WHEN PICTURES COME TO LIFE:
MY FIRST VISIT TO OUR
TUMA KIMBI PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
IN KENYA
by Yannic Bellino, January 2026
After six years as a committed member of Tuma Kimbi e.V., I finally managed to visit our partner organizations on site at the end of 2025. And to get to know the people who bring these organizations to life, as well as the children and young people who find support there.
I was in Kenya with Armin from the end of November to mid-December. We spent most of our time in Nairobi, where three of the four partner organizations we visited are based.
On the evening of our arrival, a small welcoming committee was waiting for us at the airport in Nairobi, despite the very late hour. Mary Njeri Daniel, the founder of the Mary Faith Children Center, Margret Nduta, one of her employees, Haron, one of the older boys from the Center, and two recent university graduates who were supported by Tuma Kimbi as teenagers, Mary Achola and Sheila Potishoi, picked us up and drove us to our accommodation in the city.
The next morning, we visited the Mary Faith Children Center in Riruta Dagoretti South, Nairobi. We were given an enthusiastic welcome at the new Center, which was built in 2024. Everyone was very happy to see Armin again. But even I, a stranger to them, was applauded, sung to, hugged, and then bombarded with questions about myself, my trip, Germany, and Berlin. I wanted to satisfy the children’s curiosity and thirst for knowledge, so I told them about my favorite food, the weather in Germany, traveling by plane, life in Berlin, and so on.
Two of the young people who live at the Children Center, Amos and Shantel, then gave me a tour and showed me everything from the communal kitchen and office on the ground floor to the dormitories on the first floor and the chicken coop and vegetable garden on the roof. They also proudly presented the large black fresh water tank in the courtyard, which is now fed directly from the well built in 2025. It felt almost a little surreal to see the center with my own eyes for the first time and experience it in all its liveliness after having seen it in so many pictures and videos before – but only on screen.
I also recognized some of the children and young people from videos and photos I had edited for our social media channels. They, on the other hand, had never seen me before. Nevertheless, from the very beginning, I was treated like an old friend and as a member of the “Tuma Kimbi family.” Some of the toddlers always wanted to be held by the hand or carried. The older ones told me a lot about themselves and their plans and dreams.
The next day, we went on a surprise trip to Mary Njeri Daniel’s hometown. We drove about 200 kilometers north to Nanyuki. Mary grew up there, near Mount Kenya National Park. Mary’s 85-year-old mother still runs a small farm there, which produces food for the Children’s Center. Some of the young people from the Center learn the basics of farming there.
Back in Nairobi, we visited Mary’s Center repeatedly over the next two weeks. The children taught me how to bake chapati, a simple flatbread made from flour, water, and oil. Together, we pumped up the balls that our supporter Michael Sasse had given us as a donation and played soccer in the courtyard and on a nearby dirt field. I was given the nickname “Yang Yang” because the younger children had a little trouble with the name Yannic.
In addition to the Mary Faith Children’s Center, we also visited the Shiphrah Center in Nairobi, which we have been supporting with donations for many years. The children were already waiting for us in the large dining room and welcomed us with gospel songs. I also played soccer with the children in the courtyard there.
Martha Njeri, founder of the Shiphrah Center, and her family then served us delicious mandazis, consisting of fried sweet yeasted dough, and the national drink chai with milk and sugar in their living room and told us about their work. As in many other conversations during the trip, the catastrophic state of the Kenyan health care system was bemoaned. Regular strikes in public hospitals and a dysfunctional health insurance system often force the directors of the children’s centers to seek treatment at expensive private clinics in cases of emergency. There is hope that a recent reform of the healthcare system will bring about an improvement. However, given the political situation repeatedly lamented by our conversation partners, there remains some doubt as to whether the reform will bring about the hoped-for improvement. This makes it all the more important that our Christmas fundraising campaign under the motto “Operation Future: Give the Gift of Health” was very successful! We can continue to provide crucial support for healthcare costs.
Armin and I managed the communication for the fundraising campaign from Kenya. During our visit to Nairobi Family Support Services (NFSS), we were able to gather material for our social media video series. I met NFSS director Hannah Mwangi. She introduced us to Wendy and Benson Derryl. Benson suffers from cerebral palsy and his aunt Wendy cares for him with the help of NFSS. You can meet all three of them in the video on our social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram).
In addition to the three partner organizations directly in Nairobi (Mary Faith, Shiphrah, and NFSS), we also visited the Faraja Orphan Care Foundation in Machakos County, about 50 kilometers east of Nairobi’s city center. In this rural setting, our long-standing partner Jane Gitubia and her husband Moses care for orphans and street children. Here, too, we received a very warm welcome. A little boy took me by the hand and enthusiastically showed me the farm animals and pets living on the grounds.
Right next to the existing building, Jane and Moses want to build a training center, the Faraja Vocational Center. They already own the land. Now they need to find funds to finance the training center.
Jane also took us on some home visits she makes as a social worker to families in need of support in this structurally weak region. Most of these are families with many children, who are very poor, with fathers who are completely or largely absent and single mothers. The Faraja Foundation supports these families in providing their children with an education.
It was very moving and encouraging for me to meet four of Tuma Kimbi’s six partner organizations on site. I met adults who have dedicated their lives to children and young people in need and who fight passionately for them under the most difficult conditions, are there for them, and sacrifice themselves for them. I met children and young people who, despite some of them having suffered severe trauma, radiate an infectious love of life and believe in a better future. I experienced deep gratitude for Tuma Kimbi’s reliable, long-standing commitment. And I feel reassured in my conviction that every single Euro we collect with Tuma Kimbi is well spent on these projects.
Unfortunately, during my two-week visit, I was unable to visit our two partner organizations in Uganda. So it was all the more wonderful that I was able to meet Maliza Nanziri shortly before my departure. She is the head of the Raising Stars School in the Rakai district of Uganda, which we support through the Butterfly Center. She was visiting Nairobi for a few days during the school holidays with her young daughter.
This meant that on my last day in Kenya, the two of them were able to attend the big celebration at the Mary Faith Children Center. The celebration was not to honor my departure, but to celebrate Mary Achola and Sheila Potishoi. Both of them had graduated from university. They arrived in their graduation gowns and caps and were given an enthusiastic welcome. Achola and Sheila are great role models for the girls and boys at the Mary Faith Children Center. Despite difficult starting conditions, they not only made it to university, but also graduated!
At the celebration, which lasted all day, I saw many of the people I had gotten to know and grown fond of over the past two weeks. We danced, ate, sang, and talked together all day long. This was followed by a tearful farewell and a promise on my part that I would return soon.
Armin, who spent another three weeks in Kenya, told me that the children were already asking on Christmas and New Year’s Eve whether I would be coming back. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen quite that quickly. But I will keep my promise.
I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who has read this far to travel to Kenya and visit our Tuma Kimbi partner organizations, get to know the people we support, and experience the heartwarming hospitality that I experienced.
These encounters were emotional, enriching, and encouraging.
