Two New Ambassadors

In October 2014, Jake (9) and Luke (7) Smith visited Achungo along with their parents, Nate and Jen.  They had already involved the students at their school, Oak Knoll in Menlo Park.  And they knew they'd have stories to tell on their return, but no one expected this family to take the story of Achungo so far so fast.

I think the first thing they did was get their little brothers interested.  Sammy and Micah came to the first team meeting and seemed just totally enthralled!

Here are the 4-year-olds at the bottom of the picture on the left.  Until that moment I never realized they could sit so still or pay so much attention to anything!!

Next these energetic and enterprising boys held a lemonade stand on a number of occasions to raise money for their trip to visit the children at Achungo.

At the same time, they were mobilizing others.  Jen led her mothers group ("Mothers Together" at Menlo Park Presbyterian) to get new backpacks for the Achungo 8th graders (picture at left) and fill them with school materials and other gifts.  Their aunt Leslye designed some lovely Zazzle T-shirts for each 8th grader.

 And the students in Jake's and Luke's classes wrote letters to the students at Achungo which Jake and Luke took to them during their visit.  They've brought back return letters from Achungo and their classes are thrilled to have begun a pen pal program with these children in Kenya!

In the photo on the left the Achungo students are excited to receive their letters and are working on their return letters.

And in this picture the Achungo 8th graders are receiving the wonderful backpacks!










Yes, the backpacks made it to Kenya.  And on their return, Jake and Luke made sure their fellow students at Oak Knoll knew about it!

The picture to the right is from the door to Luke's classroom with the pictures of the children of Achungo receiving the backpacks.

Jake and Luke not only shared with their classes but gave a presentation over the video news program at their school, sharing the wonderful experience they had with the children of Achungo and how much they all valued the backpacks.

Below are the notes from their talks.  They talk about how the Achungo children seemed to have so little but were the happiest kids they'd ever met.  What a wonderful representation of how the experience of Achungo changes us and impacts our lives!!

Thanks, Jake and Luke!

Video of Jake and Luke at Oak Knoll School, Menlo Park

Grassroots Neighborhood Fundraising

Returning home one Saturday afternoon I found a basket at our door with $9.50 of cash and a note:
"this is from our lemonade stand and it is for the orphans; from Neekie, Bella, Max, Grace, Fiona and Phillip".
I was floored!

We live in a small neighborhood and I knew these kids were my neighbors.  Apparently Neekie (10) organized this herself--and it was a well-organized enterprise!


Here she is (on the far right) with her friends (from left:  Fiona, Grace, Max and Bella).



Since then they have held other lemonade stands and mailbox washes and even car washes with Phillip biking around the neighborhood to solicit interest.  At the lemonade stand above they had a menu of options that included a slushee (on order, Neekie would run inside and get her mother to make one in the blender) or for about 5 cents you could pet their sweet Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Sky (in the background near the potted plant).

Neekie's mother, Fojan, tells us that she's cleaning out her closet to find clothes to send to the Kenyan orphans and is quite motivated in all this.  Last month she invited us to present to the students at her school, Bowman International School in Palo Alto.  Neekie introduced me to her fellow students!



Neekie was a keynote speaker at our annual Achungo Tea event in December and made sure to drag her friends on-stage with her to be interviewed.  It was truly the highlight of the event.   

The Trinity School - our sister school in Menlo Park

Last Thursday we presented to the student body at The Trinity School, a private preschool and primary in Menlo Park.  They have been a sort of sister school to Achungo since early 2011 when 5th grader and friend, Karen Rader, brought Achungo to her class as a 5th grade service project.

Here Karen is presenting to Monte a gift from Trinity including the school medallion and a letter signed by all the 5th graders. 

To the left is the letter and the medallion from Trinity and to the right is the letter from Achungo and the Achungo children in response

On our June 2011 trip to Achungo, we presented the medallion and letter to the children of Achungo and they provided a letter from Achungo back to Trinity, signed by Achungo's 5th graders.

 Since then, the students of Trinity have collected used clothing and shoes and such that supplied many wonderful things to the children of Achungo in addition to writing letters that our children have enjoyed and they have responded with letters and cards to the children of Trinity.

 This year Trinity donated 30 used Mac laptops to Achungo.  We've taken 20 out already and they are in excellent condition.  We set them up during our June 2013 trip and the Achungo students immediately began learning on them.  These are children who live in mud huts in one of the most economically depressed areas of the world.  The computer skills they learn will set them apart from all other primary school students and prepare them to be outstanding candidates for potential employment.

Monte has presented several times to Trinity's 5th grade class, sharing pictures and interactive discussion of life in rural Kenya while they took notes on their laptops and asked insightful questions.  He has presented a few times to the 2nd grade and other classes, and it is always a delightful experience.  When Michael Nyangi visited last December, he was able to share with a number of Trinity classes also.

This visit last Thursday Monte shared pictures like those here, including some of the laptops in use, of their past gifts and of the progress at Achungo since they first engaged with us (our classes were in tin sheds at that time and are now in our new campus!).  We also had letters from Achungo's 5th, 6th and 7th graders and cards from the younger classes that we distributed to the Trinity classes.

This is a very special relationship for us all!!

News from Hamburg, Germany

News from Hamburg, Germany
I would like to introduce a new thread in this blog about activities in Hamburg leaded by Armin Opitz concerning support to the Achungo Children Centre.
My real name is Stefan Menck and I am, like Armin, teacher at a school in the Eastern Part of Hamburg, Germany.
With much work Armin was able to install an annual sponsored walk.
So I would like to announce the Achungo Sponsored Walk 2013 which will be held on the 12th of September.
Like last year two schools will participate: Our school, which is a secondary school and the school Oejendorfer Damm which is an elementary school. This means that about 800 pupils will start running on this coming september morning.

I will add news (and some photos of the last years walk) as soon as possible.

In future we will write this thread in German and English so that some of our younger pupils (who aren't capable of reading English) may follow this thread too.

Stefan Menck

Our Founder Visits California: Michael's December Tour

Michael Nyangi, Founder and Kenyan Director of Achungo Children's Center, made his first trip to California this year.  This was a long awaited, long-planned visit to connect with his many supporters and for many more to hear his incredible story (see the prior post for his story).  He arrived on Wednesday, November 28 and stayed over 2 weeks, departing December 13.

Most of his flight costs were covered by a very generous supporter, using frequent flyer miles and paying the added fees.  Most of his trip he stayed with the Fishers and became part of our family and a very evident inspirational influence on our children.  And during his stay he visited 3 church sites, spoke at an informal dinner (potluck) and a formal tea, shared with many school children at 3 different schools, and told his story at 3 evening events and 2 luncheons as well as the MPPC Men's Bible Study and a private prayer group who had been praying for him for the past year.   I accompanied him at these events and each time I heard his story I was more inspired by it!


He enjoyed a trip to the beach and to SF, including the Golden Gate Bridge, and visited with the Sisters of Mercy and with Kiva in SF
as well as with the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Countries (SEED).  And he toured Stanford and Silicon Valley, with a special tour of Google.  He thoroughly enjoyed his visit and reached many people in many ways and it was hard to see him go!

Michael joined a panel with Mark Swarner, Mission Pastor, and Zenebe, Director for an NGO in Ethiopia (Hope Enterprises) on Sunday, December 2nd at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (MPPC) in Menlo Park in front of about 60 people and that evening again at MPPC's Mountain View campus with about 35 attending.   Michael told his story of realizing how little it took financially to change lives and founding first a micro-finance organization and then Achungo.  And he shared his forward-looking vision for Achungo.

The following Sunday, Michael shared his story with the youth group at Saratoga Federated Church and after services, spoke to a large gathering of those interested in missions in Africa and supporters of Achungo.  Here he is part of a presentation to the original U.S. Executive Director, Barbara Jeanrenaud and her husband, Henri, who are retiring from the Achungo Board.



During the week, Michael spoke to the 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto, hosted by Suney Park, a longtime Achungo supporter and teacher at Eastside.

Trinity School, a private primary in Menlo Park, has been something of a sister school to Achungo for almost 2 years.  Michael shared with the entire study body on Friday morning and then was invited into the 5th grade class (top picture on the right) and 2nd grade class (lower picture on right) where we handed out letters from the 5th and 2nd graders of Achungo.  Trinity students have been writing letters to Achungo students for over a year now and it has been an enriching experience for both sets of students.

We also shared with the Trinity preschool class and showed them pictures of the animals and of the school and students in Kenya.


 That afternoon Michael shared his story with 200 7th graders of Hillview Middle School in Menlo Park.  In the top picture to the left, Jonathan Schaff, a 7th grader who visited Achungo in June 2012, introduced Michael to his fellow students.

In the lower picture to the left, Michael stands in front of the bleacher seats that were filled with the 200 7th graders during his talk.

That was a large crowd of teens but they were silent and respectful throughout Michael's presentation.

Visit With Our Kenya Founder/Director

Michael Nyangi, the founder and Kenyan Director for Achungo Children's Center, is making his first trip to the Bay Area in late November (2012). Below are some of the events planned.

You should consider attending and meeting this incredible man who grew up a poor orphan, was sponsored through college and then, forgoing a lucrative career, began immediately to pursue a life focused on others.  His lifelong ambition was to work in a Bank.  Graduating with a CPA he was well-positioned and says he actually worked in a bank...for 1 week.  I think he was just destined for greater things.  Living in one of the world's largest slums (Kibera in Nairobi), he noticed a woman with a small child by the railroad tracks and worried that in her desperation she was considering suicide.  He had $20; he approached her and gave it to her, hoping it would help.  The next day, on his way to work, he saw her there again, but now she had corn and was roasting it over coals to sell.  A few days later he saw another woman similarly destitute, gave her his $20 and before the end of that week, both women were sitting together selling food to passersby.  It was thrilling to Michael to think about how little it took to make a difference in their lives (they eventually were able to move out of the slums and send their children to school, and even set up a small restaurant).

Michael was all of 22 and he began soliciting friends to join him by donating what they could -- often a dollar or less, and he eventually developed Lomoro, a micro-finance office of 15 staffers that helped more than 100 women of Kibera better themselves.  Lomoro eventually attracted a little support from an NGO called 1010project out of Colorado and those contacts led to Michael being a guest speaker at the UN General Assembly (October 2008) and  at a conference in Italy hosted by Amnesty International.

In 2005, at 24, Michael formed a local NGO (a Kenyan "Community Based Organization") that he called "Achungo Community Centre."  A few years before he had begun taking orphans into his own mud hut.  He had seen a group of 3- or 4-year-olds on the streets of the village, scrounging in the garbage for food and decided that he needed to find care for them.  He eventually found some widows to do the same and with his own meager funds rented a shed to use as a school. That eventually turned into Achungo, now with over 190 children and a staff of 13. .  

Saturday, December 1st (Mountain View)  -- Holiday Tea.

• 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m.    This will be a full service tea with presentations from Michael Nyangi as well as U.S. Director, Monte Fisher.
• 100% of the proceeds go to Achungo operations in Kenya. 
• Reservations required! 

OPEN EVENTS

Sunday, December 2 --Vantage African Partners Forum

• 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.  Michael will share briefly at these services at Open Door Church, Mountain View (1667 Miramonte)
• 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Michael and leaders of Ethiopia’s Hope Enterprise will take part on a panel of the Vantage African Partners Forum, hosted by Mark Swarner, Mission Pastor at MPPC.   
• Light lunch. 
• Held at Fellowship Hall at 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park. 

• 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. Vantage African Partners Forum (details above) at Open Door Church, Mountain View. 
• Fellowship Hall at 1667 Miramonte Ave. (at Cuesta), Mountain View. 

 Sunday, December 9  --  Saratoga Federated Church (20390 Park Place, Saratoga)

• 11:45 to 1pm “Go and Tell” presentation by Michael and Monte. Opportunity to meet and greet.

For more information on any of these events, please contact Kathy Fisher:  kathyfisher1106@sbcglobal.net

The New Campus

On our first trip to Kenya (October 2010) we realized that there was an urgent need at Achungo for more land.  We have by now purchased the new site, fenced it and have begun construction.  But I’m getting ahead of my story.

In 2008 Saratoga Federated Church purchased a well for Achungo Children’s Center and the parcel of land where it was located.  Gifts from Germany built a 3-room cement block building for the preschool class, offices and a sleeping room.  In 2010 we put up a temporary classroom building of tin alongside the kitchen shed.  Between these buildings, the pump house and the latrine, there is little room left on this 1/3 acre parcel for the children to play and no room to build the additional classrooms we will eventually need for grades 5,6,7 and 8.  (We add a grade each year, adding 6^th now in 2012).

There are a variety of other problems with the current site as a long-term campus:

• The temporary classroom building has dirt floors and posts driven into the ground—it will not last long (the tin is already breaking loose in places) and the floor turns to little rivers in heavy rains.

• The yard turns to deep, sticky mud during heavy rain and we saw the smaller children (3- and 4-year-olds) get stuck in it, unable to move their shoes until they cried in frustration.

• Even in good weather, there just isn’t enough yard for now over-140 children to play.

In 2011 as the new 5^th grade had to share space in the sleeping room, we began looking for more land.  We are close enough to the village crossroads that we were dismayed at the prices and lack of available land.  During the summer Michael thought we could purchase some adjacent land, but that fell through.  Eventually, he located a parcel about twice the size of our current one (about 200 meters away from it) and we put down a deposit to hold it as we tried to raise the funds to purchase it and to begin building.  In the end we were blessed in amazing ways even as we felt like failures, unable to develop a fundraising strategy.  By the end of September we were able to complete the purchase and since then have fenced the parcel, cleared it and have begun construction.

Our goal was to complete 3 classrooms in time for January school start.  The plan is to build a U-shaped building at the upper end of the site.  It will be block and cement construction with a tin roof and the room linked by a cement walkway, all elevated a few feet off the ground to stay free of runoff and mud even in the heaviest rains.   In November we broke ground on the first wing and have now completed the foundation that will support the 4 classrooms of that wing.  Construction has begun and we have most of the funds to complete those 4 classrooms along with the new latrine building at the other end of the parcel.

In 2012 we hope to find the funds to complete the entire campus, including all 9 classrooms, offices and library/computer room.   Then our attention will return to the old site where we need to build a kitchen and move out of the tin shed and its 3-stone fireplace.  We also plan to build an assembly room that can accommodate the entire school -- for meals, exams, and school assemblies.  Currently if it is raining, everyone packs into one of the classrooms for assemblies and it's such a tight squeeze it's hard to inhale (and I'm only slightly exaggerating!).