A note from the Directors:

Kizito and I met through our mutual desire to make a difference to the hiv-aids orphans of Africa. Together we are planning a life together working in Kenya with our organisation the Mutaho Children's Foundation (MCF). MCF aims to improve the lives of the orphaned children, and the community of the village of Mutaho, and Africa at large, through physical support, educational programs, micro finance programs, small businesses and the promotion of HIV-AIDS Awareness programs.

Your on-going love and support has helped us with all of our work so far; as such, we can ask nothing further of such friends. If you, or your friends, would like to extend your generosity further however there are a number of inexpensive ways in which you can do so all of which will greatly and directly support the children of Mutaho.

  Thank you, Josie & Kizito

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE
If you would like to contribute to the Mutaho Children's Foundation Project the table below lists some of the essential basic items required to establish the Mutaho Children's Orphanage.

We appreciate and thank you for your support and encouragement. Contributions can be made via:

• computers+more: 19 Main Road, Moonah, 7009. Ph: +61 3 62285909. EFPTOS available. 
  ~[Find C+M in Google Maps]
• Mailed to: Mutaho Children's Foundation. PO Box 157, CLAREMONT. 7011. TASMANIA. AUSTRALIA
• Direct Contacts: Elizabeth Young +61 3 62494585; or Josie & Kizito +61 (0)407 864 968

My Kenyan Adventure…

In Australia I had been a part of the St Vincent De Paul Bonza camps and a volunteer tutor with the Adult Migrant English Services, as well as being a politics major at the University of Tasmania. To me going on a volunteer placement in Kenya was the next logical step for me to take in my life. So I signed myself up for what looked to be a very worthwhile 6 months work with HIV/AIDS patients, orphans, destitute students, and the homeless in a rural Kenyan village and also in the slums of Nairobi. I was excited and told any one who would listen to me all about it.

Now at Uni, when ever I was writing an assignment I would take the side of the underdog, of the minorities, the poor, the marginalised, as I always assumed that everyone who aligned themselves with any such causes or groups was doing their best to make a positive difference. Needless to say, the last thing I expected was to find myself stuck in the middle of the Kenyan jungle with the only people I knew being corrupt politicians who were using a pretend aid organisation as a front through which they could scam money from foreigners. That is not to say that the people in the area were not in desperate need of assistance. The orphans were there, the HIV/AID victims were there, the poorly staffed schools were there, they just were just not being helped.

I was really upset about this, and angry; then I progressed emotionally to really sad, and then really, really angry and determined to do something about it. As frustrated as I was to be in the middle of no-where with no support from the Australian organisation who had sent me there, and the Kenyan one I was supposed to be working for, I realised that I was the one there, and so I was the one who would have to make the changes required. A week or so after my arrival, Shannon a 17 year old volunteer from the Gold Coast arrived, to work in a placement that didn't exist, so she and I put our heads together and decided to make ourselves useful.

We packed up and moved about 4km down the road to the next village called Mutaho. Shannon then began to help out in the pediatrics ward at the hospital as well as doing home visits for the clinic, and I started to teach in the local primary the school, bringing the total number of staff at the school up to nine to try and cater for the 680+ students. Of these children over 100 were HIV/AIDS orphans with many more having lost one parent to the disease.

We began to settle down into Kenyan life so I think I'll offer everyone a little advice on surviving the village. OK! My advice as a good friend in Kenya is as follows...

Before long we realised that here was a need for a decent HIV/SEX education program, so Shannon and I set out to write one. This was a step in the right direction, however, we realised something more had to be done to help the children in the village. A NGO was needed to be actively working in the area to support the children on an on-going basis. It was then, in 2007, that the Mutaho Children's Foundation was born, with three founding members, Shannon Goebel, Kizito Shisanya (a local village man) and myself.

For more information on the Mutaho Children's Foundation and our current activities please contact us on 0407864968 or by Email.