Meet the children & staff of Good Samaritan Children's Home!

Good Samaritan Children's Home was started in 2002 by the Langs Family who were missionaries from Sweden and lived in Migori for many years.  AIDS and poverty are serious issues in Kenya. As a result, there are SO many children without parent and in need of a safe home.  Peter Oringo has been the director of Good Samaritan since the beginning.  We can't begin to tell you how much determination, faith and love Peter and all of the staff have provided to the children of Good Samaritan.  They now have a place they can call home.  Peter has a vision to care for, love and educate these children so they can, in turn, make an impact in their community. 

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The collective story of how our team has come together to begin Connect For Kids is not something any of us could have dreamed up before 2017.  

In the Fall of 2017, Amanda, Jonathan met Ashley as they were all moving to Migori, Kenya as missionaries.  They did life with each other, served God and loved the children of Good Samaritan and Migori like they were their own for 9 months.   

Your children can't live half way across the world and not go to visit! So, in Jan 2018 Folzenlogens traveled to Migori to visit Amanda & Jonathan.  And God's timing was perfect...Good Samaritan could not afford to send the older children to school anymore and many of them had to move back to their original villages to live in much poorer conditions.  Seriously, conditions that no child should ever have to endure.  This happened the day we arrived. 

To us it seemed that a good education that supported their faith in God and kept them near the loving "family" of Good Samaritan was much more beneficial than the prospects they faced going back to their villages with distant family members they didn't know.  We didn't know how, but we were going to find a way to get these children back in school.

Long story, short...we went back to the US and told the story over and over again.  The Merciers heard the story and wanted to get involved, and in fact, traveled to Kenya in May 2018 to meet the children, Pastor Peter and the staff of Good Samaritan.   As we traveled together and shared our experiences, the idea of creating a foundation to support children in need emerged. 
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​In late 2018 Connect for Kids was created with a goal of supporting 12 Good Samaritan students. Our families, friends and coworkers shared their love and generosity in a way that we can only describe as miraculous and we were able to  provide funding for 20 students for the 2019 Kenyan school year. In 2020,  Connect for Kids was able to support the education, housing and nutrition of  27 students !!  As we have navigated through the uncertainty of a global pandemic through 2021 you all were amazing and provided what these students needed to continue their studies while they were in quarantine for months.  THANK YOU!! 

As the students grow and mature, they are doing so well in school.  In 2022 seven students earned grades and scores that allowed them to go to high school.  TWENTY students will be in high school in the 2023 school year! Their appreciation and dedication to their education is amazing! 
Would you join us in providing hope for these precious children?  Any level of sponsorship is so appreciated.  Visit the Sponsor/Donate page to learn more and partner with us and continue our story.  ​