It all started when Barbara ventured to Africa in 2011 to visit a friend and to help wherever the need was found. She spent time in Kenya exploring different projects and initiating efforts to help women and young men leave behind unhealthy and dangerous lives to work and build new futures. She also dedicated many weeks in orphanages teaching, caring for children, and assisting with administrative work.

While in Kenya, Barbara met Julius, a Maasai Elder, who was gathering a few children from very poor Maasai families in a church. With limited resources, Julius was striving to provide them with an education and a daily meal, as many of these children did not receive sufficient food, often relying on milky tea as their only sustenance. Barbara noticed many were sick, lacked shoes, and had no access to fresh water. She secured funding to purchase two water tanks, ensuring the children had fresh water.

Barbara and Julius sat together, discussing the community’s needs, especially those of single mothers and orphaned children often overlooked by society, leaving them without education or opportunity. Moved by this, Barbara explains why she started KINI: *“I had always been involved in helping the vulnerable in the world, especially children and women. I knew I was meant to be in Kenya and had been led to the Maasai people, so I decided to help build a school and plan for a rescue center for Maasai girls.”* This school was named the Kisaru Entito Project, meaning “rescue girls.”