St Dorcas Orphanage, Kipcheria

About The Orphanage

The St. Dorcas Orphanage is located near Kipcheria in western, rural Kenya and provides a safe home for over thirty children and young people from the age of 7 years.

The children are cared for by Matron Juliette and 3 other members of staff, all paid by H&A Marketing, York.

The orphanage is located in a very poor and remote area close to the Ugandan border at an altitude of 7,000ft. The closest town, Bungoma is approximately 30 miles away.

The children come into the care of the orphanage for many reasons, read more about some of their stories here, John’s Story, Isaac’s Story & Marion’s story.

The current orphanage was opened in August 2013, after the land the original orphanage was located on became insecure.

The orphanage is supported by H&A, a company that makes children’s toiletries, based in York.  As H&A is a children’s product company, it made sense to them that some of the profits made selling products to children in the UK should be shared with children who are significantly in need. H&A allocated funds to build an orphanage on a new site in 2013 with facilities to improve the children’s quality of life and also give them security.

All the children go to school but school fees need to be paid. Half of the children attend St. Dorcas Primary School which is situated nearby. School years depend on ability not age, so children do not move up until they reach a certain standard. The work ethic in the orphanage is amazing. The children rise at 6am weekdays for school, they clean and tidy their beds, have breakfast and get ready for school. They leave at 7am every morning. Homework is completed every night after supper, with the older children helping the younger ones. Every Saturday is spent washing clothes, washing floors and generally tidying up. Meals usually consist of porridge, beans, spinach, rice and maize, with egg and milk from the orphanage animals.

We now have a second chicken shed and new chicks are added every 18 months. The milk from the orphanage cow is important to the children’s diet. Maize and beans, which form the staple diet, are both grown in the fields belonging to the orphanage. There is also a vegetable patch.

Fundraising

Fundraising for future orphanage needs is ongoing.

A Tough Mudder Challenge was completed by H&A staff. Read all about the challenge here.  Also a ‘Biking to Bungoma for Beds Challenge’ to raise money to buy bunk beds for the children when the orphanage was first built. Over 4,000 miles were completed by H&A staff for this challenge. Both events raised over £7000!

WHAT AN AMAZING FUNDRAISER!

Thank you so much to Jon, Joe, Becky, Conor, Jan & Naakesha for undertaking such an amazing challenge in aid of St Dorcas.   They completed 112 mile bike ride immediately followed by running a marathon.   Incredible everyone and thank you so much.   Thank you also to Martin and Neil, husbands of two of our Trustees who completed the bike ride part too.

Their combined efforts have raised over £4000 which will greatly assist us in buying food for our children and young people.   THANK YOU!

Finance

All fundraising monies have been controlled throughout by Paul Grewer, ACMA, Commercial Director at H&A. Paul personally overseas all payments to ensure monies donated are sent directly to the orphanage. His last visit was in 2019.