To accomplish this goal, we have implemented the Oasis Program, through which we plan to improve the lives of Kenya’s orphaned and vulnerable children by uniting orphanages and working with them to enhance the services they provide. We are confident that if orphanages around the country are able to share their ideas and communicate with the government as a unified group, they will be able to receive more aid, improve their services, and provide a better life to the children in their care.

Our first step to getting the Oasis Program off the ground is to introduce ourselves to orphanages and assess their current conditions.  Veronica Ciambra and Jessica McCauley, two very dedicated and capable Flying Kites volunteers, have helped me compose a survey to assess Kenyan orphanage conditions.  Fran, a Kenyan Flying Kites employee, will administer the survey.

Fran and I administered a “test run” of our survey to the Flying Kites housemothers – they gave some very helpful critiques that will help make the survey even more effective! They were adamant that a Kenyan should administer the survey instead of me, a muzungo (read: white person), explaining that with a Kenyan asking the questions, the orphanage employees will be more at ease and more likely to respond truthfully and accurately.  In the next few weeks, Fran will begin traveling to orphanages to administer these surveys.  I’ll keep everyone posted as to how this project progresses.