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The Hope 27 Organization is an expansion of Grassroots into a new community, located in Siaya County in western Kenya. Our guiding scripture verse is James 1:27, which is a call to utilize compassionate action to take care of widows and orphans in their distress.
We are using a family-based care model, recommended by the United Nations, for orphan care in Kenya. Hope 27 scholarship students who have been orphaned live with their extended families - usually a grandparent or aunt/uncle - and we meet together each Sunday afternoon for encouragement, mentorship, and discipleship training. We began with nine scholars in early 2022 and currently offer full scholarships to school for 27 students ranging in age from Kindergarten through college. During school holidays (which in Kenya are April, August, November, and December) the Hope 27 leadership team hosts an enrichment camp for 80+ children, including our current Hope 27 scholars as well as additional vulnerable children from the surrounding community. An awesome team of seven local teachers run seven classrooms for K-12 students. We teach and review content in Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, and Science as well as providing breakfast and lunch, playing soccer, singing, and making arts and crafts. We LOVE camp, and we welcome friends and volunteers teams during these months specifically to work alongside us. Under the direction of Lawrence Opundo, the Hope 27 Organization is developing a 14-acre farm which includes both livestock and crops on two different parcels of land. The farm is the longterm plan for Hope 27 to be sustainable and so far includes 1200 laying hens, 100+ avocado trees, a greenhouse full of tomatoes, and 10 acres planted in maize (for chicken feed), beans (for camp lunches), and a fruit tree orchard. We have just opened up the opportunity for friends of Grassroots to sponsor a Hope 27 student by financially supporting their education. A scholarship of $1200 per year covers all tuition and school fees, an annual set of school uniforms and shoes, all school supplies and textbooks, and participation in all twelve weeks of Hope 27 Academy's camp each year. The Hope 27 leadership team is in the process of dreaming about the future. We hope to continue to keep growing camp and the number of children we are able to serve during school holidays, but we also desire the most quality education for each of our students. We are praying for wisdom and guidance in eventually opening a world-class school and later a community resource center for our area. We are watching the Hope 27 farm staff work with such dignity at being able to provide for their families and are seeing that a significant part of our impact over time will be creating jobs in a nation where there just isn't enough employment opportunity. Pray alongside us as we trust that God would continue providing both the vision and the resources to make all of these dreams come to fruition. If you have any questions about Hope 27 or Grassroots (our 501c3 partner in the USA) please don't hesitate to email Holly Heyroth Opundo at [email protected]. |
The Opundo family
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