Today we had what I believe is a microcosm of Arrive, and it came to us in the most unlikely form.

Each child will receive up to 1,095 hours (equivalent to over 45 days) more light every year.

I invited my friend from the bush to hang out a few nights ago at my boma (“hut” in Swahili). At night, he asked if he should turn the light out to which I replied yes. He proceeded to take a stick and SMASH my light bulb, shattering it into a million shards of glass.

Arrive believes solutions to local problems must come from local people and not from foreign agencies imposing ideas which they think will have the most beneficial results regardless of the actual situation and needs on-the-ground.

After her mother died, Sharlene continued to survive in the streets, using toxic glue as a vice to get through the day. Being a street girl is even harder than being a street boy; the abuse she endured is unimaginable.

Without them the race officials would still be searching for my shriveled up dehydrated body somewhere in the bush of rural Kenya.

Nearly everyday, we get requests from parents who cannot feed their families and orphaned children out of school begging to live with us. 

But the true story of the past few weeks is not who, but where; and, thus, a tale of two migrations begins. 

rrive’s role is to help local entities to improve and expand their services to orphans, vulnerable children, and street kids; to empower our partners to a self-sustaining and managed position of strength and then move on to another location to replicate the process.

And while the funny moments continued in every place he found himself, nowhere did Jackson leave a greater impression than on the people he met in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

School is a privilege that the developed world has come to consider as a right. Sometimes, even as a burden. In the developing world the chance to go to school is gift, high school a major achievement, college an absolute dream come true.

Obizo wanted to continue studying, but did not even know if his mother was alive. He missed her, and his younger brother who he had not seen in over ten years. Together, Obizo and I traveled back to his home village to locate the whereabouts of his remaining family and he was happily reunited with his mother and brotherS (he learned he has more than one)! 

Obizo wanted to continue studying, but did not even know if his mother was alive. He missed her, and his younger brother who he had not seen in over ten years. Together, Obizo and I traveled back to his home village to locate the whereabouts of his remaining family and he was happily reunited with his mother and brotherS (he learned he has more than one)! 

The roads in Kenya proved again to be the most dangerous aspect of my life here.

Our third and final stage, which will being in January, entails reviewing all of our endeavors and projects, and seeing if they are running at full capacity , or 100% efficiency.

Enock is just one example of the many that Arrive has helped. Sometimes I feel discouraged that we can't help every street kid, every widowed mother, every orphan. But on this pale blue dot we call Earth, both Loren C. Eisely and Enock "Tano Tano" remind me that for every single person we help, "it made a difference for that one!"

At 79% of the cost we paid less than 1.5 years ago, we are now providing more kids with more things and a higher quality of life, at a cheaper price per child per month.

Luckily, for one child, his problems were solved.

Matthew bought two sows and six 35-40 kg pigs. The two sows will each give birth in less than one month and the six other pigs are growing larger. After the stress of a long walk home, the pigs have settled into their new environment.

Three nights ago, Victor was found dead, murdered, strangled to death, in Kisii Town. He was 13 years old. He will have no funeral, no burial, and nobody to remember him.