History
A journey....
In 2009, Anne-F Baron, founder of the association, realised her dream: a tour of the world. Her wish was to explore countries and to give something of her time and energy wherever possible.
After having visited Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Easter Island, Polynesia, China, Mongolia, Laos, Burma, India (where she stayed for three weeks volunteering with the Sisters of Mother Theresa of Calcutta), Syria, and Jordan she finally arrived in Kenya. In Kenya it was a chance encounter that would set off a chain of events which eventually lead to the creation of the association.
An encounter....
Kenya was the the last destination of Anne-F. Baron's journey. Her parents joined her there for a month, and they wanted to get to know this beautiful country and its warm-hearted people. They decided to go to the Island of Mfangano mentioned in their guidebook. Stepping off the boat they asked a man sitting beside the lake for directions. This man was TOM MBOYA OTIENO. He was born on the island and is a teacher there. Tom showed them the island, its inhabitants and its history, and they also visited Ramba Primary School where he taught.
This encounter was the beginning of a new story that promised to be long and rewarding.

Our actions 2009
Tom is a teacher at Ramba Primary School. He showed them around Sena Primary School where he had been a schoolboy, and when they saw the state of the desks, the chairs and the school uniforms they realised that something needed to be done.
The headmaster, being the best placed person to evaluate the needs of the pupils, suggested they mostly needed: 30 desks and 30 chairs for the most senior class, and every pupil at the school to have a uniform.
A uniform must be worn in schools in Kenya, a legacy of British colonialism, and this is very important for the population. It is a way for all children to be considered as equals at school.
In November, Anne-F. Baron wrote an email about this project to all those who were following her travels.
Her parents, Marcel and Yvette Touffet forwarded these emails on to all the people they knew. The response was overwhelming and in one month the donations snowballed, with 5344 euros raised from 156 donors.
This final sum allowed 60 chairs and 60 desks to be constructed, and these were shared equally between the Sena and Ramba schools, the making of uniforms for 754 students and also the purchase of 30 maths sets for students starting high school.
This first aid project also provided work for small businesses on the island and the mainland nearby. Remember that wood and metal could not be worked on the island as it had no electricity at that time.
Two local dressmakers made the uniforms, tailored for each child.
Everything was then delivered to the island by boat, and because there are no vehicles on the island the children carried everything the whole 4km to the schools.
Both schools each held a thanksgiving ceremony by the request of the schools and the local authorities.
There were prayers, songs, dances and speeches in the morning before the uniforms were distributed to each child, much to their delight. As you can imagine this was an unforgettable and very moving day for everyone involved.

NB : Anne-F. Baron extended her stay in Kenya to closely manage this first project, greatly assisted by Tom, the teacher. Each donor was kept up-to-date with the results of their contributions with photos and anecdotes.