How CHOICE leaders are making change happen in their communities.

CHOICE Humanitarian’s mission is to end extreme poverty. That mission couldn’t be accomplished without the volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to making the world a better place—one village at a time. At every level of the organization—from our home office to the villages around the world—there are leaders and volunteers hard at work combating poverty.

One of those leaders is Pascal Karisa, a CHOICE Humanitarian native leader who’s making a big difference in his community in the Samburu District in Kenya.

On behalf of the staff, Board of Trustees, and the tens of thousands of villagers whose lives you have helped improve thank you for being a part of the CHOICE Humanitarian family. Together, we reached new heights in 2017, and we owe this success to you for two reasons. First, you believe that extreme poverty can and should end in our lifetime. And second, you trust that CHOICE Humanitarian is the organization best suited to achieve this goal. Quite simply, you are the reason CHOICE continues to flourish and, on behalf of the entire CHOICE team, we can't thank you enough! 2017 Impact Report 

I have the great privilege of being the Field Director for CHOICE Humanitarian. Recently I was working with our Kenya team and some communities there, and I came to realize the true meaning of unity. Muungano is a Swahili word meaning come together or unity. In this small village in Kenya, Muungano is more than a word, it is a culture. In Dzugwe the population is predominantly Muslim with the largest minority group practicing Christianity.

Every girl in the world deserves an education, safety, and dignity. That includes access to quality sustainable feminine hygiene products and awareness about health as it relates to the female body. For the millions of women living in extreme poverty, sanitary supplies and education about reproduction are not part of their world. It also means they don't leave the house and miss up to 2 months of school a year. The poverty cycle can be broken when girls stay in school. This is why we have partnered with Days for Girls to provide reusable sanitary supplies and health education. What does this mean for girls? Read what 3 Kenyan women have to say. 

To celebrate our 40^th Anniversary, my wife Cindy and I wanted to do something meaningful and fun, so we chose a volunteer vacation. We traveled to Africa with a purpose in mind – to help build a school in Mungano, a small village outside Mombasa, Kenya. It turned out to be a trip of a lifetime.

There has been a lot of talk about what is going on with the Kenya Presidential vote in the news. It can be hard to understand without the context from a local. So our CHOICE Kenya team has put together an update on the situation. 

Can a rural Kenyan community of thousands of people not living in close proximity take an active role in their health and health-related development issues?

There are people in this world that do crazy, unthinkable things to make the world a better place. Elijah is one of those people doing crazy things. He lives in the Silaloni area of Kenya - outside of Mombasa. Kenya is one of the countries where many people live on less than $1.90 a day. Extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank as living on an average of US $1.90 a day or less. Families in these conditions represent well over a billion people on the planet, with nearly double that amount living on less than just $2.50. But, poverty is more than a lack of income. Extreme poverty is multidimensional.