In August 2000, Irishwoman Maria Kidney set out with a group of friends to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya in Africa.

During the trip, while shopping in Kenya’s Capital city, Nairobi, Maria was attacked and robbed by a gang of children.

Following this traumatic event, she sought refuge in the Kenyan Girl Guide's Headquarters.

During her time there she learned of the many projects that the Kenyan Girl Guides are involved in with various communities.

On returning to Ireland a proposal was drawn up for the Council of Irish Girl Guiding Associations to turn the dream of working with communities in Kenya into a reality. The proposal was accepted and was open to members of the three Irish Girl Guide associations on the island of Ireland. 

First steps

From Ireland, Maria wrote to a number of institutions and centres in Kenya enquiring whether they were interested in hosting a service project group as part of a partnership.

The concept behind this partnership was two-fold – to create a situation where more people in the world have access to basic human rights such as education, clean water and basic healthcare and to provide Irish people with the opportunity to visit a beautiful country, learn about the Kenyan culture and work on worthwhile community projects. 

Many replies were received from Kenya but one letter was particularly noteworthy. It came from two women who were running a Children’s Home in Londiani, a small town in a rural area of the Rift Valley Province. They had forty-two children who had been either orphaned or abandoned and they had a list of things they required assistance with.

A group of twenty Adult Leaders from the Irish Girl Guides and the Guide Association, Province of Ulster travelled to Londiani in August 2002 to complete a community service project. This involved organising activities for the children in the Home and running a Lifeskills Peer Education course for a group of local women in conjunction with members of the Kenyan Girl Guides. 
 

Formal set-up

Following the first project with the Children’s Home, it was recognised that a more formal set-up was required if this was to be a long-term sustainable partnership between Irish people and the people of Londiani.

Four of the original group along with some friends registered a charity here in Ireland called the Friends of Londiani.

In total seven volunteers formed the first Board of Directors - Maria Kidney, Hazel Murphy, Deirdre Henley, Ger Murphy, Martin Ballantyne, Joe Willis and Helen Concannon.

The mission of Friends of Londiani was identified as “to work with the people of Londiani and its surrounding villages to develop and complete sustainable community projects to enable and empower the people to achieve an improved quality of life based on their values and become the authors of their own development”.

William and David

In April 2003, twin boys were born in the village of Kebeneti but their mother died during childbirth. The twins were brought to the Children's Home in Londiani.

Lucy Kirui, the Manageress of the Children's Home asked the Chairperson of Friends of Londiani, Maria Kidney to name the boys. She called them after her late father, William and David. Sadly David passed away soon after arriving in the home and Lucy brought David home to be buried.

Lucy was shocked at the difficult conditions that people faced in that village and asked FOL to work with them.

Soon after FOL began renting a building in Kebeneti as a medical centre for the village as this was one of their most urgent needs. Later that year FOL purchased an acre of land in Ndubusat, near Kebeneti so that FOL could help to build a permanent medical clinic for the people in the area.

Further expansion

Since then, FOL has continued to develop and expand into new villages.

All the projects are community driven and are based on the communities self-identified needs.  FOL is now an official registered charity (CHY16505) in Ireland and Friends of Londiani Kenya is now a recognised NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) in Kenya.

FOL has worked with many communities and its work now focuses on three main development areas – health (both clinical and public), education and clean water provision.

FOL Kenya continues to run the Medical Clinic in Ndubusat and is working closely with the local Ministry of Health to ensure it is in line with Government standards.

FOL organises training for staff members and traditional birth attendants. FOL also works with the Public Health Officers in organising Public Field Days. 

FOL has also worked on construction projects such as classrooms in Ndubusat and Benditai and a community centre in the village of Lelsothet. 

FOL continues its Lifeskills Peer Education programme, training local people as trainers. FOL has brought clean water to many people through rainwater collection tanks and a gravity water system.

FOL has worked in education programmes in schools and communities including adult literacy, summer activities for children, school health projects and income-generation activities. FOL continues to support the Bethel Children’s Home and provides education bursaries for others in need.