Welcome to Family Hope!

Welcome to the new online home of Family Hope Charity.

My name is Tom O'Hern. For many years my ‘hobby’ has been assisting chronically poor people acquire the training and skills needed to start their own small business. This interest of mine together with the encouragement and support of several friends lead me to start Family Hope Charity in 2006.

The mission of Family Hope Charity:

Family Hope is currently working in Kiambiu/Nairobi; a slum of about 60,000 residents on Nairobi's east side and eastern slums, and also in Kuresoi District; Kuresoi District is in the southern Rift Valley and has been 'ground zero' for post election violence every five years dating back to 1992. (If you do any Googling of post election violence in Kenya, especially for pictures Kuresoi, Molo, etc. you will see the results for yourself.)

The purpose of this latest project:

To train youth in employable skills of three kinds, if, God willing, things go like they did in Zambia;

1. Building construction skills, using ecologically responsible materials and techniques;
2. Small business skills: most of Kenya's economy is one gigantic flea market;
3. Whatever life skills are needed to help a chronically poor, young person take advantage of the opportunity being presented to him or her.

The buildings that the young trainees would build would be for poor people. We are working on two possibilities right now, and aiming long range for a third possibility:

1. Short range: build a chicken coop for a women's self-help group in Kuresoi representing about 30 families. These mothers would be asked to save a certain amount and then our program would come in with other funds to construct the building. This would give us a chance to try out and refine our building technologies and our training program;
   
   
2. A 'bio-centre' which is a sanitation facility that converts human waste into methane that is used for cooking and heating water or bathing. We are going to try to put this project together with the assistance of a couple of other organizations. We would try to build it on a school site in Kuresoi. The waste generated by the students would make the methane and reduce their dependency on wood, trees, charcoal, etc.
   
   
3. Long range: We trained and started 13 different 'daily savings' groups this week (October 9, 2009). The total number involved is about 375. Their long range goal will be to save for housing. And then we would try to position ourselves as the builders of those houses.

Our mission is to construct decent, cost-effective houses for the poor, using labor-intensive technology. Using common, inexpensive materials, we're able to keep costs very low, allowing for more families to move into decent living spaces. The local labor is trained on the skills of brick-making, construction, painting, land preparation, and even floor plan design. After building a few homes, these previously unskilled laborers have learned a new craft and have found a way to support themselves while continuing to build homes for other families in need.

"Think of all the people in your life who believed in you, who gave you a little break, or who gave you a boost in self-confidence that changed your life, even if it was in a small way. I'm asking for your help so that poor HIV/AIDS affected families will come to know that someone believes in them and in their ability to turn their lives around."

Please browse around this site to explore the work we've been doing and check back for regular updates on our progress.

I'll be using this Web site to share what we've accomplished in Africa, to keep you informed about upcoming projects and yes, to ask for your support.