FOUNDERS LOOK TO GIVE BACK

We began our careers with a strong belief in our ability to change the world. I taught lower track and disadvantaged students while my husband Rod established a community-owned business in rural Alabama. In 2008, we returned to our dream of making a large, significant change, with tangible results that could be seen in our lifetimes.

We chose to work in Africa, a continent of much promise and many challenges that looms large in the future of not only America, but of the world. An uneducated populace is subject to terrorist rhetoric, is not prepared for twenty first century jobs and will not be able to raise their children with the hope of a better future. To help effect change for the next generation, we picked one country both receptive and ripe for change - Kenya. And, with no prior experience in international development but with personal success in and commitment to the values of education and entrepreneurship, we began a program to educate bright but deeply underprivileged Kenyan children. That is how EFAC was founded.

EFAC BECOMES A REALITY

EFAC is not just a scholarship program. There are hundreds of those programs in Africa. EFAC combines not only scholarships but mentoring and global connections so that EFAC scholars not only are educated, but have the highest potential to hold good jobs and to become the leadership of their generation in Kenya. By showing how this works with the most disadvantaged children in Kenya, EFAC is a catalyst for change in the entire education system of the country.

EFAC partners with a strong local stakeholder, African Nazarene University (ANU), who assists in the selection of students, the overview and evaluation of schools, and mentoring for each student to insure success. These are distinguishing features of our program. Perhaps even more important, EFAC is based on a partnering model with schools in the United States that uses real connections with EFAC students to teach American students global citizenship skills. This partnering gives EFAC scalability uncommon to other scholarship programs.

Three years after taking the first steps, we provide high school scholarships to over 150 students. All of our students, many homeless orphans, are thriving and succeeding. And then they will change Kenya, and then Kenya will change Africa. That is our dream.