Be A Hero

Information on Heroes of the Nation

Current Projects at Heroes of the Nation

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Be A Hero Completed Project
Heroes of the Nation Update June 07
Nyahururu, Kenya

So much has happened over the last eighteen months! We keep planning to write an update, and then think we’ll wait for the building currently under construction to be finished. Well, it has been continuous building since about December 2005. The Children’s Village is hardly recognizable. Heroes of the Nation Children’s Village started on 4 acres with a boy’s dorm, a girl’s dorm, a few classrooms, and a small hut which served as the kitchen. With the purchase of a much larger plot of land nearby a goal was set to move all the children to the new site, build the elementary school there, and change the existing site into a high school for both HOTN residents and boarding students from the community.

Here’s what has happened since the start of 2006:

A New Boy's Dorm:

A new boy’s dorm for 80 boys, started in the fall of 2005, was completed and occupied – the first step to the fulfillment of the vision. Now approximately 120 boys between the ages of 6 to 12 live in this dorm. Another dorm has been started, which will eventually ease the overcrowded conditions.

Boy’s dorm

Beds in the boy’s dorm

A New Girl's Dorm:

A girl’s dorm followed, providing a home for about 115 girls (although designed for 80). The new dorms have sinks and toilets so that will be a real blessing (when the water gets turned on – the City pledged to run water to the children’s home, but has run into construction difficulties so the water has not yet arrived. The children pump water from a well in the meantime – hence the buckets).

New Girl’s dorm

Cheerful bedroom

Group home for the small children

Sinks soon to have running water

Young children’s cottage - Another home was built
for the smaller children, providing them with a more home-like
atmosphere until they are old enough to go into a dorm.

Sewage treatment plant - To provide for the over 400
people who use the site each day, a new sewage treatment
plant was installed, with a capacity for 1000 people.

A brand new school:

A brand new school, with 8 classrooms was next. All of the elementary children attend this school. The classrooms are much larger and brighter than the old ones. The Nursery school children are still being bussed to the old site, until more classrooms are built for them. The site is now being prepared for another row of classrooms. Heroes of the Nation is in the top 10 of the schools in their region, a real testament to the love and skill of the teachers as most of the children are sick, malnourished and traumatized when they arrive at the Home, and many have been out of school for years.

New classrooms

In class

Renovated High School:

Violet’s girls pretty in violet.

Once the new classrooms and dorms were completed, work turned to renovating the (now called) “old site” to use as a boarding high school. Now completing the first school year of operations, 58 students have enjoyed the facility – 35 children from HOTN and 23 paying students. It still needs some work, such as equipment for the science lab, and computers for the computer lab, but the older students are very proud of their new facility. Over 50 girls live at the high school site (some younger children are bused to the new site for school), and about 40 boys live in a nearby rented house. Eventually enough accommodations will be built at the high school site so that all the high school students can live on campus. The new uniforms for the high school students are a happy “violet” colour, chosen in honor of their beloved “Mommy”, Violet Gitonga, Director of Heroes of the Nation (along with her husband Weston).

Medical clinic under construction

Medical Clinic:

Another exciting new construction project is the Medical Clinic. This clinic will care for the 370 children who live at HOTN, the staff, and the community. This will provide real cost savings and convenience as there are usually about 10 children sick at any given time so much staff time and expense is eaten up by trips to the town clinic.

Current Building Projects:

Another dorm is now underway, with plans for a fourth. Another cottage for younger children has been started as well. Also, the ground has been broken for the much-anticipated new kitchen and dining hall. The foundation is dug, the concrete floor has been installed, and walls are going up. The children have been eating while sitting outside on the grass, which is fine on nice days but not so good when it is raining or blistering hot. The cooks are also excited, as they have had to do the majority of the cooking on open fires, again a challenge in the rainy season (wet wood doesn’t burn well!). The new kitchen will be indoors, have actual stoves, sinks and running water, and real counters. The dining hall will be a truly multi-purpose building used not only for meals, but as an auditorium and gymnasium as well. All the funds have been raised for construction; we are hoping the funds for furnishings will arrive before completion of the building.

Current kitchen

Wood-fired cooking pot

Future plans include:

Purchase of more land to enable HOTN to grow their own crops. There is a prime plot available which already has a good well on it, the cost is $7,000.00. This is the number one priority at this time.
Recruitment of sponsors for the 80 children who are not yet sponsored.
On-site staff housing as transportation is a real problem
Administration offices
Continued upgrading, expanding and equipping the High School
More dorms so that more children can be taken in
Build and establish a vocational school for both our children and paying students from the community
Electricity installed to both campuses
A new bus to replace the ancient one being used now
A mini-van to transport smaller groups of children and visitors
Satellite high-speed modem
Concrete sidewalks (the mud is unbelievable during the rainy season, ruining shoes and clothing alike, and making it next to impossible to keep the buildings clean especially since the running water is not yet hooked up)
Road improvements into the village. During heavy rains to road becomes impassible, halting construction, and bussing children.

Visitors:

Several groups have visited Heroes of the Nations Children’s village. Peter’s Creek Church in Chugiak, Alaska has sent three teams, and Message of Life Church in Loveland, Colorado has sent two. A group of high school students from Redlands College in Australia, a group from Bethel Church in Redding California, and several smaller groups from Canada and the US have volunteered. It is unclear who was more blessed – the visitors or the children. The visitors participated in building projects, crafts and games with the children, assisting with school work, computer installation and training, community outreach, and provided parties and treats as well as funds for buildings, a posha mill, shoes for everyone and various other gifts both large and small.

We have over 8 hours of video footage that we are hoping to get edited down to a reasonable time and post on our website. In the meantime we have some photos posted in the Photo Gallery of our website at www.beahero.org.

“Thanks” is too small a word to express the gratitude of the orphans who have been rescued and are now living at Heroes of the Nation Children’s Village. But we must say it anyways – Thanks to each and every one of our Heroes who have donated funds, sponsored a child, or volunteered. Since 2004 our Heroes have invested over $500,000.00 into the children of Heroes of the Nation in capital cost projects, and operating expenses. Our Operations Manager, Dawn Meier, visited HOTN in March and wrote down some of the children’s stories. At a future date the stories will be available, but they all had a common thread: the children were forced to watch their parents die, one at a time, dropping out of school to care for them and then in the midst of their grief and fear find a way to put food in their bellies and a roof over their head. The children are now exceedingly happy and very appreciative for what they have – love, care, and hope for their futures. Now THAT’s a happy ending! Actually, it’s a happy beginning…