Smile Seekers has begun a partnership with a church in a tent located in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya and it’s leaders to try and instill hope and help the some of the many orphans created from the AIDS epidemic to have a chance at a better life.

I was blessed to have met Pastor Abel Oyaro when he was here in the United States on an AIDS awareness trip from his home country of Kenya. We stayed in touch over a few years and he was always inviting me to come to his country to meet his church family. I read an article in the LA Times about a little boy in Uganda that broke rocks in a quarry making 18 cents a day. I wrote my friend in Kenya asking if that was common and he said the needs are great. I asked if his church had an orphanage and he told me that they had the land to build one but no funds.

I told Abel I was going to send money to begin the building project and wasn’t sure where the remaining funds would come from, but that God would provide. After speaking to a close friend about the project she said she was interested in helping but because of all the scams and corruption in the world today she wanted me to go in person to Kenya and make sure things were as they were supposed to be. Before I knew it I was in my size 17 clown shoes and on my way to Kenya, Africa, WOW!

Meeting the local church leaders, the guardians (people who bring the orphans into their humble homes to care for them as family, these people are amazing!), and  the children was such a life experience on so many levels. Even though the poverty is overwhelming there is an incredible spirit of love for each other that I have never witnessed in 56 yrs. The joy and hope in their faces was awesome.

I always travel in clowns shoes and wear a multi colored hat with a propeller which in any language translates into a smile, oh, Smile Seekers, now that makes sense.

I was taken from the slums of Nairobi by car out into the rural town of Kissi where Abel’s church has another group of dedicated pastors, wives, and guardians caring for another group of orphans.

At this point I told my friend Abel to remember my name is not Oprah, but I know that with God’s help we can do something to help these kids. I found out something on this trip kids are kids wherever you go. They just want to feel safe and loved.