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Director
of the Silas Christian Foundation. Growing Up in Eldoret Nick Kipkorir grew up in Eldoret, Kenya. During the early 1990's he and Lahash founder Dan Holcomb were childhood friends. They grew up together at the AIC Missionary College on the outskirts of town. Nick was one of 8 children born to his mother Jane and father Thomas. The family moved from the Missionary College in 1995. Their new home was located in the slums of Silas. These slums were created during the unrest in central Kenya during the tribal conflicts of the time. There are several large slums grouped together: Silas, Kampi ya Nyasi, and Munyaka. The population there is comprised of primarily Kikuyu people. In 1997 Nick's father Thomas stole some money and fled to Tanzania. The police arrested Nick's mother and only released her on the condition that she repay the money that her husband had stolen. For the next several years Nick's mother Jane repaid the stolen shillings while supporting the 8 children who were left behind. Nick finished eight grade and at that point the family had no money to continue his education. His life looked bleak with no job and no education. Nick received a couple of gifts in 1999 that he was able to use for Auto Wiring classes and a driver education course. Unfortunately at that time several large factories shut down and there were no jobs available. He and his friends saw family after family falling to the silent killer - AIDS. "It seemed as if there were funerals every day," Nick said. Nick Partners with Lahash
Over the next several months Nick began to hold sporting events and distribute literature to members of the community. He organized a group of volunteers, the Silas Christian Foundation, and traveled to schools performing plays and talking with kids. He then met Dr. Oronje, who runs a small clinic in the neighboring Munyaka slums. They began to combine efforts and with some assistance from Lahash began to donate basic food (corn, sugar, and flour) to families who were crippled by AIDS. They also donated school uniforms and shoes to kids to help keep them in school.
In the summer of 2005, Nick and Dr. Oronje made two visits to the Amazing Grace Orphanage in Uganda and St. Bartholomew's Orphanage in Sudan. They brought HIV testing kits, basic medicine for the staff and children, and literature and training to encourage better hygiene and health at the orphanages. In November 2005, a Lahash team visited the Kenyans and lived and worked in the slums for nearly two weeks. The members of Lahash visited families, took photos and video, cleaned up trash in the slums, and met with a couple prostitutes to research if it would be feasible to create a sex worker recovery program. Nick kept in contact with the ladies and wrote a proposal for the program. By January 2006, he had assembled five ladies and Lahash worked on details of sponsorship and accountability from the United States. The program was to be called Renew.
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In
2004 Nick met up again with Dan Holcomb, and they visited some
of the
slums
talking about how to get involved in the battle against AIDS.
Nick spoke of his dreams of starting a community group, and Dan
agreed
to create a website and to attempt to raise awareness back in
the United States. In April Nick attended an AIDS seminar in Kitale.
As
Nick and Dr. Oronje talked about HIV/AIDS and its causes, they
began to
dream of a program where the prostitutes in the city could be brought
out of the sex industry - this would eliminate hundreds of risky
sexual encounters each month - possibly saving thousands of lives.
Currently Nick
is running the Renew Program and keeping busy making home visits
to the families with AIDS. Lahash provided a digital camera to
the SCF, and Nick has been using the camera and the internet to
get information and pictures out to the rest of the world. He also
is the Lahash contact for the AIDS Orphan School in Kibera.