Valley of Tumaini Children's Home

MR AND MRS CHEGE

MOSES CHEGE   AND    JULIA W. NYAGA

I was walking on a Sunday afternoon in Nairobi When  I came along a picture posted on a side walkway with large writing  

(WOULD YOU WALK AWAY)

I am sure most of you saw this picture. I later learned that the picture was taken by Kevin Carter. PULITZER PRIZE “winning photo taken during the Sudan famine.

 

The picture depicts a famine stricken child crawling towards a United Nation Food camp, located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including Photographer Kevin who left the place as soon as  the photograph was taken. Three months later he committed suicide due to depression

Click here to view the photo of the child

As I stopped to look at this picture what I saw has haunted my mind since then I could not help it but I broke down in tears right there. Kevin’s photograph became such an image for me personally, and with an image as emotionally powerful as this one, when I saw it, I was overcome with sorrow.  

I later went to USA for further studies. Where I met my husband Moses, (then he was a fiancé) And one day I shared my dream of opening a children home in Kenya. I was not sure he would one day agree for us to move back to Kenya before we attained the American Dream. But  he welcomed the idea and he promised that as soon as we get married we would move back to Kenya where we would open a children home.  So when he proposed a hand in marriage I knew that he was the man I wanted to spend my life with since he had love and heart for orphans in Kenya.

That’s how Valley of Tumaini children's Home was born. (Tumaini is a Swahili word for (HOPE). Valley of Tumaini  is a small seed that is planted on this earth, with hopes to grow in to a tree of strength and bear the fruits of hope to the children of Kenya.  I realized it would take the whole community to network together for the common goal to make a difference in the life of the next generation. For that reason, I am seeking more dedicated souls who will join with us, who will walk with us, who will talk with us, and who would like to make a difference for  orphans in Kenya who are dying of malnutrition and HIV.