Funyula, home of the Ember Kenya Grandparents Empowerment Project, lies in Western Kenya's Busia District near Lake Victoria. Western Kenya is the most densely populated area in the country.

Basic premise

Rural Poverty in Kenya

Tens of thousands of families in Kenya are struggling just to stay alive. Almost hidden in rural western Kenya, the poverty is so extreme that one can scarcely believe it even when one sees it.

AIDS and malaria continue to kill and disable adults and children. Almost an entire generation of adults is being wiped out by the AIDS epidemic, leaving children abandoned. The lucky ones have grandparents  to rely on, but these elderly people can barely make it through each day themselves, and the stigma of AIDS is still so strong that other relatives refuse to help.

The Ember Kenya Grandparents Empowerment Project recognizes that organizations that focus on providing help directly to children are only marginally successful; when these organizations shut down, as so many do, the children are back where they started, abandoned.

The Ember Project has a different vision, and it is working. By helping grandparents to improve their own economic situations, the program benefits children as well, showing them that someone loves them and will care for them until they are able to care for themselves.

When it began, Ember was overwhelmed with grandparents who wanted to participate. After careful screening, one thousand families were accepted, including three thousand children.

The program was conceived by Robert Barasa, a Kenyan pastor who earned his doctorate at Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. His vision began to take shape when a tiny volunteer group from a small church in Illinois decided to sponsor this startup project.

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