My name is Eric Ochanji. I was born on the 11th day of May 1973 at Gendia Mission Hospital in the Rachuonyo district of Nyanza province, Kenya. Now I live in Kabondo, where I am a participant in many community activities, including funeral contributions, church activities and other community development initiatives.  Caring for children of circumstance In my daily life, I saw children who were forced by circumstances to do things that were beyond their age and ability. Children staying with very old grandmothers. Children fetching firewood and water from far flung areas. Child-headed households who were forced to make daily decisions on where their next meal would come from. These children have none of the things that make life meaningful, including the need to go to school with books, uniforms, and shoes. It disturbed me that these children were compelled by their situation to do these things through no crime. This is their life only because they either lost both parents to HIV/AIDS, or one parent while the other remained sick and had to face the degrading spectacle of being taken care of by their small children as they stoically lived out the last few stages of full blown AIDS. These children had learnt through adversity the art of negotiation at a very tender age. I remember a 10-year-old girl who had to negotiate with the school head teacher to let her stay in school and take her exams by promising to weed maize plants during the holidays to pay for the school fees in arrears. I saw children going to school without uniforms, shoes and other necessities as the other, well-off children flaunted their possessions, instilling in the orphans a sense of deprivation, neglect and stigma. At my neighbouring school, Nyasore primary, I saw children going to school with nothing in their stomachs, and coming back for the lunch break to nothing. I saw children afflicted by various small illnesses that could be cured by basic drugs but which they knew not how to respond to. All these made me want to step in and fill the void left by their parents and negotiate for them, look for resources, and help them live as if their parents were still alive. Stepping in to save a generation We decided to look for assistance after realizing that, however much the community members tried to contribute to help the orphans, they could not manage it themselves amidst their poverty. When we started on Nabuur.com, the community members had the desire to help but knew of no way of sharing the plight of HIV/AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children with the rest of the world for advice and support. The challenges were intimidating and the number of orphaned and vulnerable children kept growing by the day. It was a call to action and we had to step forward and make the next best step. The Neighbours have helped us prepare a project proposal, linked us with organizations which could offer support, and contributed small funds to purchase school materials, uniforms and medication for some orphans. Our plan is to develop a sustainable program that will address the medical, educational, economic and psychological needs of the orphans and vulnerable children to make them responsible members of society. The Neighbours can assist us realize our project goal and objectives by helping us secure funding for our project proposal. Finding hope in a child's smile I am inspired by the children's determination to live and go to school against considerable odds that would make other people despair. When I see them wake up each day to start their daily struggle for survival amidst heavy obstacles and uncertainty, it gives me the power and drive to intensify my efforts to network and collaborate with others to help make a difference. Sometimes what disturbs me at night is the thought of very young children wailing at the funeral of their parents. Children who have no idea what the future holds for them amidst abject poverty and with no one to help them walk through these trials and tribulations. I find hope in the smile of a child I have helped, and the happiness of my own two-year-old daughter and wife. A day in the life I do consultancy work on part time basis on project management. I facilitate workshops on leadership, project management, HIV prevention, counseling, business management and home-based care for people living with AIDS. The rest of the time I dedicate to this project. I wake up at 5 a.m. everyday and keep myself morally and physically trim by saying a short prayer and jogging until 6.00 a.m. I take breakfast between 7 a.m and 8 a.m. which is usually tea with potatoes, cooked bananas, boiled maize or occasionally a loaf of bread. At other times I take porridge, which is a favourite breakfast cereal among the Luo community of Western Kenya. After this I attend community meetings or visit the children if I do not have any pending community facilitation work to attend to. I travel using a bicycle or on foot depending on the distance. If the distance is so far I use the public transport means commonly referred to here as "matatu." The internet has become part and parcel of my life. Looking back, I wonder how people have been managing without it. It has made the world one big village for me and my community. It is amazing. I visit Oyugis Township (15 kilometers away) for my Internet connection, but it is always very unreliable so sometimes I travel to Kisii town or Kisumu which are between 35-45 kilometers away. The internet cost at all these places is KShs. 1 per minute though they are very slow and one can end up paying more. I visit the internet twice a week and sometimes more when opportunity allows. The problem of traveling long distances to access internet facilities can be solved if we have a laptop and connection through my mobile phone. This is a facility that is currently offered by the three phone companies in Kenya (Telkom, Safaricom, Celtel) at very affordable rates and which enables one to access internet facilities anywhere including the village. A message for Neighbours My lesson in life is that if we do nothing, nothing is going to happen. History is not made by Kings and Presidents, but by ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things. I live by the motto, "We Need Each Other." I dream of a just, self reliant, educated and healthy society where the less privileged children are allowed to grow up responsibly and not left to their own devices. I dream of a Kabondo free of child labour, prostitution, violence, thuggery or worse, where children end up in the streets as street urchins. I will be satisfied when some measure of sustainability has been achieved for the project. I want a project that will address all the needs of the orphans. I want to set up, in addition to the orphans welfare program, a program targeting HIV/AIDS prevention (HIV/AIDS behaviour change) among the young people to ensure they do not share the fate of their parents. I also want to set up a vocational training program for older orphans heading households but who are left behind by the promise of formal education. Lastly I want the community educated and assisted on better farming methods to ensure food security so that they can have food all year round. Nothing is so traumatizing as a child going to bed hungry and waking up to nothing. All these, if adequately addressed, will ensure project sustainability and continuity beyond donor support hence my utmost satisfaction. The Neighbours can expect from me a sound implementation of the project's activities in a manner that brings satisfaction to them and uplifts the educational, economic and psychological needs of these disadvantaged children. To people thinking of collaborating with me, I can say that collaboration and networking is the foundation upon which successful projects are built through sharing of ideas, resources and expertise among others. So let's join hands and make the world a better place.