Tumaini

Last spring, Zach and I were lucky to attend a benefit concert in Denver for Tumaini, a home for orphaned children just outside of Nairobi. We left the concert absolutely inspired by the vision and values that drive Tumaini's development, and knew that we would have to visit it for ourselves while traveling in Kenya.

As Tumaini was our first experience in Kenya, we arrived thrilled to learn about and get involved with the home. To add to the excitement, Zach's sister Jess traveled all the way to Africa to visit and joined us for this part of our trip.

Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was the incredible farm. Tumaini's impressive farm grows, among other things, potatoes, beans, kale, bananas, and corn. It also has a tilapia farm, pigs, milk cows, goats, chickens, sheep and rabbits. Tumaini aims to increasingly sustain itself through the farm, whether it be eating the produce and animals, or by selling them in the markets. A man named Ken oversees the farm maintenance and kindly walked us through his lovely operation, explaining which pigs would be good for slaughter, how to maintain a healthy fish farm and his hopes for expansion. One thing is for sure, the children at Tumaini eat healthy food! American kids could learn a thing or two :)

In the mornings, we helped the kitchen staff in their daily challenge to prepare these healthy meals for 56 hungry, growing kids. Whether this was cleaning lentils or shelling green peas, they had plenty to keep us busy and we were happy to help. While most of the kids went to school during this time, we did have the welcomed distractions of playing with the toddlers who would waddle into the kitchen while we worked on our vegetables.

When the younger kids came home around 3:30, they wanted to do what any kid wants to do after school: play, play and play. So we played. The kids were absolutely full of energy, curiosity and smiles, and loved to be chased, tossed in the air, jump rope and every other game we all loved as children. Zach became quite popular tossing kids in the air and had a strained neck the next couple of days to show for it. Each day we left play time with beads of sweat on our faces, grass stains on our clothes and increased admiration for the remarkable spirit within each of the children. 

In the evenings after dinner, we would visit the older kids' homes to help with any homework. We happened to arrive just before exams, so there was plenty of studying to help with. While I created problems to help a boy named Francis with his multiplication (“if one cow has four legs, how many total legs do three cows have?”), Zach and a girl named Christine battled with 10^th grade geometry and Jess tried to explain ever confusing English grammar rules and their exceptions. As they diligently worked problems, asked questions and used up every single page in their notebooks, it was clear the kids truly valued their opportunity to attend school and continue their education.

While we wish we could have stayed longer, we left knowing that Tumaini is an incredible blessing for these children as well as all those who are a part of the Tumaini family. Most of these children lost their parents to AIDS or were abandoned when they were just weeks old, and Tumaini is truly a home for them to love and be loved, to grow, to learn and to thrive. I would encourage anyone to visit for a humbling and inspiring experience. Sponsoring these children is also easy to do, and makes all the difference for Tumaini's continued growth. If interested, please go here for more information.

Thank you to everyone who makes Tumaini possible, from the aunties and the kitchen staff, to the administrators, the board and anyone who has donated in the past!