Peters Hope

Educating Children – Empowering Women

Support immediate needs by making a gift today to Peter’s Hope, a Minnesota-based partnership with a primary school and women's empowerment center in an impoverished community in Bamburi, Kenya.  In Bamburi, educational opportunities for the lowest income people are nearly non-existent.   Our mission is to provide immediate and sustained funding to the School and Center so they can continue educating the women and children of their community. 

When you give to Peter’s Hope, you invest in

The Elementary School, serving nearly 200 children in grades K-6

- Fighting inflated food costs ($50 feeds a child for a school year) 

- Building rent ($400/month)

- Teacher's Salary ($150/month)

The Women’s Empowerment Center, training 40+ women 

- Sewing center fabric ($30 buys 2.5 meters of fabric)

- Beauty school supplies ($50 average per month)

- Building rent ($100/month)

- Teacher instruction ($235/month)

With your help, we can reach our goal of $15,000.   Thanks to generous donors from our board, the Tonneson family, and friends of Peter's Hope, all gifts received on Give to the Max Day (or between Nov. 1 and Nov. 21) will be matched up to $7,500.  You can make a difference. Please give today.

Read on for more information or visit our website at www.petershope.org

Our partnership is with two programs in Bamburi, Mombasa, Kenya, an impoverished community next to the Indian Ocean.  Our donors are the heart of our organization.  Our philosophy is that Peter’s Hope is a partner with Peter Ochieng, the programs’ director, in his efforts to educate the children and empower the women of Bamburi, Kenya.  We provide a stable monthly income that Peter can count on to advance both of his programs.  Peter collects tuition to the extent he can from women at the Women’s Center and the parents of his schoolchildren.

Together, Peter’s Hope, Peter, the children’s parents, the women…all of us are working together to educate and empower children and women who will have a brighter future because of our work!

Peter Ochieng with the founder of Peter's Hope, Carolyn Tonneson

Peter’s Message to our donors:

“Carolyn Tonneson, the founder of Peter's Hope, left an indelible mark in my heart. Her kind and caring heart will forever live in my heart. She came to Bamburi and her love was felt with everyone she came across—to me she is a mother. The day before she died in December 2022, she called me and struggling to talk, just encouraged me not to give up because she is leaving Peter’s Hope in the right hands of the board. I've experienced her last words to her son from Africa through the commitment of Peter's Hope.”

-Peter Ochieng, Partner/Director of St. Peter's Mountain Children's Center

Our Board Chair's Message to our donors:

In January 2025, a new school term begins and with it a record number of students.  Enrollment has grown this last year from 147 to now nearly 200.  Your past support has helped ensure the quality primary education that continues through Peter Ochieng's leadership.  The Women's Empowerment Center continues to educate up to 40 women at any time.  They learn income-producing sewing and beauty skills to support their families.  This is the fifth year of Peter's Hope participation in GiveMN.  Now, more than ever, your continued support to Peter's Hope is essential.  The women and children in Bamburi thank you!

-Myrna Wells-Ulland, Board Chair

St. Peter’s Mountain

Children’s Center

Beginning with one student in 2007, Peter Ochieng now has nearly 200 children attending his school.  Education is the only hope for these children to move out of the cycle of intergenerational poverty and realize their potential.  With the help of Peter’s Hope, the school now has electricity, clean water, textbooks, technology, morning and noon meals, certified teachers and much more.

“One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world!” 

-Malala Yousafzai

Bamburi Women’s 
Empowerment Center  

Opening its doors in 2018, the Bamburi Women’s Empowerment Center offers education in sewing and beauty skills.  The goal is to teach marketable skills to women who have had few opportunities for education.  Many of these women are solely responsible for raising and educating their children or grandchildren, and deeply wish for a better life for those children.

“No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half its citizens.”   

-Michelle Obama