This weekend we are launching the Boys Empowerment Team of Umoja Project. The program for adolescent boys focuses on healthy interpersonal relationships, goal setting and psychosocial support for these young students, who face enormous challenges as they pursue education and work towards becoming productive, self-sufficient adults. The highly successful girls empowerment program (GET UP) started…
After years of feedback that boys need a program to support them during their adolescent years, GIP’s Umoja Project is able to make it a reality thanks to a starter grant through the Power of One. This summer our Duke interns and two interns from Indiana University are conducting stakeholder surveys with our male Umoja…
by Bailey and Courtney Sanford, 2018 Duke Divinity Interns Hello friends! I hope you all are well. Below are some updates from our last few weeks in Kenya: One of our internship tasks is to conduct interviews with students and stakeholders regarding a “Boy’s Empowerment” program that Umoja will begin this fall. For many years…
Update from Courtney Sanford, Duke Divinity School Intern Dear Friends and Family, When I arrived in Kenya last Tuesday, I joined Bailey at Mama Fransisca’s. She welcomed me by slaughtering a chicken for us. Bailey wanted to learn how it was done, so she taught us the Kenyan way. Fransisca has been teaching Bailey lots…
On May 10, 2018, the one year anniversary of Ellen Daniels-Howell’s death, the Umoja family planted five trees at each of the 18 primary schools served by the project. The five trees represent the branches of the Umoja Project: Students, Head Teachers, Link Teachers, Guardians, and Umoja Staff. As these trees grow and flourish, they…
Our Kenyan Umoja Project leaders Leonard Otiende and Linda Olasya enjoyed a busy two-week visit to Indiana in April 2018. They participated in the strategic planning retreat with the GIP board of directors and spent time at many of our partner congregations and schools, including North United Methodist, St. Luke’s United Methodist, Northminster Presbyterian, Tabernacle…
Join us for a leisurely walk along the downtown canal! GIP is one of many organizations participating in Walking for Dreams on Sunday, May 20. You can sign up to walk with us or support our organization through this event.
In April 2018 the GIP board of directors gathered for a strategic planning retreat led by the Butler Business Consulting Group. Eleven board members were joined by four staff people, including Leonard Otiende and Linda Olasya, who lead the Umoja Project in Chulaimbo, as well as Executive Director Denise Soltis and Indiana Program Coordinator Celia…
Form four student Michael delivered a heartfelt speech to Denise Soltis and Kathy Miller during their March 2018 visit to Chulaimbo. Read the transcript of his moving speech: I want to speak generally about Umoja what it is to us, how it has benefited us individually and society at large. To start with, to our…
by Denise Soltis, Executive Director As I sit on the first flight from Nairobi, I am reflecting on my first visit to Global Interfaith Partnership’s Umoja Project. I arrived in Kenya with a critical eye, expecting to find some issues, things that were not as we thought. What I found was inspiration. These children have…
