Tumaini Tuesday #1

After returning from Kenya the 18^th of October, I spent a month blogging about that trip, and have been sporadic and wandering aimlessly on this blog ever since. I decided it was time to get back on a schedule and bring back my focus. Which means that today is the first Tumaini Tuesday. (How corny, right?)

My plan is to spend just one night a week writing about Africa and promoting our nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers. Even though I have so much to say on those topics, if I continue to share it all at one time, I may not only run out of material, I may bore you and lose your interest, if I haven’t already.

First, in case you have just stumbled upon this blog, or if you are a faithful reader who has forgotten some of what I ramble about, “tumaini” means hope in Swahili, the national language of Kenya. My daughter, Val, came up with the name after spending three months in Kenya in 2013 researching the logistics of starting her own nonprofit organization to bring hope to those living in dire situations.

It has been so much work and I cannot believe the hours she has spent on this. But this is where her passion lies and I couldn’t be more proud of her. I also never thought she would be hounding me this hard to keep up my end of the organization. I try not to let her down.

The mission of Tumaini Volunteers is to assist developing communities in Kenya to thrive by providing sustainable projects to help make them self-sufficient. We hope to achieve this by taking groups of volunteers to Kenya to implement these projects. In Val’s own words, many charities throw money at the problem instead of getting on the ground and really making a difference. It is like the story of giving a man a fish and you feed him for one day, or teach him to fish and you feed him for life. Right? The thing to know about that story is that many Kenyans don’t like fish. Which is why we have to do our research.

I hope this has helped you understand a little more about us. Come back next Tuesday to learn more about how we plan to get these projects going, or maybe I will just share a new story from previous trips. You never know where I will take you next.