Ettaleah Orphanage
Donation protected
My name is Madeleine Whitfield. I would like to raise money for a woman in western Kenya, Rebecca Muhalya, who runs an unofficial orphanage to help abandoned and orphaned kids. Here is her story:
“Ettaleah Children's Pride Home was founded two years ago in Shikunga village, Kakamega county in western Kenya. After seeing orphans and vulnerable children in my village wandering around hungry and not in school, I Rebecca Muhalya and a few friends took it upon ourselves to do something about it. We started simply providing for one or two of them. Soon the word got out that we were giving free meals, paying school fees, buying clothing, and paying for medication etc., and before we knew it, our “family” grew as more homeless children started coming. We will also cater for the abandoned infants and toddlers who otherwise are sometimes thrown in pit latrines and bushes and sometimes even killed because they are born out of incest, or rape. Our major goal is to give them life and a home to call their own. The number of children in our care quickly grew to 15 kids.
We support them from selling farm produce like vegetables, groundnuts, and maize which we farm in the land available. We also weave and sell typical Kenyan baskets. Sometimes we get support from people who hear about us and become our friends and supporters. We can’t always raise enough for our growing needs this way, though.
For now we don't have sleeping quarters for all the children and we desperately need to build a dormitory. The house we have now is just not big enough. Fortunately one hectare of land was donated by the community to build a sleeping area for the kids. We have drawn up a list of needed supplies and calculated the cost of labour and transportation of building materials, and we can get a very good start with $10,000. We hope to provide sleeping quarters next to the house for 15 children and an adult care giver.”
So that’s Rebecca’s story. I’ve been involved with her for almost a year now and can vouch for her sincerity and scrupulous managing of her resources.
All of the money raised through this campaign will be sent directly to Rebecca in Kenya and evidence of that transfer will be shared with all donors. I’ll also update the information so people can follow this little project.
“Ettaleah Children's Pride Home was founded two years ago in Shikunga village, Kakamega county in western Kenya. After seeing orphans and vulnerable children in my village wandering around hungry and not in school, I Rebecca Muhalya and a few friends took it upon ourselves to do something about it. We started simply providing for one or two of them. Soon the word got out that we were giving free meals, paying school fees, buying clothing, and paying for medication etc., and before we knew it, our “family” grew as more homeless children started coming. We will also cater for the abandoned infants and toddlers who otherwise are sometimes thrown in pit latrines and bushes and sometimes even killed because they are born out of incest, or rape. Our major goal is to give them life and a home to call their own. The number of children in our care quickly grew to 15 kids.
We support them from selling farm produce like vegetables, groundnuts, and maize which we farm in the land available. We also weave and sell typical Kenyan baskets. Sometimes we get support from people who hear about us and become our friends and supporters. We can’t always raise enough for our growing needs this way, though.
For now we don't have sleeping quarters for all the children and we desperately need to build a dormitory. The house we have now is just not big enough. Fortunately one hectare of land was donated by the community to build a sleeping area for the kids. We have drawn up a list of needed supplies and calculated the cost of labour and transportation of building materials, and we can get a very good start with $10,000. We hope to provide sleeping quarters next to the house for 15 children and an adult care giver.”
So that’s Rebecca’s story. I’ve been involved with her for almost a year now and can vouch for her sincerity and scrupulous managing of her resources.
All of the money raised through this campaign will be sent directly to Rebecca in Kenya and evidence of that transfer will be shared with all donors. I’ll also update the information so people can follow this little project.
Organizer
Madeleine Whitfield
Organizer
Ottawa, ON
