A Conversation with Dr. Karambu Ringera of International Peace Initiatives

Posted by metroafrican • June 17, 2010 • Printer-friendly

by Isabella Muturi Sauve

I am often inspired when I hear of African women pursuing development initiatives in Africa because I know that women uniquely perceive the challenges encountered when a people lack access to basic necessities, education, and health amongst other challenges. So when I heard that Dr. Karambu Ringera was going to be in town, I contacted her and asked for an opportunity to talk to her about International Peace Initiatives (IPI), which she founded in 2002.

We met on a rainy Friday afternoon in May, and I asked her about IPI. Her face lit up as she told me about the Amani Children’s Home, a community based response to the ‘orphan crisis’, currently plaguing many African communities. Karambu does not call the children’s home an orphanage, noting that in her native tongue of Kimeru there is not a word for ‘orphan’. Children have always been a community's responsibility.

The origins of International Peace Initiatives are humble. It grew out of a class assignment at the University of Denver, where Dr. Ringera earned her PhD in Intercultural Communication. Realizing that coursework should interact with the world outside the classroom, Karambu brought 40 college students to her home in Meru, Kenya in 2002. In November of that year, she held a Kenyan cultural event in Denver as a fundraiser and raised $400. She used that money to send 7 children in Meru to school.

The first children’s home, Kithoka Amani Children’s Home (KAC), opened its doors in 2009. It was built with a capacity to serve 60 children between the ages of 6-18 years. For Karambu KAC is just the first in a network of Amani homes which will serve children in Meru.

At KAC Karambu is determined to eliminate what she terms as the ‘welfare mentality’ prevalent in many institutions that house orphaned and vulnerable children. “Paying school fees is not enough,” Karambu says. “Other contextual elements must be considered because school fees will not materialize into a child graduating high school.”

KAC children learn self-reliance and life skills through projects like vegetable gardening and fish farming. The children earn money when they sell their produce to the KAC kitchen and are encouraged to save in the bank account that is opened for each child. The point in all of this, Karambu says, is to preempt the mentality of hopelessness, while cultivating the holistic well being of the child.

Another significant aspect of the KAC home is its community-based model. The objective is to cultivate the existing networks of family, friends and community, by keeping the children in their own communities. Karambu concludes that KAC and forthcoming Amani homes “are becoming centers of excellence for how orphaned and vulnerable children are cared for in our communities.” By adding value to the lives of the children that society has marginalized the stigma attached to orphaned and HIV-affected children is mitigated and the community is reminded of its responsibility to these children.

Dr. Karambu Ringera speaking at TEDxDU in May 2010.

One of the more remarkable outcomes has been a shift in the community’s perception of those with HIV/AIDS as well as the children's perception of themselves. According to Karambu, the community is coming to the realization that HIV/AIDS is an incurable disease like others, such as cancer, and that everyone deserves a place in the community.

Today, IPI has sponsored 41 high school graduates, 3 middle level college graduates, 4 students currently enrolled in college. Fundraising for a second Amani home is underway, with construction slated to start in 2011.

I asked Karambu how the African community in Denver could become involved. Rather than appealing only for donations to IPI, she answered more broadly, saying “if each person started a project to support vulnerable children in their own communities, we can take charge of our own continent. Let each person think of whom they can partner with and start creating projects like this and other opportunities that can create jobs in their own villages”.

If you would like to learn more about IPI and how you can become involved, please visit IPI’s website www.ipeacei.org/