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. 

AIDS and Orphans

 

School Fees Programme 

Urgent Appeal to renew your support
To all those who are currently supporting a needy student, or an AIDS orphan through school, we offer our sincere thanks. Your generosity has made a really significant difference to the life of the child you have sponsored. We now ask you to continue this support for a further year.  To keep this programme running and expanding, we need a continuous flow of funds. The cost of supporting a student through one year's education at secondary boarding school, including tuition, accommodation and food, typically varies from €350 to €500.
The school year in Kitui runs from 1st January, so we are now (December 2011) in the process of selecting students for support in 2012. Please send your contribution as soon as possible. You can use the Donation form on this website and send your donation direct to Trocaire-Friends of Kitui. All donations for Friends of Kitui projects are handled by Trocaire, the development arm of the Catholic Church in Ireland. If you are a PAYE payer, your donation will increase in value by the amount of the tax you have paid. For non-PAYE donors, your donation will qualify as an allowable expense. A receipt will be issued by Trocaire for each donation. 

 

Sponsoring the Education of  Needy families and AIDS Orphans

This programme was founded in 2005 by Aidan Corless, a Dublin businessman who wanted to take positive action to ease the plight of children and other young dependent adults  orphaned directly or indirectly as the result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Aidan visited Kitui to assess the situation on the ground. He met the Diocesan Administrator for the Kitui Diocese, and visited a number of centres where the Diocese was working on behalf of the people of Kitui.

He identified education as one of the key elements in a programme for support of AIDS orphans, recognising that providing these children with a sound education would give them a better headstart for the future. 

Since 2005 the programme has evolved to support not only AIDS orphans, but other needy students whose family circumstances would not allow them to access secondary education. Sponsored students are selected on the basis of need, and not on religious affiliation.

Any contribution, however small, towards this programme is most welcome.

Sponsors wishing to have a one-to-one relationship with the student are asked to pay between €350 and €500 towards the educational expenses for each student. This sum covers the annual cost of providing tuition, uniform, personal expenses such as school clothing and bedding, food  and accommodation in a boarding school, and transport to and from school at end of term. The sponsorship fee is paid through the Trocaire-Friends of Kitui account directly to the Education Department of the Catholic Diocedse of Kitui, which monitors and administers the programme. Any surplus is applied to additional needy students.

As discussed elsewhere on this site, education is seen by the people of Kitui as essential in helping them to improve their own economic status- just as it was in Ireland in decades past.

Read more about the situation facing children orphaned due to AIDS here.

CIMG0969.JPG (71501 bytes)Click on image to enlarge  

 Pictured left during a visit to Kitui April 2007: (L to R) Aidan Corless, Ndiko, Richard, and Pat Torpey. Ndiko has just qualified with a P1 primary teaching qiualification, and Richard is in his first year at University studying engineering. Both were sponsored through secondary school by Friends of Kitui. Richard is now being sponsored by a Dalkey parishioner.

 

Shown here are the faces of just a few of the children who have benefited from your support. Without your help, these children would not have had the opportunity to gain the education which is the first step on the way to a better future.