Honestly, I feel there was before Africa and after Africa in my life. Even throughout the hardest circumstances in my own childhood of abuse and trauma, the shock I was to receive when I stayed in the orphanage and school in a slum of Kenya was completely unexpected. 

It was the first time I really understood what a government was for. To protect and help people, and I learned how corrupt and greedy governments abandon their people in the millions and leave them to starve, fighting for survival. This ultimately comes from poor systems and wildly disparate ethics in geopolitics due to desperation and inequity. 

My work here is systemic, to look at the systems and economic principles that see our fellows left with less than the basic human rights.  To remind those I met, they are not forgotten. To speak about thinking of our fellow humans and support them when we ourselves often have more than we can ever imagine is necessary. 

Every child has a right to an education, the children live in the most destitute slum areas of Kaptembwa, Nakuru. Nakuru Hope gives free education and food, otherwise these children would be on the streets, subject to human trafficking, physical and mental abuse, begging for food, or scavaging on the rubbish dump site.

My book Sleeping Giants deeply drew upon these experiences of truly finding what hope means and how life is so precious. I have the children of Nakuru Hope, to thank for the courage to write that book.

Visit Nakuru Hope here, and see how much work goes into helping this community. When you meet Susan Saleeba, the founder from Western Australia, you’ll understand what a true hero is – take a look!