About Us

 

Grandmothers' Education Fund Africa is a non-profit organization operating in Tabuga, Kenya, near the city of Nakuru. Our mission is to help poor children go to school and to relieve their grandmothers of some of the burdens of raising a second generation. The AIDS epidemic is wiping out a generation of parents, leaving children orphaned and grandmothers with more work and financial burden than they can manage. Adding to the plight of many residents around Nakuru, are their losses due to tribal clashes in the 1990's and 2008. Many families lost their ancestral agricultural lands, as well as family members, homes and possessions. While the needs of many Kenyans are fathomless, GEFA's mission is to help children receive an education in order to improve their quality of life and that of their families.

GEFA began soon after Janice Hall ventured to Kenya in 1999 to help establish a primary school for a poor community near Nakuru. She observed forelorn children on the other side of the schoolyard fence. With no means to pay for a school uniform, shoes, hot lunch, and school fees, they were left out. So she started to help a few children pay for school. In 2000, Suzanne (Janice's daughter) and Mark King visited Janice in Kenya, and were moved by the same condition of children longing to go to school, yet financially unable. Soon the three, joined by family and friends, were sponsoring a growing number of children to attend school. GEFA now manages sponsorships for about 150 children from nursery school through high school, plus one university student.

You can find Nakuru on a map of Kenya. It is located about 100 km northwest of Nairobi, just south of the equator.

GEFA has been incorporated since 2005.  Our non-profit tax identification number is 74-3162355.

 


GEFA 1627 NW Elgin, Bend, OR 97701 (541)318-1735 | contact us | site map