About the Saituni Fund
The story of the Saituni Fund is the story of one woman. Risper Saituni a determined woman of faith. She has a heart for the lost, the impoverished, the orphaned and homeless, the underdog in general.
She sees disease and famine all around her on a daily basis. Her vision is to see the local rural children with a sound education good health and hope for the future.
In a Country that sees its share of corruption, Risper's main educational passion is to instill and teach integrity from a very early age she sees this as the one hope for the country she loves.
Two years ago she left Nairobi where she was living and teaching, sold everything she owned in order to buy the land for the for the school in the rural area around a village called Ringa.
So why open a school in the region that is so disadvantaged that if you were to rely on the pupils to support the school by their fees you would educate no one.
The reality at the moment is that the school survives on the good will of the staff and the local community. The community as a whole realise that education is there only hope.
The only hope is to educate, despite massive challenges such as aids, malaria, abject poverty and food shortages. Though the region is fertile, one season with poor rainfall sets them back a long way.
At the moment there are thirty one complete orphans who depend entirely on the school to keep them alive.
Each child in the school receives one meal of porridge per day. This is more more than they would have had at home. This is much more than a school, it is a life line to a desperate situation in a desperate place.
What are the immediate needs? Where do you start?
- The kids need food, and uniforms.
- The teachers need wages (not the pittance that makes them litle more than volunteers).
- The school needs a bore hole to get running clean water.
- A generator to provide electricity.
- Permanent building structures to use as class rooms and sleeping quarters for the orphans.
- They need medicine for malaria and the community as a whole need mosquito nets.
The list is endless.
Despite all these daily challenges it is by the grace of God that Risper Saituni grits her teeth and caries on, to encourage her virtually unpaid staff to keep moving forward with her.
Did I mention also that so far, Risper has saved 16 young girls from sexual abuse they are now safe in the school compound.
It is little wonder that I call her The mother Teresa of Africa.
This was only the beginning the story continues through you.