In 2011, Barbara Parkins left her comfortable home on the mid-north coast of NSW and boarded a plane for Kenya. She could never imagine that this would soon become her permanent home.
“As I landed in Kenya, I felt like I was coming home,” Barbara says.
“I travelled throughout the country undertaking auditing and looking at different projects, spending time in orphanages and meeting the Maasai people. Being accepted into their bomas and their families was a dream I had never imagined would ever come true and I realised this was where I was meant to be and work.
“I also saw the great need for education, especially for the women and girls, and when the opportunity arose to do this, I knew I couldn’t turn it down. And when I realised how much female genital mutilation (FGM) still occurred I simply could not walk away from this work.”
Barbara joined the Rotary E-Club of Greater Sydney in 2011 on the advice of a friend who felt her work would benefit greatly from membership of the club.
In 2012, Barbara returned to Australia, resigned from her job as an office assistant and PA, then flew back to Kenya for three months to live and work with the Maasai in setting up a school and rescue centre for the Maasai girls. She founded the Kisaru Nkera Initiatives (KINI) to help Maasai children and their communities to a better life through education, health care services, community programs and a safe environment for the mental, physical and spiritual growth of the individual and to reach out to the wider community through education initiatives and self-help programs.
From September 2013, Barbara moved permanently to the community where she lives in the Manyatta to enable her to work more closely with the community and school.
From its humble beginnings, KINI now has an Early Childhood Learning Centre with four classes and 220 students, sponsors 154 children in schools from kindergarten to university and houses (in Barbara’s home) 27 children who are orphans, girls rescued from early marriages and FGM, and vulnerable children. KINI also provides medical care for those who are unable to access specialist services.
FGM awareness is an ever-growing part of Barbara’s work and she regularly speaks in schools, churches and communities, as well as running ‘Alternate Rite of Passage’ programs for the Maasai girls.
“I would like to thank our various donors and Rotary International with the Rotary E-Club of Greater Sydney, who have provided much needed funds for various building projects and equipment to fund the school, KINI Mara Academy,” Barbara says.
KINI is now registered with Rotary’s RAWCS program, which offers tax deductible donation receipts. If you would like to donate, please visit bit.ly/3PlJc6R