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VACATION ALTERED FAMILY'S LIVES FOREVER
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Sondi Sepenuk
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FOUNDERS OF the AKIN Learning Center in Nairobi, Paul and Shelley Miller are shown with some of the students.
PROGRAM IS WORKING, says Paul with one of the students.
In 2005, Hancock Park residents Shelley and Paul Miller decided to take their youngsters Trevor and Tess on an African safari, unaware that their family vacation would alter all their lives forever. “We had a wonderful time and fell in love with Africa and its beauty, and the people were so friendly,” says Shelley. “But we met some people on our travels who told us about the AIDS orphanages they had visited and we wanted to go there, too.”
By coincidence, the Nairobi hotel where the Millers stayed was involved with an AIDS orphanage nearby that housed 250 kids. “The conditions were deplorable, but the children were wonderful,” beams Shelley. “[They] slept on the floor, there was tons of lice and scabies… and we thought, ‘how can we help?’”
They bought food at a nearby open market and for $30 were able to feed the 250 orphans for one entire week. “We thought, this is something we really want to keep doing,” declares Shelley.
Once back in Los Angeles, Paul, a television producer and director, and Shelley, a psychotherapist, began sending money back to Nairobi to continue feeding the children. They discovered that there were like-minded people who wanted to do the same. Paul and Shelley then connected with the Norwegian Red Cross, a group from Great Britain, and some medical students from Australia.
In 2007, the Kenyan government shut the orphanage down due to its deplorable conditions, so Paul, Shelley and the others began raising funds to permanently care for the children themselves. Soon, they formed AKIN (African Kids in Need) which would not only provide food and shelter, but also a much-needed education.
The Kenyan government requires that all children who finish Primary School (equivalent to the US 8th grade) must take the KCPE exam (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education) in order to move on to Secondary School (High School). “When a kid in Kenya doesn’t pass that test, they are really not given very much hope,” sighs Paul. “They are 14-15-years-old, and mostly the young girls get married, start having babies, and often contract AIDS due to unprotected sex. The young boys who don’t get to continue in school often become involved in some sort of crime to survive. There’s really no future for these kids without passing this test.”
Paul and Shelley were determined to help break this cycle. “We decided that our mission would be to provide education for these children once they reached Secondary School age, and we organized to take 25 of these kids who had been removed from the orphanage and found secondary schools and some vocational schools,” explains Paul.
In January 2010, Paul and Shelley opened AKIN Learning Center with two full-time paid teachers. The Learning Center provides the orphans who have failed the KCPE with one year of intensive remedial schooling, food, board, clothing and supplies, after which they take the KCPE test again.
So far, the results are very promising. “Now we’re halfway through the first year of our Learning Center, and a majority of the kids are scoring in mock exams way over the threshold of what it will take to get into secondary school, so this program is working,” announces Paul happily.
Much to Paul and Shelley’s delight, AKIN is catching on. “The Kenyan government is aware of what we’re doing here and is very excited to be watching us,” smiles Shelley.
Their long-term goal is to create a new, more hopeful and productive generation of African children through education. “We want to change this generation through learning English, understanding the value of education and having jobs that [they] can feel proud of and building their self-esteem,” says Shelley.
The African orphans are not the only ones whose lives have been altered. Paul and Shelley’s eldest child, Trevor, now works in Finance and has set up his own charitable contribution to the program. Their daughter Tess is a photography student in New York who documents the program every year and helps raise money through calendars she shoots while in Kenya.
“It’s been a real boost for me and it’s become a real passion for me and my wife,” says Paul. “I think people should look for something like this when they’ve been working for 40 years in the same field and they’re looking for something new to do that will have an impact on the world.”
For more information or to donate to AKIN, contact www.africankidsinneed.org.
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