Giving far and wide
The impoverished street children of Mtwapa, Kenya, are far removed from Boston in every sense - geographically and psychologically. That last gap, though, is beginning to close just a bit.
Since late last year, a group of Bostonians has quietly been lending support to an orphanage supporting three dozen girls in one of the poorest parts of Kenya. They have funded a website and wireless Internet access. They have thrown a St. Patrick's Day benefit on behalf of children who have never heard of St. Patrick.
They have been brought together through the unending persistence of Thomas Keown, an Irish immigrant whose life changed last year on a trip to Kenya.
By day, Keown handles press for the Irish Immigration Center, an agency devoted to easing the transition for immigrants to Boston. At other times, he pursues his hobby of world travel, the farther out of the way the better.
A friend suggested he pay a visit to an orphanage called Mudzini Kwetu while he was in Kenya.
There he found a home for 34 girls who had been separated from their families - many through death, others from the grinding poverty that can end in abandonment. He also found something more surprising: hope.
"I've seen a lot of need and a lot of misery and a lot of good people doing good things," Keown said. "But nowhere was I more inspired than when I saw this place."
Mudzini Kwetu was the brainchild of Anthony Mulongo, a Kenyan journalist. On assignment for Kenyan television, he had traveled to that region and been swept up by what he saw. After he went back to Nairobi, he heard from a family he had met, the Hawas.
The family was disintegrating. Eight-year-old Gift Hawa had lost her mother and her infant brother. Her father had disappeared. Mulongo moved Gift into his home in Nairobi and informally adopted her. That led him to begin an orphanage in her village seven years ago. Designed for 24 girls, it is home to 37.
With an annual budget of $40,000, the orphanage's survival has always been precarious. The girls farm, raise cattle, and attend school. It is intended to be self-sustaining, or close to it.
That has gotten more complicated. Kenya has fallen into turmoil over the past few months. The country exploded after a disputed national election in December. Inflation has rendered a poor country even more so, increasing the need for aid.
Mulongo and Keown have big plans, however. They hope to raise enough money to expand the orphanage and to include a school. Education, Keown maintains, is the key to transforming the village, and the country.
"My heart was touched by the love of family there, but my head by education, because that's the way it's going to change," he said. "Even if 15 of them go to college in the next 15 years, that can change the political culture of Mtwapa."
Keown's first effort for the school was to write an op-ed column for the Metro, describing the work being done at the orphanage. That drew enough reaction to convince him that Americans could be drawn into helping.
He then turned to his soccer team, his cricket team, people from his church, inviting them to meet to discuss helping the orphanage. He was surprised to see 30 people walk through the door, ready to donate expertise, time, and money. Keown can be a persuasive salesman.
"It's the most satisfying and humbling thing I've ever embarked upon," he said. "To see how much of themselves people have given up, for a place they've never seen."
Since December, about $14,000 has been raised in Boston, through a string of small events. The next step, Keown figures, is a trip to Kenya for the contributors. Rather than asking for money, he says, he finds it more effective to just tell people what he has seen in Kenya, and how it has saved lives.
"I just want them to know," he said. "If they give, great. It's all about awareness."
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.
