A few weeks ago I had the honour of visiting the Mully Children’s Family in Yata, Kenya with Paul Mbole of Norwegian Catholic Aid and Dr. Mulli, the founder of MCF. (Photo gallery below)

One of the MCF students painted this mural, visualising the Mulli Childrens Family from a nearby hill.

We met at the University of Strathmore during the launch event of the Climate Innovation Centre – a world bank funded incubator for African start-ups that hold a promise of creating major impact on Climate mitigation. RVE.SOL was invited to exhibit as a company that holds that promise. Here’s a recent post about that event.

Over 23 years in the business of rehabilitating Kenyan street children, Dr. Mulli and his team have over 2000 present students and over 8000 alumni. These alumni are highly qualified, occupying various positions of seniority in government and private institutions. All call him “Dad”. The reason became clear to me during the course of the visit.

The organisation has two campuses – both running sustainable tree planting and agriculture businesses that provide for over 45% of MCF’s operational budget, the balance provided by international donors like NCA. MCF was recently awarded international GAP certification, which entitles them to export quality produce to European markets. Ever wonder where the green beans you can buy at your local store in winter come from? MCF in Kenya!

Children come from destitute backgrounds, suffering abuse, abandonment, drugs and many other horrors too dificult to comprehend. These students then undergo a strenuous but loving rehabilitation curriculum covering general education with a sustainability focus, ultimately preparing them for entry to international universities and a “normal” career. The result is a above average rehabilitation rate, to the point where the Kenyan judicial system often recommends children to the program.

Local communities are positively impacted by job creation – MCF employs over 800 staff members! In addition MCF support a number of local development initiatives, such as a planned eco-village close to the facility. The term eco-village is loosely used and describes a community that has as it’s guiding principles socially, economically and ecologically sustainable practices that allow the community members to thrive in harmony with each other and with their environment. Many such initiatives have been kicked off in developing countries Africa with varying results. The Senegalese program in particular, run by GENSEN, the Global Ecovillage Network Senegal and the, get this, Ministry of Ecovillages led by Babacar Ndao. From what I can glean, the only country with a dedicated portfolio minister! That’s dedication to solving the problem.

As part of their sustainability agenda, MCF and NCA are planning to implement a series of self-sustaining Eco-communities for which we hope KUDURA will be considered as a core component of the sustainable development solution. The community would benefit through clean water and energy, intended to break the perpetual cycle of rural poverty and serve as a demonstrator for what is possible with the right technologies, accountability and stewardship.

RVE.SOL is proud to be associated with MCF and NCA!

Related information:

• This blog post by Molly of Global Angels tells a great story about the organisation.

Photo Gallery

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