We support people in need in Kitui, Kenya. 
We work to provide the marginalised with clean water and access to education, and to empower them by boosting their economic independence. 

 

 

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About Us

Who  Are We?

Friends of Kitui is a voluntary group which evolved from the Dalkey Parish Outreach project, set up in 1999 to support two Dalkey priests, Father Paul Healy (working in Kitui Diocese, Kenya) and Father Alan Glynn (working in the city of Teresina, Brazil).The group started with a monthly fund-raising coffee morning, for relief of poverty mainly through providing education for orphans and vulnerable children, and small income-generation activities. Friends of Kitui was formally established in 2005 as an umbrella structure linking the activities of the various voluntary groups who are contributing to support the needs of the people of Kitui. In addition to Dalkey, it now embraces donors from other Dublin parishes, notably Cabinteely and Rathgar, as well as corporate donors and others in the United States and Britain. We are always looking for other parishes or community groups to join us in this work.

An important feature of the Friends of Kitui approach is that all money donated goes to projects in Kitui. Our funds are mainly, but not exclusively,  channelled through the Catholic Diocese of Kitui, because as a Partner of world agencies such as the World Food Programme, the Church in Kitui has the structure to support, implement and monitor projects. We insist that beneficiaries of our projects should include persons of all faiths, and none, in Kitui: however we recognise that the majority will be Catholic. 

Projects in Kitui are monitored by Friends of Kitui volunteers visiting these projects on a very regular basis- at least four or five visits per year. Costs associated with the organisation’s own activities, including travel costs to and from Kenya, are borne personally by the promoters here in Ireland.

How our Projects Evolved

Late 2005, following an appeal by Fr Paul in Cabinteely Parish, Aidan Corless decided to take on board two major projects- the first for the education of children orphaned due to AIDS, and the second to raise funds for the construction of a new Secondary School for Kitui.

Around the same time, Pat Torpey took responsibility for promoting Water Projects and the project for the Empowerment of Women through micro-buainess projects.

Sheila O'Malley and Gerry Jones have taken on fundraising for a number of Water Projects with considerable success to date.

Terry Dunne and Clare Byrne who launched Dalkey Parish Outreach discovered that even small amounts of money  are able to do an amazing amount of good.

What We Do

We raise funds to support community projects for the provision of water and education services in the  Catholic Diocese of Kitui, in the Eastern Province of  Kenya.  

We also support projects to encourage self sustainability and particularly those for the empowerment of women. 

We are committed to ensure that 100% of the donations received go directly to the supported projects.

What We Believe

We believe in sustainable development. This means that our projects are geared towards enabling or empowering our partners  either to free up their time for more productive activties, or to get under way with income-generating projects which they will continue to develop and expand under their own initiative. 

 

We believe that:

  • Everyone has a right to water, the basic requirement for life

  • Everyone has a right to education

  • Everyone has a right to adequate food

  • Everyone has a right to advancement

  • These rights exist irrespective of Race or Religion

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Bringing animals to find water - rural Kitui. Farmers must scoop out the bed of seasonal rivers to find water for their livestock

Daniel Mulwa (Centre) of the St. John Eudes Rehabilitation Centre can now afford to smile. The 20 year old , who has no memory of his childhood, had been on cocaine for 8 years, before being admitted at the centre.It took four months of concerted care before Daniel could even speak. Now, the Centre is his family, and is helping him to get his life back.

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You are most welcome to come to the Dalkey Parish Outreach coffee mornings in Our Lady's Hall, Castle St., Dalkey, Co Dublin, on the last Sunday of every month from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. If you cannot come to these coffee mornings, contact us by e-mail at the address below. 

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A family funeral group stops for fuel at a petrol station in Kitui town