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Kenya nonprofit group founder shares story
By Rodika Tollefson
KP News
As a young child, Fred Outa had no
hope, no future. An orphan in the village of Kapiyo,
Kenya, he was one of many kids who shared a similar
fate: Taken in by extended family or other village
members, he was given nothing but a place to live, and
instead of going to school had to tend to chores.
“Orphans don’t get food in those
(strangers’) homes, what they get is a roof to live
there — but no love, not much,” Outa told a small
gathering of people in October at the Lakebay Community
Church. “It was tough, even for me, to bear that… It’s
so painful, because you (the orphan) are a black sheep
in that community.”
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Fred Outa, center, at a community presentation
on the
Key Pen in October.
Photo by Rodika Tollefson |
A couple of
decades later, Outa is helping turn around the lives of
other orphans in his native village. He founded a
nonprofit called the Valley African Center, where a
pre-school was built for orphan children with the help
of American volunteers, and other projects are in the
works.
“I have built a network with a
number of individuals who are involved with what I do in
Kenya,” Outa said in an interview.
Father and son Mark and Shane
Plummer, both Key Pen residents, are among supporters
who are helping Outa’s vision come to life. The pair
recently returned from Kapiyo, where they worked on a
sanitation project with a U.S. team (see the September
issue of the KP News). Mark Plummer hosted Outa at his
home in October. The trip was Outa’s first to Washington
state, but he tries to visit the United States every
year to stay connected with his network of supporters
and keep the momentum going. With an American college
education, thanks to an American missionary family, he
has been bringing sustainable farming projects to his
village. One of those projects brings profit to the
community by growing rice, an industry that has been
mismanaged by a corrupt government.
“Fred in Kenya is seen as a threat
by the politicians,” Plummer said. “He’s been threatened
by his life.”
The trips by the mission groups
have made a huge impact on his people, Outa said. In
Kenya, there is no sanitation or healthy drinking
water; people usually drink rainwater or water from
muddy lakes. “Before the community didn’t have clean
water; now they have it,” he said. “This will reduce
illnesses and the amount of money used fighting them.”
Mark and Shane Plummer said they
hope to return to Kapiyo in February to finish the
septic system project and do other work. Mark’s friend,
Port Orchard resident Don Burlingame, who first got the
Plummers involved and was part of this year’s group,
also went on a trip once, and since then decided to
become involved long-term.
“It’s addictive,” Outa said. “Once
you taste it (the need and helping out), you’ll want to
come every year. The motivation is helping the people of
Africa, who are so poor.”
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