Handy at making small wooden toys, Bob Kassin, from Shelby Township in Michigan, packaged a suitcase of these toys, which traveled to Kenya this past February.  These toys were then distributed to the toddlers at the AINA House, which is the neighbor to the St. Clare Centre.

“It was our intention to give the toys to the children at St. Clare” said Bud Ozar, “but when we saw that those little children at AINA had nothing to play with except rocks and sticks, we knew instantly this is where the toys should go.”    

The AINA House was established to care for children who are HIV positive. The children live there and those who are old enough attend the local school.  At AINA the children are provided the drugs necessary to suppress the HIV virus and avoid the sickness and illness, which usually accompanies HIV infection.

“You would think it was Christmas when we brought out the suitcase of toys,” Ozar said. “The little ones were so excited. They took the trucks and began to move them through the dirt and grass. The little girls hugged their wood dolls. It was their first doll and their first toy. What a moment.”