Jambo!
Welcome to the Dunga Orphanage Project! The Dunga Orphanage Project (DOP) is a 501c3 charitable non-profit dedicated to providing for the basic human needs of over 37 orphans children within a small AIDS ravaged village in Kenya. Most of these children have lost both of their parents and other family members due to complications from this indiscriminate virus. These children have come to the orphanage by extended family too poor to care for them, some found abandoned on the street, while a few managed to find a way to our doors on their own.
Originally founded in 2003 by a resourceful and determined young woman, Sarah O’Brien from Anacortes, Washington, the Dunga Orphanage Project has since grown from a small, family based operation serving a few orphan children to a bon-a-fide Community Based Organization. This orgnization provides 37 children with food, shelter, medical care and education as a result of the support of United States sponsors and contributors. Twenty seven of these children are now in boarding school and university. Ten of the younger and special needs children live full-time in our Home Based Care program currently located in Kisumu, Kenya.
Raphael Odhiambo, who has faithfully supported most of these children in their educational pursuits over the years, is our current, part-time DOP Director. He is highly regarded in the local community, has years of experience and education as a certified teacher, and has served as the board chairman for the Saint Vivitalis Primary School in Dunga assisting over 500 orphans. He is married with five children, three in university, one in high school, and his youngest in primary school. He
acts as a guide and a mentor to many of the young men in his community.
Elizabeth Chipps-Freeman is our full-time, resident, volunteer social worker/bookkeeper. She has worked directly with our organization for two years and has lived in Kisumu for the past three years providing services to the Kisumu Kiwanis Pre-school for lower income Kenyan women and their children. Elizabeth is a graduate of Seattle University with a BS in Social Work. She also has years of experience working with teen run-away and homeless with Seattle Children’s Home.
Lastly, we have a wonderful home based program provided by our past and present care givers for the ten younger children still living at home. Rose Anyango Owino has consistently nurtured and bonded with these children for a number of years. Nereah Alouch Omondi has provided caregiver relief as well as help with cooking and washing for the last two years. The children clearly love and respect these hardworking, caring women.
It is not just our goal to provide for the basic human needs of these 37 children, but also to support them on the road to independence as responsible adults within their villages and communities. Sponsors and donors provide these children with hope and security, schools provide them with the solid education they will need to succeed, and dedicated staff provide them guidance and care. In turn, these children provide each other with love and support. Their successes also become the inspiration and pride of their villages and communities generating a beacon of light so desperately needed by so many struggling in Kenya. There are many ways that you can help the Dunga Orphanage Project.