Lighting the Way for Safety

FOKO recently funded a lighting safety project for Ripples International in partnership with another North American donor. The funding represents FOKO’s first project with Ripples.

Ripples International is a school and safe house for orphaned and abandoned children and is located near the St. Clare Centre for Girls outside of Meru. Ripples’ campus includes the New Start Center, a home for abandoned babies and toddlers, the Tumaini Center, which admits children who have undergone child abuse, and a primary school that can accommodate more than 200 students.

FOKO initiated its dialogue with Ripples in 2018 and conducted a series of meetings and visits to the school and safe house during recent visits to Kenya to develop and prioritize potential capital projects that required funding.

The lighting project will install ten solar-powered, motion-detecting floodlights on the campus to improve night vision for a security team to reduce the risk of wild animal intrusion as well as burglaries, both of which have increased in recent years. Solar power is a necessary feature given the frequency of electrical outages from Kenya Power. FOKO believes the new lights will increase the safety of the children and staff significantly.

We look forward to sharing photos of the lighting project once it is completed. These photos are from FOKO’s most recent visit to Ripples as we met with them to determine possible ways to work together.