VINCENT Kituku
School for boys the newest Kenya project
This is a photo of what ultimately became, or will soon become, the boys’ dormitory at Caring Hearts Boys High School in Kenya. The dormitory will house 320 boys when it is fully completed. (Courtesy photo)
By Gaye Bunderson Vincent Kituku is a man strongly connected to two countries: his adopted home, the USA, and his native land, Kenya. He has family and commitments in both places and flies frequently back and forth from the States to Africa. At least that was his pre-pandemic routine. For now, he flies across oceans and continents only by Zoom or cell phone; but he has important projects in his homeland that he cannot forsake. He is helping educate children. More than 10 years ago, Vincent visited Kenya and was deeply troubled by the many young people he saw orphaned by AIDS and struggling to survive on their own. They were not receiving the right kind of help, if any help at all. He could have simply flown back to Boise and forgotten it all, but he soon realized that was not going to be possible for him – the children’s images haunted him and he struggled with the need to help, however he could. In 2010, he launched Caring Hearts and Hands of Hope from Boise, with the goal of reaching Kenyan children in desperate situations, especially as it concerned helping them receive educations to work their way up from poverty. Then, in 2015, he bought an existing school in Nguluni, Kenya, renamed it Caring Hearts High School, and began educating girls there to give them better lives. Very recently, he took on the task of building a boys’ school. In 2020, he bought some buildings that were in such poor con-
10 March / April 2021 | Christian Living
dition they had been condemned. “The owner of the buildings called me,” Vincent said. “He knew I had an interest.” Despite the structures’ woeful state of disrepair, Vincent saw some plusses in the buildings and their location. “They are near a major road and a hospital, plus a police station,” he said. They are also quite close to the girls’ school, so he purchased them. Though Vincent has always worked to help both boys and girls, some may ask why he started with the girls’ school first. He explained: “When we opened the girls’ school, it turned into a protection center, as many of the girls were being abused in some way.” Girls and boys are treated differently in Kenya, as well as other parts of Africa. The short version of this situation is that boys are treated better. Vincent, who has 3 daughters, as well as a son, doesn’t adhere to the notion that boys always deserve the best and the girls get what’s left. He openly admits that starting the girls’ school first was quite deliberate. Asked if he was trying to make things more fair for the girls, he replied, “I’m not even fair – I give the girls an extra push.” He regrets that his own mother never got a chance at an education and also said that even in America, with all its opportunities, he has seen his daughters unfairly discriminated against on occasion. When the novel coronavirus struck Kenya, all the private schools in that country were closed. Vincent said that while the girls were away from the safety of their school, some of
www.christianlivingmag.com
