Our Graduates Begin to Make Their Mark on the World Link to Newsletter of July 2025 The Latest News of Our Schools and Students Link to Newsletter of February 2025 What Your Friends and Family Need to Know Link to Newsletter of November 2025
Celebrating Our Schools and Our Students Link to Newsletter of November 2024 You Can Help Our Graduates Link to Newsletter of July 2024 What If You Had Been Born In Africa? Link to Newsletter of February 2024
Who Are Our Students and Where Do They Come From Link to Newsletter of November 2023 We Are Now Able To Visit Our Schools Regularly Again Link to Newsletter of August 2023 We’re Adjusting to the New Normal Link to Newsletter of April 2023
How to Help Our Graduates Succeed Link to Newsletter of December 2022 This is Dedicated to Our Girls Link to Newsletter of October 2022 Achungo is Meeting a Variety of Challenges! Link to Newsletter of July 2022 It Has Taken a Lot of Work to Prepare for Our New School! Link to Newsletter of April … Continued
Email Newsletters from 2021: Join Us — We Are Building Again! Link to Newsletter of November 2021 Against All Odds Our Students Keep Advancing! Link to Newsletter of June 2021 School’s Open! Let’s See What Students Have Written Home! Link to Newsletter of March 2021
Email Newsletters from 2020: Your Virtual House Party! Invite Your Friends and Family! Link to December 2020 Newsletter We’re doing everything to get ready for 2021! Link to Newsletter of August 2020 Disturbing Picture of the Impact of COVID-19:Link to Newsletter of June 2020 This is a Crisis That Binds Us Together:Link to Newsletter of … Continued
Email Newsletters from 2019 Coleman Andrews is Bullish on our Graduates: Link to Newsletter of November 2019 The Camp Family’s Return: Link to Newsletter of October 2019 We Believe in Miracles (Achungo’s Story) — Part 2: Link to Newsletter of July 2019 We Believe in Miracles (Achungo’s Story) — Part 1: Link to Newsletter of … Continued
Email Newsletters From 2018: October Newsletter: May 2018 Newsletter: March 2018 Newsletter:
The June 2018 trip was another large one with 24 on the team.
Achungo news from 2017: Year-End Update News from April 2017 News from July 2017 News from August 2017
Achungo News from 2016: March 2016 July 2016 Newsletter July 2016 Mailchimp November 2016 December 2016
Achungo News from 2015: PDF from Q1 Newsletter PDF from Q4 Newsletter
Achungo Newsletters and Annual Report from 2014: PDF from Q1 Newsletter PDF from Q2 Newsletter
Newsletters from 2013: PDF from Q1 Newsletter PDF from Q2 Newsletter PDF from Q3 Newsletter PDF from Q4 Newsletter
Our newsletters from 2012: PDF from Q1 Newsletter PDF from Q2 Newsletter PDF from Q3 Newsletter
Newsletters from 2011: Click here for PDF
Ganztagsschule Denksteinweg – Achungo Children´s Centre (ACC) in Kenia Partner seit 2005 I. DER ANFANG Im Sommer 2005bekam Herr Opitz eine Anfrage von einem Freund, ob er mit dem Schulprojekt „Wir singen für Kinder in Not“ Waisenkinder in Kenia unterstützen könnte, weil sintflutartige Regen die Lehmhütten weggespült hatten. Seit 2003 kümmert sich Michael Nyangi, Direktor … Continued
The January 2018 team is all well-traveled folks with lots of experience adjusting to cultures and that made it an easy trip to lead. Here we are with our safari driver, Carlos. Left to right: Anna, Cheryl, Cassidy, Kerry, and Rosalina with Ryan behind her. During our 2 days in the Masai Mara, we saw … Continued
Achungo is frequently asked by Education Ministry and school administrators throughout Kenya about the “secret” behind their academic success and exemplary student discipline. The key has nothing to do with enforcement imposed on the students but rather lies in a deeply held mission shared by staff and students alike. It is imparted to new teachers … Continued
Ryans Letter
It was our final day in the village in Kenya and after a few hours of journaling and sharing, all 28 of us boarded the big bus for the drive back to Nairobi Airport for our long flights home. It’s about 250 miles on tarmac but always seems to take all day somehow. We left … Continued
We are just beginning our planning for the trip in June but the team is now formed…and it is 31!!! That’s about twice the size of any prior team! It includes 12 teenagers, 9 family groups plus 5 individuals. It involves 8 or 9 different itineraries with some going early to Europe, some … Continued
This June trip is made up of 3 family groups plus a number of singles none of whom have been on this trip before. We leave on June 22 and as usual will spend 2 days on safari in the Masai Mara and then 5 full days at Achungo with our beloved children.
8th Graders, November 2014 We have our first graduates!! In 2014 Achungo Educational Centre (the new name for the primary school that is part of Achungo Children’s Centre, Kenya), had its first 8th grade class. The next step in Kenya is secondary school (equivalent to high school in the U.S.) for the 4 years … Continued
We are less than 10 days away from our departure for Kenya for this June trip. There are 13 of us going and it is the first time for everyone (except Monte, of course). In our picture, from left to right: Susan and Sam, Jeremy and Kylie, Nick (behind) and Cyndi, Monte (behind), Diane, Merit … Continued
Charity Run Hello, dear friends On September 16th, the Max-Schmeling-School in Hamburg, Germany, organized a charity run. The weather was sunny and pleasant, ideal for running. We had 35 students from two 4th grade classes from the Elementary School Oejendorfer … Continued
In October 2014, Jake (9) and Luke (7) Smith visited Achungo along with their parents, Nate and Jen. They had already involved the students at their school, Oak Knoll in Menlo Park. And they knew they’d have stories to tell on their return, but no one expected this family to take the story of Achungo … Continued
The June 2014 trip has turned out to be the largest of our team trips by far: 17 total by the time we got to the Achungo Children’s Center in very rural Rodi-Kopany, Kenya. (In the above picture: far back left to right: Rachel and Cindy Marty, Doug Tillion, Jordan Troester. Front left to right: … Continued
Returning home one Saturday afternoon I found a basket at our door with $9.50 of cash and a note: “this is from our lemonade stand and it is for the orphans; from Neekie, Bella, Max, Grace, Fiona and Phillip“. I was floored! We live in a small neighborhood and I knew these kids were my … Continued
Last Thursday we presented to the student body at The Trinity School, a private preschool and primary in Menlo Park. They have been a sort of sister school to Achungo since early 2011 when 5th grader and friend, Karen Rader, brought Achungo to her class as a 5th grade service project. Here Karen is presenting … Continued
News from Hamburg, Germany I would like to introduce a new thread in this blog about activities in Hamburg leaded by Armin Opitz concerning support to the Achungo Children Centre. My real name is Stefan Menck and I am, like Armin, teacher at a school in the Eastern Part of Hamburg, Germany. With much work … Continued
My heart is full, as I return to my life here in the U.S. There is nothing quite like the experience of emerging yourself in another culture for a time. There are many things about African culture that I love…. But I especially love the way they relate to each others and to us. it … Continued
Our team for the June 2013 trip to Achungo rather evolved over time. Bonnie and Robin Smith (no, they are not sisters…just friends) actually completed applications and deposits by November — that’s enthusiasm! By the March application deadline, they were joined by 9 others: co-leaders, Monte and Kathy Fisher, Charley Hawkins and his grandson, Jack … Continued
Michael Nyangi, Founder and Kenyan Director of Achungo Children’s Center, made his first trip to California this year. This was a long awaited, long-planned visit to connect with his many supporters and for many more to hear his incredible story (see the prior post for his story). He arrived on Wednesday, November 28 and stayed … Continued
Michael Nyangi, the founder and Kenyan Director for Achungo Children’s Center, is making his first trip to the Bay Area in late November (2012). Below are some of the events planned. You should consider attending and meeting this incredible man who grew up a poor orphan, was sponsored through college and then, forgoing a lucrative … Continued
Our team of 11 left SFO on June 13 and after our 2-day safari in the Masai Mara, spent a full 5 days at the Achungo Children’s Centre (that’s how we spell it in ex-British colonies!). What was most remarkable on this trip for me was that every single teacher from our 2 preschool classes … Continued
On our first trip to Kenya (October 2010) we realized that there was an urgent need at Achungo for more land. We have by now purchased the new site, fenced it and have begun construction. But I’m getting ahead of my story. In 2008 Saratoga Federated Church purchased a well for Achungo Children’s Center and … Continued
The school of Achungo was born in 2005 as Director Michael Nyangi had recruited 2 widows with hearts for orphans who began to work with him both by taking care of orphans (along with their own children) and beginning to teach those who were unable to attend school due to cost. Although Primary School (K-8) … Continued
In 2010, after 2 years of supporting the food program at Achungo, Samaritan’s Purse encouraged us to undertake a project that might move us toward self-sufficiency. We had experimented a little with farming, so wrote a proposal for farming 11 acres which was then funded for the 2 planting seasons of 2010-2011 and has now … Continued
In August we began fundraising in earnest to purchase land and begin building out the Achungo school campus. We have learned from Michael Nyangi, our Kenyan Founder/Director, that land nearby our current parcel is available and he has verified title and cost. Total cost is $9,500 including fees and fencing (for a bit over 1/2 … Continued
This morning is our last at the Tausi Hotel, our last in Rodi Kopany, we are leaving Achungo today. But this is a day of important work — after breakfast we spent about 3 hours in a debrief process, reflecting on our experiences and what they mean in our lives. We gather in the “lounge” … Continued
Several team members had talked about the value of giving the staff a way to organize all the stuff we’d brought rather than just leave piles of new things. Julia M had recounted her father’s adage that whatever you do you always have to take care of the staff. So Julia, the energizer bunny, has … Continued
While most of the team spend the day in classes with the teachers and children, reading, teaching, doing games, etc. (and someone else will have to fill in that detail….), Chris and Monte spend the day shopping with Michael. We start at the Rodi lumber yard shopping for materials to build new desks. Chris has … Continued
Today is our first planned-out day to work with the children and teachers. Suney began our trip quietly expressing the hope that she might somehow be helpful. Today, she proves that to be the understatement of the year. Her experience as a 6th Grade teacher for several years and apparently, helping with VBS (Vacation Bible … Continued
Today Michael has invited us to his home church (Kager Vision Center) and then to his home (for lunch) and he has contracted a matatu for our travel. The matatus are modified minivans used as taxis that seat 10 with room for 14 passengers (yes, you read that right). That’s including 2 or 3 sharing … Continued
Last night Chris shared about how the 12 Steps provide a regimen for healing through surrender to God (Higher Power) and through the processes of confession and of making amends with those we’ve harmed (or sometimes, those who’ve harmed us). It was a very powerful teaching for us all. This morning we talk about the … Continued
It’s Friday and we’re departing Masai Mara to make our cross-country trek to Achungo. But it seems that the entire park has come out to the road to either wish us farewell or block our escape. Seemingly endless parades of wildebeest and zebra frequently block the road before us. The gazelle, the elephants, water buffalo, … Continued
Today is our full day in the Masai Mara and it does not disappoint. A day of dueling telephotos and herds of safari vans, but a day of what seems like phenomenal luck as we see an incredible show of this very exotic wildlife. We find what must be the same pride and park right … Continued
It’s a miracle! We all made it to Nairobi without delays and we are finally together! Ron had arrived a day early and met us in the airport. Susan’s flight made it with only a slight delay. At last we are together and on our way to a Safari (a SAFARI!). It takes us about … Continued
From all across America we gather. To be more precise, we have teams leaving from San Francisco and from Baltimore and the first time we would ever meet them was to be at Heathrow on our way to Nairobi, and the first time the entire team would be together was not to be until Nairobi … Continued