People can learn about a Salt Spring woman’s passion and vision at an event celebrating the Our Lady of Grace Children’s Home and School anniversary on Saturday, Jan. 25.
From 1 to 4 p.m. at Meaden Hall, the registered Canadian charity called Action for God’s Love and project founder Rita Balachandran will share the story of the home for orphaned children she established near the town of Marimba in Kenya in 2007, serving only nine girls when it opened.
“Today enrolment has grown to over 150 girls annually and since its inception over 1,000 girls have received an education from kindergarten to Grade 12,” states press material from AFGL. “Aged from two to 16 years, these girls come to the children’s home from very vulnerable situations such as human trafficking, prostitution and female genital mutilation.”
Four of five trustees on the AFGL board live on Salt Spring Island.
Currently the charity is embarking on a capital project to replace the current classroom, which has a dirt floor, metal walls and no electricity, with one stall block to serve as a kindergarten, computer lab and library.
For more information, contact Erika Ponsford at admin@actionforgodslove.org or at 250-653-9925. To make a donation or volunteer, people can visit the website at www.actionforgodslove.org.