History
 |
In 2004, while on a visit to Kenya arranged by Dr. Michael Sinclair, a group from a church in San Francisco met Elizabeth Gitau who was a vice principle at a small school in Kilimambogo. For several years she had been caring for a number of children who had been left orphaned by the death of either one or both parents from AIDS. No one else was willing to take on the responsibility of caring for these young children. Ms. Gitau brought them into her home, clothed them, fed them and loved them. But as the number of children left orphaned in her country increased she recognized that the situation was beyond her abilities to care for even just those children in her area. She began to pray that someone would come to help these children.
Overcome by the need but impressed by Ms Gitau’s efforts to care for these children the group returned to San Francisco with a desire to help in some way but not sure what could be done. Norman Smith, who was the pastor of the church and part of this group, met with Dr. Sinclair to discuss ways in which they could assist Elizabeth in her work. Dr. Sinclair had already been working in some of the slum areas of Nairobi trying to find legitimate charities who focused on the AIDS crisis. He had made several connections with other non-profit organizations and NGO’s working with street children. With his assistance, Watoto Wenye Nguvu - Children of Strength in Swahili, was formed and a sponsorship program was established to assist orphans and other children made vulnerable by the AIDS crisis in Kenya.