Friends of Londiani

The charity was the happy result of an unhappy incident. In August 2000 an Irish tourist, Maria Kidney, was mugged on the streets of Nairobi. She sought refuge in the Kenyan Girl Guides’ Headquarters. There she heard about the Kenyan Girl Guides’ work with various communities. Inspired by this, she contacted the Council of Irish Girl Guiding Associations and suggested that they support their Kenyan counterparts. They agreed, and developed the idea further. The plan was that one or more institutions in Kenya would host a service project group — part of a partnership focused on improving access to education, clean water and basic healthcare.