Irene Okech is the director of the Lioness Cubs Home, an orphanage based in Mombasa, caring for abandoned children, those suffering from aids and abused children from the age of 11 months to 16 years. She was moved to start this project after living in Kenya between 1996 and 97 and describes those first experiences in her own words -
"I walked in the streets and that's where I saw these children, dirty clothes, no shoes, stoned and noisy. I asked my friend what these children were doing and if there was no home for them. They scared me a bit because they were demanding money and food and despite being children, their attitude was rude. I met them more times, and I knew by then already that in the future I would do something for them. Sometimes I had lunch at the restaurant Pistachio in Mombasa where you can sit outside and then the street children were watching us eating, moving their hand to their mouth, it was very hard to ignore this and continue eating."
"In Kenya about 700 people are dying daily of aids, most children are dropped on the streets no one to care about them. Family don't have money and the schools are expensive... Mostly I see the children sniffing the glue and they are stoned, when you ask them why they will tell you that so they wont feel they are hungry... They became survivors of the streets. But inside their hearts, hidden behind their dirty and taught faces they are still children. I am a mother of three children, they are happy and they have the chances to go to a good school and they have a roof above them. I have enough love inside me for other children, those who seemed to be hopeless. Sure I am aware that I will have a hard time, they can hurt me, they can be ungrateful and I know I cant save all of them but if I can save one of them I will be happy already, but I know I can do more then that. That is why I am working so hard to give back something good to Kenya."
Since 2002 the project has been registered in Kenya as an N.G.O and after a period in Nairobi and then Thika, in March 2005 the orphanage relocated to Mombasa for the better climate, the healthy air near the sea, better and more options for excursions for both children and volunteers. Currently the orphanage is situated in a big house in North Mtwapa with separate accommodation for boy and girls and 2 rooms serving the volunteers. However future plans include the building of a large house with the ability to care for 60 children.
For further details of the Lioness Cubs Home please go to www.kenyastreetchildren.com.
How and when did you first become involved with Charitable work in Kenya?
I was already interested in children since I was still in my own childhood. Especially I was impressed when I saw African children on TV. When I was in Kenya in 1996, when I lived there for a year that was the first. It touched my heart so much to see these children in the streets that I decided to do something in the future. That took some years. In 2002 when I was running a travel agency for some years I was in Nairobi and met some streetchildren. I took them home with me for some days. Some months later I returned to Kenya and then I took these street boys with me and let them stay in the house with staff members. I went back to Holland but returned many times to see how they were doing.
Tell us about the orphanage which you have set up in Kenya.
In 2002 I registered Lioness Cubs Home streetchildren of Kenya as a NGO. I started with a group of streetchildren in Nairobi. Age between about 12 till 18 years. They were tough and hard to handle. In the following years these children left the home to return back to the street of they were sent away because of very bad repeating behaviour like beating, stealing and sexual abuse with other children. During the following years younger children were brought in and now we have children age 1 till 18 years.
How easy was it to establish a home with all the bureaucracy involved?
That was not so hard. We rented a home , registered as a N.G.O and here we had an orphanage. What made it hard was the behaviour of the landlords. They increased the rent with incredible and unacceptable prices, they didn't do the work in the home as they had promised and they tried to benefit from us in other ways.
How do you fund the orphanage?
First I mainly supported the home with my income. However it became to hard to do that cause there was to much money needed to feed these children and to pay the rent. Later I decided to work with volunteers who are paying a fee to stay in the orphanage. With these fees and small donations I managed to keep the home till today. I have started a travel agency in Kenya to organise safaris with the profit we do support the home as well. And I a manage intermediary bureau for volunteers and projects in Kenya. I also want to open a shop to sell clothes.
How are children accepted into the orphanage?
We actually don't refuse children as long as we can host them. We started with a few kids and now have 16 of them. We intend to built an orphanage to host about 50 children. That is my dream to have a big orphanage. We take children from baby till about 12 years but wont refuse an older one if the case is serious.
Describe the conditions in which the children come to your orphanage - eg are they healthy, disabled, abused, HIV positive etc?
Some children are healthy, others are HIV positive. Those are following an aids program in the hospital and do get medical care. Some are abused and you can notice due to their behaviour sometimes. We do test the children when they come in for their own and our safety.
How long does it take the children to adapt to living in their new home?
That is very fast. These children would have lived in poor circumstances and now they move in a luxury home with white people to take care about them. They do get a lot of attention and good food, as well as education and love. They feel comfortable and happy in our home and don't have any problem when they move in.
What else do you do for the children other than providing them a good home environment?
We raise them as a big family, they get attention, love, we listen to their problems, we take them out for excursions and safaris. They all go to school where we show our interest in their performances and guardians or parents.
What hopes have you for the children as they grow into young adults?
We raised them to become good human being we want them to study well and be able to get a job. We do create jobs for them in our agencies, travelling and volunteering as well as the workshop we intend to open soon for tailoring clothes.
You mention that some of them will go into the tourism industry, perhaps as safari guides / drivers: how do you prepare them for this?
We take them once old enough with the head driver and cook to learn the most important issues like the parks, the animals and how to cook. They later can go alone.
You accept volunteers to assist in the running of the orphanage - explain how this works.
I have a website www.safarimission.com and www.lionesscubshome.com where volunteers do see this opportunity to come and volunteer in Kenya. They send me an email with their interest and then I reply them with the possibilities to work in our own orphanage, school or hospitals. I do care about the accommodation, the transfers and food and make sure all goes well. They fill in a form with questions and return it to me for me to decide to accept the volunteer or not.
How do you go about obtaining funding? Does the Kenyan Government assist in any way?
Funding is hard to do. I truthfully don't have time to be active in fund-raising but there are some friends who have been doing it. We don't have any assisting from the Kenyan Government but I know this should be possible if one only should approach the certain channels of those N.G.O’s and organisations. We will probably give it a try when we are more settled here in Kenya.
You are in the process of setting up as an N.G.O under the title "Safari Mission - Volunteering Kenya - Uganda. What does this project involve?
Unfortunately the name was not accepted so we still on the progress to register another name. But we intent to start a volunteering bureau to obtain volunteers from abroad and place them in hospitals and schools, our orphanage and projects like the Zion project which is helping patients outwards in the community. We sent volunteers and will support the participating projects with the fees the volunteers are paying.
What qualifications are required to be a volunteer with Safari Mission?
The most important thing is that you must come with honest intention to volunteer in the projects and be ready to make that change. You must be able to fit into the African style of life, and realize that the culture here is very different then in Europe. Don't come here and try to change the things the way they are. We had volunteers who created a lot of problems cause they didn't respect the culture by bringing in European behaviour. You cant expect that is goes the way it goes at home. Some volunteers started to go out and decided that holiday was a better option then volunteering and left the orphanage to rent a cottage and continued as a tourist. We went through a lot with volunteers but surely that was just a small amount most of the volunteers were a great help to us.
What support do you give to volunteers once arriving in Kenya / Uganda?
We are there for them in case of anything. We support before they leave to Kenya or Uganda wit hall the information needed. At arrival we provide a coordinator who will assist them with any help they need from work issues but also if they want to go for shopping, if they want to go out or anything new comers need to know before they get a bit known to the country. We have meetings with them to discuss their work and problems if they are there.
What is your greatest success story so far?
I am proud of Charles. He is staying with us. He was taken from the street at age 14 was sniffing glue, smoking bhang, and was a real tough chokora, streetboy. He is now making songs: he likes to rap and made a song with the name "I am a survivor". We want to help him to become a professional and we are sure he has the right voice and back ground to bring a message to the people!
Have there been any times when you have wanted to give up - if so why?
Oh yes there are times you want to run away but you cant: you simply don't do that. I have started this home and have now 16 children. I call them my children and they call me Mama. They call my husband Papa. There have been many times then I have cried - you wont believe it but mostly over staff or volunteer issues. We had several carers in the home being fired accused of stealing or simply performing very poor at work. After you fire them I always got very bad and evil messages. Or the worst were some volunteers. They were the ones creating very bad situations. Some times you cant even believe what they have been doing. But when you tell them then they attack you personally and mess up the name of the home or they leave very bad comments on the internet sites like weblogs creating damage to the home. They don't understand and realize that they endanger the home's existence and at the same time the future of these children. They only focus on how to take revenge. At those moments I must cry because I have to work hard to take care about these children and others destroy it because they couldn't keep to the home's rules.
With hindisght, is there anything you would have done differently?
Not really. I only realized that sometimes I am to soft towards the staff and volunteers and waited far to long to intervene. I know what they can do if they are sent away from the home. So I sometimes waited to long to warn them. But according to the children, no I don't think I could have done something different I have tried it many times but also myself I had to realize that this is Africa and I had to cooperate with Africa and not expect that I could made that change…
What are your long term objectives?
I want to built a big orphanage for about 50 children. We will then employ our own teachers to educate the children. Despite free education most public schools are full and don't take in more children. Our children mostly go to private schools which is costing a lot. With 50 children in the future we cant sent them to private schools any more. It is our intention to educate the children well and place them in our business. We run a safari bureau in Kenya SHarity Safaris and with the profit we support the orphanage. We would be happy to employ some children later in the safari agency. Also I intend to open a clothing shop. I am looking for women who can make clothes and then sell them. Another business is the volunteering N.G.O: this will also create job opportunities. We certainly do think about the future. We know these children one day must live independently.
How can people reading this interview get involved, either directly or indirectly?
Please just visit the website www.sharity-safaris.com or www.lionesscubshome.com or personally send me an email: ireneokech@yahoo.com or Irene@safarimission.co.ke.
The views expressed therein are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Safaritalk.
