• President
Beth Blue Swadener *, Arizona
• Vice-President
Luis Fernandez, Arizona
• Secretary
Alicia Smith, Arizona
• Treasurer
Deborah Jacobs, Arizona
• Member at Large
Diane Adams, Wisconsin
• Member at Large
Joanne Floth, Arizona
• Member at Large
Mare Schumacher, Arizona
• Member at Large (Past President)
Stefanie Sidortsova *, Vermont
• Member at Large
Debria Smith, Arizona
• Program Coordinator
Mark Okello *, Kenya
* Jirani Project Co-Founders
The Jirani Project is a grassroots, non-profit organization dedicated to the education and support of vulnerable Kenyan children. Run entirely by volunteers in the United States and one full-time staff member in Nairobi, The Jirani Project provides these homeless and/or orphaned children with the support needed for shelter, food, school tuition, clothing, and basic medical care.
info@jiraniproject.org
• Snail Mail
The Jirani Project
c/o Mare Schumacher
1046 W. Elna Rae
Tempe, AZ 85281 USA
The Mission of The Jirani Project is to honor the promise and expand the opportunities of Kenyan children through education and holistic support.
Thanks largely to the generosity of our Jirani
Sponsors, we are able to move vulnerable Kenyan children (who have been
orphaned by HIV/AIDS, are refugees or are in other difficult
circumstances), from intolerable conditions to boarding schools or
guardians' homes in which they can learn and thrive. They are provided
with food, clothing, schooling, basic medical care and counseling.
In addition to providing for all costs related to
children's education, The Jirani Project provides other material and
social supports to every foster family or guardian, so each sponsored
child can be properly cared for. The Project Coordinator, Mark Okello,
facilitates this process--from finding guardians for orphans and
services for children and families.
The Jirani Project children themselves named the organization with the Kiswahili word "jirani," which means "neighbor."
The Jirani Project is a group of people serving as neighbors to African children; helping them the way that a friend or neighbor would.
The Jirani Project was co-founded by Mark Okello, social worker and former coordinator of Kids to Kids in Nairobi, Beth Blue Swadener, professor of early childhood education at Arizona State University (who has done work in Kenya, including volunteering with street children, since 1992), and attorney, Stefanie Sidortsova. Both Mark and Beth were also involved in the founding of Kids to Kids, which provides an informal school which helps children transition form the street to other primary schools.
Mark grew up in poverty and was sponsored to school by an American, who is now a contributor to the Jirani Project. Mark vowed to help make a difference in the lives of other children in difficult circumstances, and has worked with street children in both Nairobi and rural areas (primarily in central and western Kenya).
In his visits to slums and rural areas alike, Mark was struck by the growing number of children who were found at the sides of parents dying of AIDS or trying to raise their younger siblings when nobody in their extended family were able to take them in. Beth sponsored several children in Kenya, invited people she knew to join her in doing the same, and wanted to start a formal organization that would provide funding.
Around that time, Stefanie Sidortsova approached Beth and told her of her desire to start a non-profit organization that benefited AIDS orphans in Africa. They then decided to work together to formalize what Beth was already doing with Mark through the formation of an all-volunteer Board of Directors and formal incorporation of the Jirani Project as a non-profit. Stefanie began the incorporation process (as a law student at the time) and Beth recruited other officers, Mare Schumacher and Luis Fernandez.
When Luis Fernandez graduated from Arizona State University with his Ph.D., he asked that friends and family contribute to sponsoring children in Kenya rather than giving graduation gifts. By the time Luis had his graduation party, the Jirani Project was already a state-recognized non-profit corporation. In fact, Luis’s graduation party was probably the Jirani Project's first formal fundraiser and effort to recruit other board members!