Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Restore Humanity offers care and education
Tell us about your organization: Restore Humanity is a nonprofit organization based here in Fayetteville, and our work is done pri- marily in a rural village in Kenya. Our principal program is the JCO Children’s Home, which provides high quality care in a familial environment for kids who were orphaned or abandoned. When they graduate from high school they’ll join either our JCO Graduate
Program or our RH Scholars Program. We also collaborate with local village leadership through our various Outreach Programs.
■ Mission: We nurture human flourishing in the communities we serve by investing in individuals who live there.
■ Services provided: Our Children’s Home provides the love, hope and 24-hour care one should expect from a close-knit family. We provide year-round Maxi Pads for 750 Kenyan girls and a whole bunch of education (early childhood, high school and university).
■ Service area: Sirembe District, Siaya County, Kenya
■ Average number of people served annually: We serve 873 people directly through our core programs. If we include our infrastructure projects, that number goes up into the thousands.
How is your organization’s mission unique? We prioritize quality over quantity. We have a smaller number of children in our home by design, so that it feels more like a home than an institution. We also have a truly global team. Mrs. Opot and I co-founded our Children’s Home and make every decision about our programs together.
Why do you work for a nonprofit organization? Do you have a personal connection to the mission? If so, what is it? I founded Restore Humanity 12 years ago in 2006 after a volunteer trip to Africa. I was compelled to do something to make the world better. I found that there were so many people in our community who wanted to help as well. I was the connection between people who wanted to help and those who I knew really needed help. We are interested in helping our children to thrive, not just survive. This is how we get lasting change in a community. The second thing is that we have a truly global team. Mrs. Opot and I co-founded our Children’s Home and every decision made about our programs in Kenya we make together. Our constant collaboration with her and the rest of our Kenyan team helps to ensure that we maximize the impact of our work. No one knows what a community needs better than the people who actually live there.
What part of your job fills the most of your time? I am in Kenya a couple of times a year for six to eight weeks at a time working on program development and spending time with our children. When in the United States, my time is split between fundraising and administrative duties.
What have you learned on the job that you didn’t expect? I started Restore Humanity because I was compelled to try to make the world better. What I didn’t know is the immense joy that it would bring each and every day. I don’t mean to say that it hasn’t been really difficult at times, but it has most definitely always been worth it.
What challenges face your organization? Finding the funds to continue our work and grow.
Are there volunteer opportunities in your organization? What are they? We only have volunteer opportunities with our events here in Northwest Arkansas currently.
What upcoming fundraisers and/or other events does your organization have planned? Winetopia is on Oct. 19. More information and tickets are available at restore humanity.org/events.