Our Story
Embracing change with open arms, always striving to serve better
We are a group of Americans supporting good work in Kenya since the early 2000s. Out of two different organizations, we formed Friends of Kenya Rising in 2020 to better offer support to our sole partner, United Kenya Rising.
On both sides of the globe, since our predecessor organizations’ founding more than two decades ago, we and our Kenyan partners have learned and evolved. Out of a free meals program and school, grew a student scholarship program. And in the many years that followed, we learned from our Kenyan partners, who were themselves realizing that the best way to help a child is to help their family. This lesson gave birth to the holistic Family Care program we support today.
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Our history is long, and there's been plenty of change along the way. But what we do has always been about a partnership of equals who are deeply passionate about making a difference, and very willing to embrace learning and change in pursuit of our shared mission.
Our Quaker roots and history inspire and guide us. While we are not a "Quaker organization," we are still guided by the best of Quaker values.​
Our history
We are made up of what were once two American organizations supporting the same remarkable partner in Kenya.
In 2002, Friends of Kakamega was founded in Maine by three Quaker women named Shara Salmon, Molly Duplisea, and Sukie Rice. In 2003, Crossroads Springs Africa was founded by a Quaker woman named Alison Hyde. Both organizations came into being to help vulnerable children left orphaned by the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Western Kenya.
At that time, Friends of Kakamega’s partner was called Kakamega Orphans Care Center. The latter’s partner was Crossroads Springs Institute.
KOCC started as a free meals program, then grew to include a children's home, and eventually morphed into more of a charity sponsoring students in school at all levels.
CSA was a free primary school 25 miles away, built and funded by its American partner, CSA.
As the need evolved in Kenya and CSA began focusing more on secondary education and supporting students in high school, in 2016 they partnered with KOCC in Kakamega to administer their high school scholarship program.
By 2017, both Friends of Kakamega and CSA were supporting students in Western Kenya through their partner KOCC. Through the feedback of KOCC staff and beneficiaries, they began learning that the best way to help a child is to help a family. These lessons came slowly, beginning with things like sponsoring more than one child from the absolute poorest of families or providing solar lights so that all children could study at night. It continued with things like seeds and fertilizer to grow more food, which of course was to be shared by the whole household, and grew even further with things like agricultural business programs to help parents and grandparents support the many children in their households.
By 2018, the realization that supporting children through their families was the way to go had become very clear. The bold decision to phase out the children's home and focus squarely on families was made. It was a big change, but it was the right thing for those we serve.
Soon began a program to help the families of children at the Care Center so they could rebuild their homesteads and have a dignified place for all the children to live, study, and sleep.
In 2020, we, as Friends of Kenya Rising, were born out of the consolidation of Friends of Kakamega and Crossroads Springs Africa. Our partner in Kenya, then called KOCC, soon rebranded as United Kenya Rising. They are still Kenyan founded, Kenyan staffed, and Kenyan led.
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