Give to the Max 2021

Our GTMD campaign goal is $5000.  

1) $3000 will go to enhance the children's lunch program. It costs $21/day or $460/month to feed 120 children and teachers, (about $.17/meal) consisting of rice, beans, cabbage and lentils.  For just $200 additional each month, the children could have bananas, oranges, watermelon, and a morning helping of porridge to start their day with something in their tummies.  

2) $2000 will be dedicated to needs at the Women's Center: sewing machines, supplies for both the beauty school and sewing center. 

Please donate generously to help us sustain our partnership with Peter's school and Women's Center.  To learn more, click on our logo below, and go the Organization page on this website, or go to www.petershope.org.  

Peter’s Hope was founded in January, 2020 by Carolyn Tonneson.  Carolyn had volunteered at the Bamburi Women’s Empowerment Center in September 2019.  While there, she also interacted with the school next door: St. Peter’s Mountain Children Center.  Both programs had been founded by Peter Ochieng--the school in 2007, the Women’s Center in 2018.

Two things became evident: 1) Peter is an extraordinary individual in his passionate dedication to education.  It was his integrity and constant work that were keeping these programs alive; and 2) All the passion, integrity and work  in the world were not going to continue to keep them alive.  They needed funds.  Bills were piling up and going unpaid.  Peter was barely able to feed his own family. He had no salary at all.

Carolyn’s heart was deeply touched, and her faith propelled her into action. She told Peter’s story to several friends and family, and she soon sent him the funds needed to move into a better building. And then a funny thing happened.  More money kept coming in.  COVID was keeping everyone at home, but our story kept being told through Zoom parties, newsletters, and friends telling friends about Peter’s Hope.  A Board of Directors established a budget that allowed for funds to be sent to Peter each month in order to help pay the rent, teachers’ salaries, purchase textbooks and supplies, purchase supplies for the Women’s Center, and provide a salary for Peter. In 2021, Peter’s Hope  purchased 29 Fire tablets for the school, making St Peter’s Mountain Children’s Center one of the first schools in the area where the students have the power of technology at their fingertips. 

In 2021 Carolyn returned to Bamburi, Kenya, bringing with her 2 talented women: Angela Berge, a PH board member, and Angela’s sister June Hoffmann.  All three spent time at the school, but the major emphasis was on projects at the Women’s Center.  Nearly all the women at the center provide the primary financial support for their families.  If the children are going to eat, the mothers have to find the money for food.  If they want their children to go to school, they need to find the money to send them.  They carry heavy financial burdens, with little education to help them find employment.  

At the Center, the sewing school has taught the skills to help the women sew clothes. Carolyn pursued a plan to have them sew things that could sell in the US, thereby providing a source of income for the women.  They had never heard of placemats or coasters, but they produced 127 of them in just a week.  Their talented teacher, Concillia, made patterns for several styles/sizes of purses, and soon 84 purses were ready for Carolyn to bring home.  Miriam, a friend of Carolyn’s, offered to teach them how to do beadwork, resulting in 119 bracelets and earrings.  These items were brought back to be sold in stores and at presentations, with all the proceeds returning to the women in the Center. The ongoing plan is for them to continue to make the items which sell the best, and ship them to Carolyn to keep up the process.  Hopefully we have found an outlet for their talents which will be able to bring them the much needed money for their families.  

Peter has recently looked at a nearby piece of land where he hopes to build an education center for the children and women.  There is enough land to raise vegetables and keep chickens to help feed the children.  He has over 100 children, covering age 3 through Grade 5, and 20+ women in his programs, but he has the heart and desire to do more.  In 2022  he plans to add Grade 6, and eventually he’d like to go through Grade 8 to prepare his students for high school.  

The story of this small group of people in Bamburi, Kenya is ever developing, ever changing.  They are a tiny drop in a large ocean, but that tiny drop matters.  Each woman and each child has the opportunity to make a better life for themselves because of the work of Peter Ochieng in Kenya, and Peter’s Hope in the US.