Stars of Hope was founded in 2003 by Gem West and Ruth Wanjiru Kamau. Gem travelled from Cornwall to Kenya, and went to Dandora, Nairobi’s notorious slum, to work with street children. Ruth was living in Dandora with her two children when one of her neighbours died; Ruth took in the orphaned child. At around that time, Edwin, a street boy from the slum, introduced Ruth and Gem who immediately formed a strong friendship. This friendship led to the creation of the Stars of Hope Children’s Centre in Dandora.

During the first years, the Children’s Centre was a day care centre which consisted of one room with mud walls and a corrugated iron roof. There was no electricity or running water, but it was a safe place where struggling mothers could leave their children, for free, while at work. Some of the children would be left for weeks at a time. Then in 2007, with the help of Gem’s fund raising efforts, the centre was able to move out from Dandora to Ruai, in the rural outskirts of Nairobi. What started as a caring neighbour taking in an orphan has now grown into a home for 33 abandoned or abused children.

In 2008 Gem had the opportunity to start a second Stars of Hope project in Bali. Through personal contacts Gem was put in touch with Tanja Schwiefert who runs a day care facility, called Sari Hati, for 11 disabled young people. Stars of Hope has been responsible for the renovation of this facility and supports the annual running costs of the centre.

ADMINSTRATION

Stars of Hope is run entirely by a small group of volunteers based primarily in London with the founding Trustee based in Cornwall. Together we raise funds from private individuals and organisations and manage the charity. As a result, all donations made to Stars of Hope go directly to the projects with negligible administration costs.

We have regular communication with our Project Managers in Kenya and Indonesia. In addition, we make regular visits to both projects to better facilitate the help that we are giving, and to establish and maintain contact with the children, whom we have loved meeting.