Kenya Works

Mary Stusek, Founder and President of Kenya Works, talked about when she retired she was reading an article in the New York Times how free primary education was being introduced in areas in Africa. In some countries such as Kenya, more than a million new students appeared on the first day of school. In Kenya, the government gives each student $4.17 per year. Mary thought about sending some uniforms and books but discovered that if parents were not employed, children were not going to school. It was easier to send children in the field to work for 50¢ a day instead of providing them with uniforms and getting them to school. She decided to help provide vocational training for parents, mainly women, as well as working with primary school children. Can individuals made a difference globally against the odds of corruption, politics, ethnical distance, parochialism, climate and war? Kenya Works focuses on the entire community, works with merry-go-rounds (traditional women’s groups) and they select a local, project manager. Kenya Works has completed and is working on a variety of different projects. The New Hope Women’s Group is located 5 miles from Lake Victoria. When husbands died, his family took the land, cows and the house. Seventeen women with 57 children were left with nothing. Kenya Works helped them start a dried fish, sewing and a fermented beverage business. They also helped build 3 houses (the community supplied the labor, a local man contributed the beams and Kenya Works paid for the mud and roof). They also will be replacing the roof, floor, windows and doors of a primary school as well as providing scholarships to 2 girls so they can attend secondary school (it is not free). Kibera, Nairobi has a population of 1 million people in 3 square miles. There are three wells and electricity is pirated. Kenya Works partnered with Transform A Person Africa (TAPA) to send 3 year olds to preschool. The school is 70% self-sufficient since the parents are hired to make sweaters and school uniforms for wealthy boarding schools. In Nyanza Province of western Kenya, many very poor grandparents are struggling to feed and educate their grandchildren. The children's parents died of AIDS. Kenya Works was the first group of white people to visit the village. Their mission was to finance school construction. Kenya Works is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt nonprofit incorporated in the State of Wisconsin. About 95% of their money comes from individual donors and 5% from churches, service clubs and corporate matching. All the funds go to work in Kenya except bank wiring fees. For more information on Kenya Works, go to www.kenyaworks.org.