Program Coordinator and Co-Founder, Mark Okello, Nairobi, Kenya
~
Jirani Project Board of Directors
Elshadye & Lucy
Home | About Us | The Children | Photo Gallery | Donate | Newsletter | Contact Us
Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you.
~African Proverb~
The Jirani Project is run entirely by volunteers in the United Sates and one full-time Staff member in Kenya. Mark Okello, our Kenyan staff member, facilitates placing children in school, paying tuition and other necessary logistics; volunteers donate their time and funding.
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 is a non-profit 501(c)(3), grassroots organization run entirely by volunteers in the US and one fulltime Kenyan staff member in Nairobi.
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 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!
The Mission of The Jirani Project is to honor the promise and expand the opportunities of Kenyan children through education and holistic support.
The focus of the Jirani Project has always been on serving some of the most vulnerable children in Kenya, who are among the over 2 million orphans and others who are on the street or are refugees. We value cultural and religious diversity, and at this time, we are supporting children and families from at least five of the ethnic groups in Kenya, as well as, refugee children from neighboring countries. The Jirani Project currently provides assistance for children ages 4 to 21; preschool to trade school. 64% of our children are girls and 36% are boys.
Not pictured: Co-Founder, Stefanie Sidortsova
Co-Founders of the Jirani Project
Beth Blue Swadener & Mark Okello
