had the money to explore this belief so we lived with intestinal parasites and stomach problems caused by bad water. With the money you donated, we were able to drill 600 feet where abundant safe water was found. Our dream has come true! Thank you! Thank you!

Many do not know, but my ‘real’ job is to be the diocesan (more…)

The Children’s Village in Kenya

The streets of Kenya are littered with thousands of orphaned children, the silent victims of the extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS pandemic ravaging Kenya.

The Children’s Village is the inspiration of Fr. Francis Limo Riwa who in 1999 began to rescue orphaned and abandoned children from the streets. Today it is home, family and school to more than 600 children, living on two campuses: the St. Clare Girls’ Centre and the St. Francis Home for Boys.

The Children’s Village and the survival of these children depend on the generosity of people like you. You are in a unique position to help.  Please consider joining us and lending support.