NOTES ON VILLAGE OF LOVE (Kijiji Cha Upendo Children’s Project)

  1. WHERE:

The informal settlement of Kibera, Kenya, one of the most densely populated and crime ridden spots in the world.

  1. THE PROBLEM:

Since the 1990s, in East Africa, millions of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS – on streets, fending for themselves, and very vulnerable. Thousands of these children in Kibera.

  1. SOLUTION:
  • The community has rallied round many of these children: Big-hearted women take orphaned children into their homes and hearts to raise along with children born to them.  But they are themselves very impoverished. Many can barely provide one meal a day for their children. They are unable to keep their children in school (school is not free- fees, uniforms, supplies are necessary or a child is sent home). Nevertheless, the children receive love, guidance, shelter, and protection.
  • In 2010, social worker Leonora Obara with her husband Andrew, founded Village of Love to bring together and empower women who care for orphaned children.
  • Village of Love interventions focus on the mother rather than the orphaned child- so the whole family can be lifted out of extreme poverty. The orphaned child is supported in the best place possible- a loving family, without being singled out or stigmatised.
  1. ABOUT VILLAGE OF LOVE:
  • The project began with 15 women and 75 children. Today it embraces 150 women and over 700 children.
  • They are registered with the Kenyan government as a CBO (Community Based Organisation), are overseen by a Board and employ 4 full-time staff, a part-time accountant, office helper and 2 community health workers.
  1. VILLAGE OF LOVE PROVIDES:
  • Small business micro-loans with small business management training and livelihoods training, so women can support their families proudly through their own enterprise.
  • A host of wrap around supports from health referrals and one-on-one psycho-social counselling (adults and children) to peer support in women’s empowerment groups, workshops in nutrition, growing food in containers, learning about human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, gender equity, parenting- especially parenting of traumatised children who may be HIV+.
  1. VILLAGE OF LOVE CANADA (VOLC)

We are the main Canadian fundraising wing of Kijiji Cha Upendo.

(Canadian Samaritans for Africa and Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada have also given support) We fundraise to provide:

  • Micro-loans
  • School fees to keep children in school
  • Emergency food e.g. during COVID, floods, election violence, when women cannot run their businesses, and most recently we supplied nutritious food supplements for HIV positive women when USAID cut off access to lifesaving ARV drugs.
  • Staff salaries-  to deliver the many programmes that empower and support the women to become self-sufficient.
  • This year we will fundraise for a new social enterprise, a flour business, that will hopefully generate funds annually to support the work of Kijiji Cha Upendo.
  1. VOLC ORGANISATION:
  • We are an informal organisation, run by a council of dedicated volunteers. We fundraise through newsletter appeals, events such as Square and Line Dances, Games Night with Silent Auction, Bike-a-thons and Zoom lectures, and we reach out to funding bodies and other organisations such as churches.
  • Village of Love’s annual budget is around $90,000
  • Before January 2026, we were affiliated with the Canada Africa Partnership (CAP) Network. They handled our finances, reported to the CRA and issued tax receipts. Since January this year we have shifted our affiliation to Runnymede United Church.
  1. SUCCESS.  We receive many reports of children graduating from school, doing vocational training, working to earn a living, even going to university. We see women and children rising above extreme poverty.