The Ahero Hope Center & Orphanage exists to love and care for these children. It provides food, clothing, education and medical care as these children have no-one else to look after them. The Centre is located near Ahero Town in Kisumu County Kenya. This is 335 miles from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and Kisumu, the nearest major town, is 21 miles away on the shores of Lake Victoria. Seasonal fl
ooding periodically makes the local roads and tracks impassable which brings communications to a halt. There are now over 2,500,000 orphans in Kenya. Almost 25% of the population lives on less than $1 a day. 10-30,000 children are caught up in the s*x trade. Only 15% of children under 5 have a mosquito net. Many children suffer with repeated attacks of malaria, which is debilitating and can be fatal, especially for a malnourished child. The Center currently looks after around 24 children from the surrounding area, a number of whom were street children. Most of them are placed with local families – this is the Kenyan orphanage model. Ahero Hope Center & Orphanage serves a catchment which is defined by how far the children can walk which is up to 12 miles. This area many rural, but it is densely populated by families living in settlements in the bush. The main activity is subsistence farming. The Centre is a source of real, practical help and support for these children, and it provides pastoral care to nurture the children and make up for what their parents can no longer give. A team goes out to spend time with the children and staff at least once a year. It will also be possible for gap-year students and others to stay at the centre. The founder, Pastor Dan Omondi Ngage, who started taking children into his home in 2012, is a man of great integrity who commands respect from all who know him. He has a great love for the children, and has a very practical focus on what Ahero Hope Center & Orphanage is trying to achieve, and how the children can fulfill their potential. Pastor Dan says: "We intend to help these orphans who otherwise would have little hope for the future. We have the will, but need the funds to help us provide the basic necessities and to develop a long-term solution and to enable the orphanage to become self-sufficient." Pastor Dan is well qualified to provide the day to day administration of the orphanage and project finances will be well administered. Professional advice will be sought to ensure the best options are provided, be it for building, farming, vocational training, or education aspects. Education is at the centre of the work at Ahero Hope Center. The Nursery school is staffed by a head teacher and three fully trained teachers. Schooling starts at age 3-4 years of age. Most of the children only speak the local languages, Luo and Kiswahili, at this stage. They stay until age 14 when most of them take a national exam to enable them to go on to secondary schools. Children are taught all the usual subjects in English. The school aims to provide uniforms for the children, plus two meals a day. The pastoral care side of Ahero Hope Center is vitally important, and two pastors provide daily care for the children. There is close, ongoing liaison with the families with whom they live. The Centre is a Christian-run establishment. There are church services on Sunday and the curriculum includes Bible study. Ahero Hope Center is a well-organized, professionally run establishment, providing quality education. The school is registered and regularly inspected. Careful and detailed records are kept for each child who attends. There are a number of planned projects which will develop the capacity and scope of the Ahero Hope Centre & Orphanage These are a Primary school. a Secondary school, a Vocational centre, a Clinic and Dormitories for older girls.
