Locals send hope to Kenyan orphans
Jack Stivers photo
Kenyan children
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RONAN — Lugging as many suitcases as the airline would allow, Jack Stivers, the MSU Lake County Extension Agent, Ashley Vincent, a recent University of Idaho graduate, and Madeline Hewston, an elementary education student at Salish Kootenai College, boarded a plane June 10 for a 30-hour flight to Nairobi, and then a drive to east Kenya to the small town of Matuu.
In Matuu is the orphanage Stivers began two years ago.
He first went to Kenya in 2012 and was amazed by the number of orphans and their many needs.
Stivers met Meshack Itumo, a social worker in Kenya, who asked Stivers if he was interested in starting an orphanage. Stivers agreed, bought five acres in Matuu, and the two men began building an orphanage.
The orphans are in such need of clothing and shoes that the shoes don’t have to match, Stivers said, as long as there is a left shoe and right shoe. Boys will wear girl’s clothes, and girls will wear boy’s clothes.
Word circulated about the orphanage and the children’s necessities. Polson resident Larry Robertson spearheaded a clothing and fund drive for “Jack’s Orphanage,” and Mission Valley residents responded by contributing more than $8,000 in monetary donations. The funds will be used for healthcare for the children, infrastructure and a water system, Stivers said.
“Money goes 10 times further over there,” Stivers explained, although it takes longer to get things done. Bricks are made by hand, for instance.
Also, Mission Valley church groups, individuals and teacher groups brought in “generous contributions of clothing, hygiene items and school supplies,” Stivers said.
“I was really impressed with the generosity of (the donations),” he said.
The stuffed suitcases and boxes filled the back of Stiver’s pickup before they left for the airport. The group will return to the United States after the Fourth of July.
