Beginnings

Mosquito Net Bed

The Africa Orphan Program had its beginnings at the dinner table in the home of Ken and Carol Fabrizio in the summer of 2006.  Seated around the table with Ken and Carol were Father Jim Dalton of the USA and Father Christopher Wanyonyi from Bungoma, a small town in western Kenya.  They all had been introduced by a common friend, Sister Teresa Benedicta, a Carmelite nun from the tiny village of Siritanyi which is near Bungoma.  Father Christopher explained that destitute orphans and other poor children in his town contracted malaria regularly which, in addition to making them terribly sick, prevented them from attending school.  A decision was made that night to create a program called “Buy A Net, Save A Life” with the intention of providing mosquito nets to the poor of Bungoma and Siritanyi for protection from malaria carrying mosquitoes which would have the added benefit of allowing the children to continue striving toward an education.  Within six months the program had grown substantially and a mission was born.

Within one year the program grew into a full-fledged orphan education program focused primarily on orphans from the huge Kibera slum outside Nairobi, Kenya.   After careful screening, some of them were placed in schools in the local area.  This program grew as children advanced through secondary school and into university.  The next stage of growth occurring in 2010 was significant in that it involved collaboration with “Nyumbani”, a long-established charitable organization based in Kenya that provided an environment for orphans to receive an education while at the same time taking care of their personal needs.

Family

In 2012 the program further expanded its mission of providing an opportunity to receive an education to orphans and poor children in Africa by helping to build a secondary school in Rwanda as well as one in Bungoma, Kenya.  By this time the successful and growing program was known as the “Africa Orphan Program”.