Empeku Epuan is Masai for Seeds of Hope.
Sofia and Luca (SoLu “Empeku Epuan”) Foundation aims at equipping children and adolescent girls and boys in Kenya with the tools they need to safely navigate puberty and grow into their full potential.
Our approach is simple, we (Sofia and Luca’s family) pay for all overhead expenses of the Foundation and enable 100% of the donations to reach end users. There is no “leakage”, no salaries at the foundation level, nor high costs. Every single dollar is directed at benefiting children.
We have been working hard to source good products at excellent prices and finding ways to deliver them to the most remote locations cost effectively.
We count with local people on the ground – led by Masai Mara’s Richard Markupa Mututua to supervise the logistics and compliance of our programs, according to basic ethical principles and focus on maximizing the impact to the children.
We envision a world in which girls and boys are empowered and have the means to drive change and create valuable impact for their communities.
Our mission is to support them through access to education and to enable them to unlock their full potential. We want to encourage girls and boys to become self-determined young adults who will in turn shape their own future and the one of their communities.
We work diligently and carefully not to disrupt their culture, nor to accelerate their westernization. Our goal is to support them without disrupting their ancient way of living, values and principles.
The SoLu “Empeku Epuan” Foundation operates from the USA with support from the Masai Mara in Kenya. However, our initial focus is to provide for children in the least privileged areas first, like Samburu, for example.
We have started providing books, pencils, educational material, plus every day needs, like solar powered light bulbs, sanitary pads for girls, clothing, shoes, soccer balls and basic food items. As we grow, we plan to expand our scope to fund scholarships to fund elementary and secondary school students in need.
Selecting donation recipients To guarantee that our help reaches the girls and boys with highest need for support, we benefit from the local support of Richard Markupa Mututua and colleagues from Masai Mara to identify, prioritize and define specific needs throughout Kenya.
All collected donations go directly to fund specific needs for villages. We look for partners through the village chief appointed representative in order to listen to their needs and make sure all goods go straight to fulfill their children requirements.
After watching women walk for hours to secure water, see children sharing a pencil or not having books to study have made us reprioritize our own personal expenses and divert some of our more frivolous consumption into this project.
