About Us

Our mission is to enable young kenyans to change the cycle of poverty into a cycle of success. Kenya is full of strong, innovative people who are ready to contribute to this world. Many of them are not living up to that potential due to a lack of basic needs. We provide those basic needs in different ways so they can change the country.

Our vision is to break the cycle of poverty in Kenya.


“Our Story”

The work of Better Future International Kenya started in 2009, along with the Stichting Kisiwa Foundation in the Netherlands. The story of BFI starts with the children of Kisiwa primary school in Thika, Kenya. Many parents in the area worked on coffee farms. When those farms were shut down, parents were not able to feed their families which forced the children to go look for work as well. They would work in other plantations, beg in the streets, or start stealing to get some food on the table at the end of the day.

This made Rita devastated! As a Teacher of Kisiwa Primary school with an empty classroom, she went out to the streets and the coffee plantations to try to convince the children in her class to come to school, but she got the same reaction every time: we can’t come to school because we are hungry!

She knew that regular meals would change the lives of her students and enable them to stay in school, so she started asking anyone she knew to help her start a school feeding program. Though she had some initial successes, all the programs fizzled out for lack of funds. And when they did, the children would go back to the streets and plantations and her classrooms would be empty once again.

Rita never gave up on ‘her’ children and would continue bothering people until one day a young man from the Netherlands, Ruben, heard her story. He started to research the situation and realized that though Rita could make a lasting difference in her students’ lives, her initiative lacked structural financial support. In reaction he asked his friends and family to support a feeding program at this school. There were enough supporters. Rita and Ruben met again and Rita was elated to hear this great news. Together they went to the market to buy cooking materials, and solicited parents to cook the meals. The school feeding program had started!

In addition to our feeding programs, in 2010 we started a sponsor program. By sponsoring pupils into secondary school and providing them with counselling services, they are be able to continue growing towards a successful life. This sponsoring program was expanded beyond secondary school in 2014, allowing students to receive college and post-secondary education as well.

Since the start of the program we have helped more than 2.500 children in different schools by providing over 2 million meals. Pupils have graduated secondary school and continued onwards to colleges. Our former students have become adults who are now business owners, healthcare workers, and proud, productive Kenyans.

‘’God has answered my prayers’’

Rita

‘’God has brought us together‘’

Ruben

Our Partners

Kisiwa Foundation
Stichting Kisiwa is our partner organisation in the Netherlands. They started in 2009 with the sole purpose of making the programs in Kenya a success by fundraising for them. The majority of income comes from individual personal donations. Over 30 percent of their funds are coming from structural donations from individuals who are dedicated to the organisation for many years.  We are proud of and grateful to our devoted donors, without whom we would not be able to do the work that we do.  

For more information about our partner, Kisiwa Foundation, visit their website: kisiwa.nl