June 2021 | Vol. 01 Iss. 04
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LIFTING LIVES IN KENYA SUPPORTS ORPHANS IN AFRICA By Jackie Kartchner | The City Journals
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group of Davis County residents have constructed and fully fund an outstanding orphanage in Kenya, Africa, called The Gardner Granny (orphan) Home. Thirty young children are currently being cared for there. In addition, 12 older adolescents and young adults still receive full support as they attend boarding school programs, vocational colleges and universities, a feature that is not typically provided through orphanages in Africa. “The mission of the home includes the intent to support orphan children in gaining self-sufficiency and to attain their highest level of educational potential,” said Ann Dale, the president of the group, Lifting Lives in Kenya. All the children have come from difficult circumstances. Each has known hunger and many serious illnesses. A number of the children are HIV positive and are seen at the hospital clinic regularly, once or twice a month, and provided essential medication. The Home, completed in November 2013, is named after two exemplary women, now deceased, that provided the inspiration. They are Cindy Gardner and “Granny.” Granny, as an elderly woman, cared for the initial orphan group prior to her passing in 2008. “The school was founded by a beautiful and talented Kenyan woman, Carolyne Ashiono,” Dale
said. “Carolyne was raised herself from toddlerhood by Granny 44 years ago. Carolyne attributes her greatest character strengths to Granny’s inspiration.” Gardner and Dale were part of a team who traveled to Kenya to run a medical clinic and paint the first permanent classroom on the new Daisy School campus, where the orphanage sits. The two were close friends and their families provided most of the funds to purchase food for the 14 “Granny orphans” that lived alone as an orphan family. The oldest two girls were only 12 and 13 and the oldest boy 12. The Granny orphans had been sleeping on the dirt floors of the small, tin classrooms that Daisy School started out with. Motivation came to Gardner and Dale to build the orphan home as they observed the sweetness of the oldest orphans toward the younger ones, different than typical teenagers. “Each of the girls constantly carried a young child on their hip, and the oldest boys Continued page 4 The Gardner Granny Home currently cares for 30 young children. Photo courtesy of Living Lives in Kenya
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