We have accomplished the first stage of our goal -- we have built a facility that houses twenty-two boys and girls from birth to 12 years old, and we would like you to meet them! With your help, we can continue to expand and provide a home to more of these beautiful children.
Alex Kimanthi
Age 12, born January, 1998. His mother, Wanja, who was not married, died of an undisclosed sickness in 1999, and Alex has been with his grandparents, who are both alcoholics, since he was one year old. Alex is very pleasant and polite, but he is so far behind in school, only in Grade 4, whereas he should be in Grade 7 or 8. His lack of schooling was a result of spending most of his time doing work in his grandparents’ field. In fact, he rarely went to school at all. He had to repeat Grade 1 and Grade 4. Alex has become the leader of the boys, not only because he is older and very tall, but because he has a strong personality and a fine character. The children look up to him, and listen to him when he speaks. Alex has a sensitive and appreciative nature. When I told him that God had sent me all the way from America to Gachoka to build a home for him, he stood up at the supper table and applauded, saying thank you, Grammie, and the others followed suit. He helps the adults serve supper, and he is the first to volunteer to clear off the table after supper. If there is too much noise among the children, Alex is the first to quiet them all down. He is a very good boy.
Trevor
Age 12, born 1998. His mother, Esther Igoki, who was unmarried, died of AIDS in 2005 when Trevor was 7, leaving him alone with his grandmother. Trevor’s mother is buried in the back yard. He has been able to reach Grade 5, leaving him two years behind in his education. Trevor is a very pleasant, mild, even-tempered child who listens carefully when an adult gives directions. In church he is amazingly attentive to the service. He has become a very close friend of Alex. When you see one, you see the other. They play soccer together on our field whenever they have free time. Both Alex and Trevor are the first ones to do their homework as soon as they wash their uniforms and put them on the line to dry. Trevor is so well-behaved that he has never been scolded, not even once, since he arrived here.
Symon
Age 11, born on November 4, 1999. His mother, Frida, who was unmarried, died of Measles in April of 2007, leaving him and his brother Mwaniki alone with their grandmother. He has only reached Grade 3 in school because of the great distance he had to walk to school.
Mwaniki, 6, is Symon's brother, and has never been to school. We had to put him in Nursery School. Symon has a great love for music and even loves to dance. He is a very good boy and plays well with the other children.
Louise
Age 10. Louise is in Grade 5, and is very able to do her work without assistance from any of us. Most of the children rely on her to help them when they are having trouble with their school work. She speaks English quite fluently, and she is a very good student.
She also has quite a talent in art. She and her sister, Risper, are far ahead of the others in their understanding of English and even Kiswahili. They have learned how to keep their clothes folded and keep themselves clean while the others have no idea of how to fold clothes, nor any idea of the concept of separating dirty from clean clothes, Louise is a delight to have in this home, and her sister Risper as well.
Ian Kinyua
Age 10, born December 20, 2000, and is in Grade 4. His mother, Lucy, who died on Christmas Eve, 2007, and his father, Richard, who died earlier of AIDS, left three children, two of whom are with us here at OASIS, Ian and his sister Cynthia. While his sister Cynthia is now a victim of AIDS, Ian Kinyua does not have the disease. He has been tested many times and each time his test results were negative. He is however afraid of contracting the disease from his sister, so I had to explain to him that he cannot catch AIDS except by contact with the blood of the victim and that only 30% of the children of AIDS victims contract the disease. I showed him the statistical model that shows him as among the 70% who do not contract the disease. Up till the time of our discussion, Ian Kinyua refused to take his medication which was in a similar shaped bottle to his sister’s medicine. Ian Kinyua is the best soccer player we have on our OASIS team. Not only that, but he is a sensitive young boy who takes very good care of his sister.
Wincate Karimi
Age 9, is in Grade 2. Her mother, Ngithi, suffered from a two month illness and died. This sudden death occurred in 2008 which left Karimi under the care of her auntie Eunice. She had no father. Karimi is a very lovely young girl who is very obedient as well as highly attentive in church on Sundays. She seems to be very shy, but when one spends time with her she is very open and affectionate. I see her rising out of her shell and coming into her own even in these three weeks we have been together. She has a strong character for her age, and I can see that she will be one of our model children.
Flavian Njuguna
Age 9, is in Grade 3. His mother, who was unmarried, died in childbirth as a result of the placenta being lodged in her uterus. His mother’s sister took the child in. Flavian is a cheerful, helpful boy who speaks English very very well for his age. He makes friends easily, and is very well accepted by the other boys.
Early on, Flavian showed quite a bit of disrespect to the staff, but when he was disciplined by Uncle Paul and the seriousness of his actions was revealed to him, he promptly apologized and promised that he would never be disrespectful again. He has so far kept his promise, and the staff is very pleased with his behavior.
Linda Makena
Age 9, born July 13, 2001. She is in Grade 4. Her mother, Casty Kageni, died on December 1, 2007 of AIDS and her father is unknown. Her aunt Stella, who is a soldier in the Kenyan army, told us that there was no one to take care of her little orphaned niece, and her grandmother was unable to handle her. Well we took Linda in, and noticed that she was a sad little girl who was resistant to suggestion.. It didn’t take long to break through that negativity, which was nothing but fear. Now, I can tell you that Linda is wonderful. She is kind to the other children in her room, and she is very warm and helpful to the staff. Linda has become one of my favorites. Today I gave her a new hairdo, and also a pretty bracelet, and nobody could have been more grateful and lovely. God is working in this child.
Mary Kagendo
Age 7, she is in Grade 1. She has such a refined, ladylike demeanor that one could hardly believe that she came from a home of such great poverty, want, and lack of education. Her mother, Judith Irima, was unmarried and died of AIDS in February, 2008, leaving Kagendo with her grandmother, Agnes Irovo, and her brother Mutembei, who is also here in OASIS OF PEACE. Her mother actually recuperated from AIDS at one point, but she felt that she was still under a witchcraft curse, and somehow lost interest in living. At that point, she stopped taking her medicine and she died. When I think of what Kagendo went through watching her mother die, my heart breaks. When she started school at St. Peter and Paul’s, she was made fun of by the girls in her class because she was very black and has a large head for her body. The children at school were merciless, so Uncle Paul had to go into school with a letter from me. As a result of his visit, the three girls were given the switch and they have subsequently kept their distance from Kagendo. She is such a sweet, quiet, little girl.
Risper
Age 7. Risper is Louise’s sister, and she is in Grade 2. She has an amazing ability to speak English and a very friendly sweet demeanor. Last term she was #1 in her class, and she is determined to be #1 again this year. Risper is into everything, including everybody’s business, and it is through Risper that we learn who behaved on the bus and who refused to sit down. She is our lovely little busy body, but inspite of all of this, she is the sweetest little child… delightful. She is the one who organizes little bedtime skits for the mothers and grammy to watch. Tonight her skit was all about how to apologize to a friend. “I am sorry I hurt you, and I will never do it again. Will you forgive me?” Then they shake hands and hug. Without Risper things would be pretty dull around here.
Mwaniki
Age 6, born August 4, 2004. Mwaniki is the brother of Symon, and has never been to school till now. He has been placed in Nursery School and is doing well. His mother, Frida, died of Measles in April of 2007. If any one of us were allowed a favorite child, I am sure that it would be Mwaniki. His sweet obedience touches our hearts as well as his darling personality. I love to help him with his numbers, although he seems to be stuck on the forming the number “2” which is inevitably found lying on its side. The day that I announced our huge neatness race which could result in winning a big red bike on Christmas morning, I found him in his room with his clothes laid out in the center of the floor. He had already folded each article of clothing on the floor getting them ready to be placed into the shelves of his closet. The little love didn’t quite notice that the floor was covered with red clay from the muddy shoes of his sloppy roommates, and the bottoms of his folded clothes were caked in mud. Poor little Mwaniki. .”A” for effort.
Kelvin
Age 4, born June 11, 2006, to a 13 year old girl in Grade 8, by the name of Janice Kendi. When she found out that she had AIDS, and was pregnant, her shame was so great that she refused to take the medicine and then made a conscious decision to allow herself to die. Kelvin’s grandmother said that Janice was such a beautiful girl, and her death was devastating. Kelvin, as young as he is, has a very sensitive and loving nature. Yes, he is very mischievous; in fact, every button on every expensive piece of equipment has been pushed by Kelvin, to the detriment of our computer, our digital camera, and our printer, to say nothing of our cell phones. But he pushes those buttons with a smile that melts our hearts. So what do we do? We kiss the bad finger instead of spanking it. Kelvin just has that effect on us all. When his younger friend, Kimanthi, jumps on top of him for their hourly wrestling match, Kelvin pretends to twist and strangle Kimanthi’s limbs, but never has he hurt his little friend. I cannot say the same for our ruthless imp, Kimanthi, who goes for the jugular, and lets the blood spurt where it will.
Abraham Mutembei
Age 3, born February, 2007. His mother, Judith Irima, died of AIDS in February of 2008. Mutembei too is a victim of AIDS and is doing very well. He is taking his medicine regularly and is eating good nutritious food every day. Once a month he is checked at the clinic. The child has changed amazingly since the time we picked him up on August 10th. Spending time discussing Mutembei's past with a local visiting nurse was heart rending. The nurse is called "Dr. Mary" by the locals. Dr. Mary remembers Mutembei at six months crawling on a dirt floor with no clothes, nothing to eat, and a mother who was dying from AIDS lying on a piece of burlap on the mud floor. She shared her corner of the burlap with Mutembei and the other two corners were where the two girls slept. One of those girls has become part of our OASIS Family of Peace. Her name is Kagendo.
Samuel
Samuel is five years old, and he is a member of the Mbithi family of six children who have lost both parents to AIDS...the father, who died in 2008 and the mother, who died in 2010. That means that Samuel 's whole childhood has been spent watching both of his parents die. In spite of the depressing environment and the pathetic conditions in which Samuel has been living, he seems to be a happy child. He has never been to school and as a result, he has a difficult time concentrating , but his OASIS "Mother" has already made great strides in helping him focus on his homework. Thank God that Samuel has not contracted AIDS, but his brother, Kimatu, who is our newest family member has not been so fortunate. Samuel also has a physical abnormality. He has a strange piece of cartelage growing out of both ears, and the school children make fun of him because of this aberration. Our children protect him.
Kimatu Mbithi
Kimatu Mbithi, Samuel's ten- year- old brother, is the most recent addition to our family here at OASIS OF PEACE VILLAGE. He is also one of the six children who has lost both of their parents to AIDS, the father in 2008 and the mother in 2010. Kimatu has just been tested for AIDS, and when we found out that he was HIV positive, the staff began to cry. He is such a sweet boy. Then we realized why he has not grown very tall; the children with AIDS grow very very slowly if at all. In fact, he is even smaller than his five-year-old brother, Samuel. . He is also a very serious child , as well as being obedient and studious. He is gentle and quiet and seems to crave affection. When I give him his off- to- school hug, he just lingers in that hug for as long as you will allow him to linger. Most boys squirm and run, but not Kimatu. All through his parents' illness, he went to school and did very well. He began walking at 4 am to school from the bush where he lived, so that he could arrive on time for school by 7am. All of this without breakfast. The boy has suffered greatly, and we are all determined to give him comfort, good food, and medicine that will sustain his life. Kimatu is our third child here with AIDS. Please pray for him.
Nyambuto
Nyambuto arrived a week ago from Kibera, the worst slum in Nairobi, and the second largest slum in Kenya. He has just been through the loss of both parents...his mother poisoned his father and then took her own life. Although he has been through great suffering, Nyambuto is a tough little kid, but he is also very very lovable. He is from the Kisii Tribe and speaks only Kikisii which is totally unfamiliar here. But Nyambuto talks a blue streak in Kikisii and somehow makes himself understood by the other children. In Kibera, there is nothing but filth and poverty. No garbage pickup and only one toilet for every 5000 people. It is a nightmare to walk through the place. There are almost a million squatters in Kibera, and there are 50,000 orphans among them roaming the place looking for food and comfort. We are blessed to have Nyambuto with us.
We are always looking for volunteers. Volunteering your time can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Sign up now to help us help the children.
Our orphanage only houses 22 children at present, but 12 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. Help us advocate for change.
Help us maintain and grow the orphanage by making a donation online, by phone, or through the mail. No amount is too small, so please help today.
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