The Good Hope Village was founded by Rev. Dr. Bjørnar Heimstad from the International Gospel Mission with financial support from generous donors in Norway. The International Gospel Mission has been running a children’s home in Nairobi since 1989, but is now expanding. They will now be running a primary school and, hopefully soon, a clinic and a secondary school in its new location in Kajiado.
The Good Hope Village will be the home of up to 200 children, many of them made orphans as parents have succumbed to AIDS or HIV related illnesses. Placed in beautiful surroundings, the Good Hope Village will be a safe haven for its young inhabitants, far away from the poverty stricken and crime affected suburbs of Nairobi. As emphasized by Rev. Dr. Heimstad; ”Good Hope Village is a home, not an institution”.
Ambassador Jacobsen was the Guest of Honour at the opening of Good Hope Village in Kona Baridi in Kajiado. Also present were representatives of the local administration together with a large group of visiting Norwegians eager to celebrate this joyful day together with the children of Good Hope.
As a symbol of hope and community Ambassador Jacobsen, Rev. Dr. Heimstad and the Norwegian sponsors planted trees outside the primary school before everybody was invited in for a guided tour of the children’s home and the Good Hope Hill Academy primary school.
Afterwards the children impressed the Ambassador with their dance and singing so much so that she joined in to dance with the children.
In her inauguration speech ambassador Jacobsen highlighted the importance of education as "the most important gift you can give a child". Norway invests in education through the UN and the World Bank, most notably through the ”Education for All” program. The Ambassador spoke about how education is an essential tool for development both on the individual level, community level and at the national level. She said that education “gives the individual the tools to create a better future, it creates a basis for reflection and it gives the possibility to go forward”.
The Embassy was honoured to be invited to the opening and wishes Good Hope Village all the best in providing excellent education for the children.
The ambassadors speech you can read here.