Four hundred dollars later, Fred Hacker has had all the necessary vaccinations and is excited by what awaits.
Hacker and a group of local residents will soon be heading to Kenya to check out Life4Kids Canada’s facility that helps underprivileged boys living in the impoverished African country.
“We’ve got a house now that can accommodate 40 boys,” says Hacker, who serves as the organization’s chair and president.
There are currently about two dozen boys living in the home located near the capital Nairobi, but Hacker says they’re hoping to soon at fill the home to capacity.
Hacker, who notes the trip will cost each participant about $6,000, says that without initiatives like this one, the beneficiaries might not make it into adulthood, given how rough life can be for an abandoned or homeless boy living on Nairobi’s gritty streets.
“They wouldn’t have made it to this age due to the violence that’s prevalent there. There are 100,000 kids living on the street."
Hacker says the group will be busy after arriving in Kenya on Halloween.
“On Friday (Nov. 1), we’re going to the home and meeting the staff and the boys,” Hacker says. “We’ll talk to staff to get a better understanding of what’s needed. We’re sending funds ahead.”
The home has a staff of about 11 with four caregivers at the home 24 hours a day.
The travellers will then divide into two teams with one building a computer lab and library while the other group creates a vegetable garden and some landscaping around the home “to improve sustainability.”
They also plan to buy and set up six computer and wifi stations “as an aid to their education” along with purchasing some bicycles for the boys to ride.
The next day, they’ll continue their projects and plan to visit the Mathare Valley slum “where many of the boys are found” with Hacker adding that the boys will often gravitate to the slum’s dump because that’s where they might be able to find food.
On Sunday, they’ll attend a church service with the boys with Hacker noting that “Kenya is a very religious country.”
The group will then say its farewells to the boys and head to Nairobi National Park where Hacker says they’re hoping to see “the Big 5” (lions, leopards, rhinos, buffalo and elephants).
They plan to discuss their trip with local groups such as Rotary Clubs upon their return to the area.
It might not be as well-known as other local charities, but Life4Kids Canada is doing big things to help underprivileged boys living in Kenya.
And what’s amazing about this international charity is that its roots are firmly planted in Midland with many of the donors coming from the area.
It all started with Amelie Sorensen, a woman living in Midland at the time. Sorensen visited Kenya more than a decade ago and knew she had to do something to help.
“Amelie went to Africa and was really taken with the need,” Hacker says. “It started very small.”
So after meeting with other like-minded people, she established Life4Kids Canada as a way to make the lives of abandoned and homeless boys in Nairobi better.
Hacker says he was initially taken with the initiative after Sorensen visited his church several years ago.
“I was touched by the need,” Hacker says. “It’s really Simcoe County that supporting this home and all these little boys. We have no overhead, we’re all volunteers.
The boys can live in the home until they’re 17 with those leaving often starting university or thinking about a career at that age. One such graduate wants to be a police officer while another is aiming to become a teacher.
The Canadian organization has no staff and nominal overhead expenses. Almost all the funds raised go to Kenya. The fundraising and operational work is done voluntarily through a board of directors, who all live in and around Midland and Penetanguishene.
Hacker says some boys are the children of prostitutes and come from broken homes.
“But they can do remarkable things when living in a home of love and compassion," he says. "They’re savvy little kids. We’re raising a future generation of African leaders.”
