Two New Friends of Kenyan Orphans

Maddie Casey '29 always knew she wanted to go abroad while in college. The opportunity to do so came much earlier than she expected, and brought with it the inspiring bonus of helping young girls achieve their own dreams of pursuing an education.

Casey saw a notice in the Daily Digest last semester about a service trip to Kenya, part of a new January term course organized by Siena's Center for Academic Community Engagement (ACE). It involved working with a new partner: Friends of Kenyan Orphans (FOKO).

"I knew instantly that I wanted to do it," she said.

After a 16-hour non-stop flight to Nairobi and a five-hour van ride through the Kenyan countryside to the city of Meru, she and ACE Director Allison Schultz, Ed.D. arrived at the compound of three boarding schools operated by FOKO. Casey, a biology major, taught science to high school students at St. Clare's. What struck her immediately was the girls' hunger for education.

"Sadly, I think Americans take their access to education for granted," she said. "It was so different in Kenya: the girls were so eager and welcoming to learn."

FOKO students (there is also a boys school and one for HIV+ students) board not only because they hail from all over Kenya, but because many are orphaned. Others faced being sold into a child marriage or forced to engage in child labor. FOKO travels throughout the country to meet potential students and their families to encourage them to enroll in the school. Casey and Schultz said they took part in some of these meetings.

"We found girls in the worst situations imaginable," Casey explained.

At St. Clare's, the students took time for singing and dancing, supplementing their classroom studies with moments of movement and joy.

"I loved interacting with the girls, and I made so many bonds with them," she said. "I really want to go back some day."

As part of Siena's connection with FOKO, Casey is now tasked with starting a student group on the Siena campus that will raise funds to help support the Kenyan schools.

Schultz is hoping that this experience is the start of a "long partnership" with FOKO, which was founded by the Franciscan priest Fr. Francis Limo Riwa. Dan Scales '77 is a member of FOKO's board of directors, and made the connections that supported this first trip to Kenya.

"Their goal is to give vulnerable students the opportunity to finish their grade school education and then go on to higher education in Kenya," Schultz said. "We found students in pretty desperate situations, and FOKO's work will help these students build the knowledge and skills necessary to break the cycle of poverty."

Schultz said many of the families they spoke with and learned about from Fr. Riwa are bereft at parting with their children at a young age, but realize that an education will unlock a better future for them.

"They love their kids so much, and they want them to have an opportunity for a better life," she said.