The Nadine Griffey Academy of Kenya is a California nonprofit that is committed to changing the lives of orphans and other disadvantaged children from the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, through education. It is a way to honor my late wife, Nadine Griffey, who was a Master Teacher.

Why Kenya? In 2002, Nadine and I began to sponsor a young girl whose home was in the Mathare slum in Nairobi. I visited her in 2006 and discovered that she was living in one room with eight children. The room had a dirt floor with no door, toilet, heat, light, stove, or water. All eight children slept on mats with no blankets. I decided then and there that I wanted to provide an opportunity for a better life for at least some of the thousands of children who face a future of oppressive poverty. They literally are born in the slums; if they are lucky, they work in the slums; and they then die in the slums. This is the vicious cycle of poverty that we want to break.

My original vision was to construct a small boarding school that would have functioned as both a school and home for around twenty children. But government restrictions made that plan unworkable, so instead, we place selected deserving children into private boarding schools. We have been doing this now since 2008 and now have children in both primary and secondary schools and at universities.

But we have to do more. The children, when not in school, have to return to the slums for about four months a year where they again face the life of poverty. To solve this problem, we have purchased an acre of land in a suburb of Nairobi, and will be constructing a home where the children can live when they are not in a boarding school. There will be a retired teacher or older couple who will live there year-round in exchange for their services. They will care for the children when they are out of school. The point is that our children will only return to the slums if they wish to visit!

The home will have a wing for girls and a wing for boys and a guest room for visiting teachers or others who would like to volunteer. A sketch of the building can be found under the Housing Fund tab.

While the land is owned free and clear by the California nonprofit, we still need to raise the estimated $350,000 US to construct the home, furnish it, and landscape the property. This said, we need the help from anyone who believes, as I do, that “Although we may not be able to help every orphan or disadvantaged child in the slums, we CAN for sure provide some an opportunity to escape from the slums and the cycle of poverty through education.”

If you would like to help, please go to the section on this website entitled HOW TO HELP. And, whatever you decide, I encourage you to view our documentary entitled “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty.” You will see the slums upfront and personal and what we are doing to break the cycle.

Larry L. Hines, President
Nadine Griffey Academy of Kenya,
a California nonprofit and IRS
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