My name is Barbara Parkins. I grew up in the Valley, living all my childhood at the farm on Rosewood Road, Warrell Creek, attending Warrell Creek Primary and Macksville High School. I left for college and lived in New Zealand for 7 years before returning to the Valley where my 2 children were born and both still reside in the area. I spent my life in the Valley until my journey to Kenya to live permanently in 2013.

My friend was living and working here with the SDA Church Health Department and invited me to come and visit and look at the needs here. I visited the Maasai people, met one of the Warriors who was a guard at the camp where we stayed, visited the village and realised they really needed help educating the children as many were orphans or parents very poor. So I resigned my job and came back to the Village where I was highly welcomed and settled in to help the people, especially the children.

It was from there I started KINI Kenya. Our main focus is education and the rescue of vulnerable and at risk children, both boys and girls, but especially girls from early marriages, female-genital-mutilation, and exploitation. We also help with many medical problems children have and parents that may be unable or uninformed of how to help them.

KINI Kenya relies solely on donations from those who wish to partner with us in the building works for the school and the rescue centre, the every day running of programs and especially the sponsorship of students from kindergarten to University. We have a home where we currently have 25 children living with me as they have no other safe home to go to and most are orphans with no family willing to care for them.

There is never an average day for me! From my school (KINI Mara Academy) I have 40 students stay with me during the week – so that means we rise at 6.30 am to ensure their breakfast of millet porridge, bread (home made in a charcoal oven) and a banana are ready for each child to eat before going to school.  After they go to school it can be the need to rush to other school to visit the students for Academic Days or deal with issues which arise, or to town to buy much needed food supplies, deal with sick children, which are often many, be called to meetings or someone’s home for a celebration and also keep a check on KINI Mara Academy. Also you can be called to pick or check children who are in a dangerous situation or are being exploited, often by relatives if they do not have both parents. Even when you plan your day, that plan is usually changed quite a number of times as different situations evolve.

An example of this is when a father came to my home early one morning requesting I take his 2 older daughters as their mother had died 5 months previously after having a 3rd baby and the grandmother did not want to care for them and he was not able to (I later realised he was an alcoholic and did not care for the family at all). As is my usual practice the next day I got on the back of a motorbike and went through the forest for almost 2 hours to reach the boma (home) of where the children were living. I found the 2 girls aged 6 and 3 and also a very tiny baby (who was actually the 3rd daughter born 5 1/2 months previously). One look at the baby and I knew she was almost dead from malnutrition and was not being cared for or fed (only a small amount of cows milk, often not boiled). After discussions we agreed I would take the baby or she would surely die, and the older sister. The baby had acute malnutrition and was 4.5 kg. Along with caring for other children in my home and visiting schools, etc I now had a baby to care for full time, and one that required a lot of attention to ensure she had good food to help her regain her muscle tone and health. Today, 7 years later she is a bright beautiful little girl in Grade 2 who knows no mother but me.

There are a number of children who desperately need sponsorship for education purposes as they cannot stay in school unless school fees are paid and they have all the necessary requirements. Primary Students are $300-$400 per year and secondary students $600-$700 per year as they always board. Children living in my home also need sponsorship ($50 per month) to clothe and feed them and care for all their necessities. Monthly salaries for teachers and other staff amount to $2,000 per month. Any other expenses incurred, such as vehicles and building works are also required.

Connect with Barbara here: https://kinikenya.com