Boulder Rotary feeds orphans in Kenya

May 13, 2009



BOULDER – With a "Hibari" and "Shekemoo," ("Hello" and "Respectful Greetings"), Boulder Rotarian Darryl Brown begins the fast-paced and fascinating story of his Rotary involvement in Kenya and his personal journey from being a club member to becoming a Rotarian committed to service.

Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city with a population of 300,000, lies 13 miles south of the equator. While tourists travel to Kenya to see the wildlife, Brown says "the real beauty is in the children, their smiles and the hope they hold for the future." He first learned about the area through a Rotary project involving Arvada Sunrise and several Interact clubs (Interact is a Rotary-sponsored high school organization) to provide safe drinking water to a school in nearby Rabour. When Brown’s daughter, past president of Boulder's Interact club, asked for a trip to Kenya for her high school graduation gift, the family decided to turn it into a vacation.

When they arrived at Rabour to inspect the water project, Brown was shocked by the abject poverty at the school, which lacked enough classrooms, books and food for its students. The Browns had brought two new soccer balls as gifts, neither of which, they soon learned, could withstand thorns on the field as could the makeshift ball the children were using, made of plastic bags and rubber bands.

The town's orphans, who couldn't attend school because of their daily need to scavenge for food, were of more concern. This touched Brown's heart and the Rabour School Feeding Project was born. A Boulder Rotary fundraiser in 2007 netted $14,000, which Brown delivered personally to Kisumu Rotarians. He was then forced to flee because of escalating political violence in Kenya.

Since that time, however, the Project has purchased 500 chicks, now mature and laying eggs; nine goats, six now pregnant; and a local porridge flour-producing company – all combining to feed the orphans and keep them in school.

The project won Boulder Rotary the 2008-2009 Scott Metcalf Award as District 5450's best club project, but the story doesn't end there. When Brown returned to Boulder he helped start the Boulder-Kisumu Sister City Project. After a year of study, Boulder City Council approved the idea in April and a ceremony is planned for August. Organizers hope the Prime Minister of Kenya, The Right and Honorable Dr. Raila Odinga, will be able to attend.


-Reported by Jack Rummel, Boulder Rotary Club

BOULDER ROTARY CLUB
5350 Manhattan Circle, Suite 201 Boulder, Colorado, 80303-4272
303-554-7074 Rotary@wxwax.com
Fax 303-499-6714 www.BoulderRotary.org


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Contact: Sue Deans, 303-579-9580
Darryl Brown, 720-384-7189

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