U.S. Catholics like you are helping create a brighter future for orphaned and impoverished children in communities and remote villages in the developing world. Your generous gifts support our ministry partners in providing nutritious food, clean water, Catholic education and safe shelters for the most vulnerable children. Boys and girls around the world are rejoicing in the love of Jesus and your kindness!
The youth of Kenya are grateful for the compassionate supporters of Cross Catholic Outreach. Many of these kids were born into unfortunate circumstances that only worsened as they got older. But your generosity has empowered the ministries of mercy that care for vulnerable children in Kenya. They are lifting young people out of hopelessness, with love and compassion, and guiding them toward the light of the Lord.
Meet two of our ministry partners and learn about the work they are doing to protect and improve the lives of vulnerable children in Kenya. You helped make their life-transforming work possible!
The St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Center is located in the town of Kitale in western Kenya. Kitale and its surrounding areas have a large population of farmers who survive by raising livestock and often live nomadically to find grazing land for their animals. These farming families move further south to escape the drought that causes the death of their goats, sheep, camels and other animals.
Families flee the starvation caused by drought — but when they arrive in Kitale, they often face similar hunger struggles. Some children must leave home to search for food and end up begging on the streets. Eventually, they might lose touch with their families and become vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Many contract illnesses from improper eating and living conditions. They can also fall prey to bad influences and substance addictions.
The St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Center rescues children in these dire situations in the Turkana villages on the outskirts of Kitale before they end up living on the streets. The matron and patron of the center are trained social workers who live there full time. They attentively tend to the medical needs of the many children who arrive malnourished or struggling with malaria, tuberculosis or HIV.
The center’s staff provides a secure environment where kids can flourish, play and enjoy being children. Emmanuel is one example of how the St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Center’s methods can change a life.
As a young child, Emmanuel suffered from food scarcity and lived in an unsafe, dilapidated home, which led to illnesses that hospitalized him. Eventually, he started living on the streets, eating rotten scavenged food and begging for money to survive. Around this time, he met one of the social workers from the center. He longed to have a safe place where he didn’t have to beg for food or sleep outside.
“I liked it here because it was safe and I was provided for,” Emmanuel said of the time he spent at the center.
In addition to meals and safe shelter, the St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Center also provides children such as Emmanuel with Pastoral Program Instruction. Every Friday afternoon, boys and girls learn stories from the Bible, sing Christian songs and participate in prayer. The local parish priest celebrates Mass with the students at the beginning and end of each school term.
Importantly, children also receive preparation to enter formal schools. While participating in the residential rehabilitation program, the children return to their homes on the weekend. When they complete the program, they are reintegrated with their families and enrolled in Catholic boarding schools where they continue to receive proper nutrition and medical care.
Emmanuel completed the reintegration program and is currently a student at St. Angelica, the junior secondary school near the center. He is grateful for this opportunity, and says the St. John Bosco Rehabilitation Center has given him the confidence to reach for his dream of becoming a surgeon and providing for his family.
Catholic faith formation and education are at the heart of St. Francis Boys’ Boarding School. Founded in 1999 by Father Francis, the boarding school is a sanctuary for boys with nowhere else to turn.
Fr. Francis was called to help when he noted the epidemic of children on the streets. They needed more than a quick meal. They needed to leave the streets and receive an education that would help them pursue a brighter future. God’s compassion and the Holy Spirit burned in Fr. Francis’ heart, so he stepped forward to intervene.
“I thought of these children who are sleeping on the streets, wearing tattered clothes, eating from garbage, from the dust bins, and the Lord inspired me to start a project to serve them,” Fr. Francis said.
Guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ, St. Francis Boys’ Boarding School provides 550 boys a safe place to learn and grow with the help of 22 incredibly talented teachers. The student population consists primarily of orphaned and former street children from rural communities.
Antony is a current student at St. Francis who has been there for seven years. His previous home life was challenging, as there was not enough food to go around. Snakes and other animals easily entered his family’s feeble home, and they did not have enough money to pay for school fees. At a tender age, he started working to help his parents financially and began to be subjected to hard labor.
One day, someone saw Antony toiling as a child laborer and, concerned for his situation, took him to St. Francis Boys’ Boarding School.
Tragically, soon after arriving at St. Francis, both of Antony’s parents passed away and he lost contact with most of his other relatives. This precious boy had suffered so many heartbreaks in life — but God was working through the Church to provide the support he needed to make it through.
Antony is now a healthy, happy young man who knows he is loved. He considers Fr. Francis a father figure and appreciates the discipline he instills in the boys at the home. Antony believes the love and care he has received will help him achieve his dream of becoming a pilot and seeing the world.
For now he enjoys playing handball, watching movies, and taking his science and technology classes. He was baptized in 2023 and now serves as an altar boy. He shared that his faith has grown because Fr. Francis showed him the love of our Heavenly Father. Antony said, “If I didn’t come here, I don’t think I’d be alive now.”
Fr. Francis loves this mission from the Lord of serving vulnerable children.
“I’m working with the ‘least of the brethren’ (Matthew 25). I work with those that society looks down on. These children give me energy; I stay healthy and young working with them. The secret to success is presence — to be with them — so I sing with them, run with them, read with them. If I don’t do it, who will?”
Our ministry partners who work with abandoned, orphaned and vulnerable children in Kenya and around the world are true heroes! Their devoted work is helping young people overcome terrible hardships, experience God’s love and discover a better pathway in life.
Your continued kindness and generosity help give Kenya’s at-risk youth a brighter tomorrow. May God bless you for what you’ve made possible!
Donations from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred through June 30, 2027, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
