our story
It all began back in 2005 when a small group of European and Kenyan youths met in the Bondo district of Kenya. We had all been working with local non-profit organisations in the area and shared a vision. A vistion to give children and youth in Kenya a fair start to life through education, a strengthening of community responses to poverty and through health-enhancing activities.
Not satisfied with how most non-governmental organisations (NGO) and charities in the area went about to support vulnerable children, we decided to get together and set up a community-based organisation. In 2006 we got registered as a community organisation in Kenya and as a charity in the United Kingdom. In 2009 we got registered as a NGO in Kenya. These fancy certificates allowed us to work towards our vision.
We want to be different from other NGOs. We do not want to become one of those conventional charities that impose their agenda and so called 'expertise', undermining traditional coping strategies. We do not want to waste our money on expensive trainings of community members in big hotels. We want to bring training workshops right out to the communities.
Our approach is therefore to build long-term partnerships with community-based organisations and treat our partners as equals - creating relationships build on trust. We look to empower the communities we serve, and make our resources go further by creating a lasting, not transitive difference. We always work in culturally sensitive ways and work within cultural norms.
We are proud of the way we work. And we are proud of our partner communities. Those of us who come from Kenya have all experienced disease and poverty first hand, so we know how we would like to be treated if support was to come our way.
We have achieved a lot since we got fully operational in 2006. We have build amazing relationships with community groups in four districts and have offices in two different provinces of Western Kenya. We look forward to share our on-going journey with you.
Not satisfied with how most non-governmental organisations (NGO) and charities in the area went about to support vulnerable children, we decided to get together and set up a community-based organisation. In 2006 we got registered as a community organisation in Kenya and as a charity in the United Kingdom. In 2009 we got registered as a NGO in Kenya. These fancy certificates allowed us to work towards our vision.
We want to be different from other NGOs. We do not want to become one of those conventional charities that impose their agenda and so called 'expertise', undermining traditional coping strategies. We do not want to waste our money on expensive trainings of community members in big hotels. We want to bring training workshops right out to the communities.
Our approach is therefore to build long-term partnerships with community-based organisations and treat our partners as equals - creating relationships build on trust. We look to empower the communities we serve, and make our resources go further by creating a lasting, not transitive difference. We always work in culturally sensitive ways and work within cultural norms.
We are proud of the way we work. And we are proud of our partner communities. Those of us who come from Kenya have all experienced disease and poverty first hand, so we know how we would like to be treated if support was to come our way.
We have achieved a lot since we got fully operational in 2006. We have build amazing relationships with community groups in four districts and have offices in two different provinces of Western Kenya. We look forward to share our on-going journey with you.
