Email This Page

Changing the World, One Orphan at a Time

The name came to Leila de Bruyne as she watched kites flying high above Easton’s Beach. The kites were a symbol of the carefree childhood that the orphans she worked with in Nairobi would never know.

The founders of Flying Kites, an international organization headquartered in Newport, have a global societal vision. It is of a world where every child is fed, clothed, educated, and allowed to grow to his fullest potential. They are currently implementing this vision in Kenya, where the construction of the first Flying Kites orphanage is under way on a beautiful country acreage. Newport architect Paul Weber contributed the building design, a 9,000 square foot facility which will be both green and ecologically sustainable.

Leila de Bruyne, Toby Storie-Pugh, and Justine Axelsson

The three principals, Leila, Toby Storie-Pugh and Justine Axelsson, met up while volunteering at the By Grace orphanage in Nairobi, a decaying urban building, where finding the staples such as food and clean water for the orphans was a daily quest. Leila and Justine learned of the orphans in Kenya as students of an inspiring professor of anthropology at Salve Regina, Debra Curtis, who had assigned a class paper on the orphan crisis in Kenya. There are an estimated 2 million orphans in that country. After the class ended, they traveled to Kenya, and became immediately involved. They subsequently graduated from the University, but did not give up their work with the orphans. There they met Toby, who had been volunteering full-time.

One of the orphans of Flying Kites

“We fell in love with the children,” Toby and Leila said at their crisply modern corner office on Thames Street recently. Toby, an Englishman from Cambridge who worked with street children in Delhi, India, and Leila both agreed that the traditional food and shelter orphanages were not enough to produce the positive outcome needed for the world’s children. “Warehousing them without preparing them for a future was not the answer,” said Leila.

Lee Ann Shaw, Justine Axelsson

The model for Flying Kites is both simple and visionary: exemplary care, community strengthening, and cooperating and collaborating. The first goal breaks the cycle of poverty, providing and implementing the highest quality of childcare, and providing access to medical and educational services. The second helps local families care for orphaned children with no possibilities for placement in the village with extended family members, extending the agency’s reach. The third addresses the lack of communication with other agencies providing childcare. Flying Kites Magnet Effect, which comprises both the cooperating and collaborating aspects of the program, coordinates community leaders and non-profit organizations specializing in various development goals (including health, agriculture, and education) to effect maximum change at a grassroots level. More information is available on the website www.flyingkitesglobal.org.

Audience at Flying Kites documentary and fund-raiser at the Jane Pickens

A documentary on the work of Flying Kites in Kenya was screened at a fund-raising event held at the Jane Pickens Theatre and Events Center recently. No one in the audience was unmoved by the sight of orphans with both parents dead of AIDS, covered in scabies, and sleeping on hard floors. But their spirits were on view, as well: optimism, smiles, and a sense of play. The three principals, shown interacting with the children, were exceptional. Their effort in finding medical care for a child with advanced scabies was worthy of a Hollywood epic.

Leila, who was born in Greenwich, Connecticut and raised in Cambridge, was unprepared for the urban poverty. “There are no social services, no one to call, no safety net,” she said. “all suffering is not equal.” Wrapping their minds around the injustices was difficult for three young volunteers. They decided to do something that had never been done before: give poor children the best resources.

Don and Marcia Hamilton of Greenwich, Conn.

“Flying Kites takes a holistic approach to child development, and has initiated several programs to attend to the needs of their local Kenyan community," said Toby, who has a degree in social research methods from the University of London. “The family house will have 15 resident children, with 2 matrons, and a staff ratio of 1 to 7. Each child will have private space. The standards will be uncompromising.” For her work, Leila was recently profiled by Town & Country magazine for “Women Who Make a Difference.”

Susie Hill, Valorie Sheehan, Leila de Bruyne, and Roe O'Brien

There is no time for the agency to think about its successes to date: Toby has recently left to check on the construction in Kenya, Leila, Justine, and staff are busily writing grant proposals to foundations, and actively spreading their message. They are planning to expand their work to Delhi, India. Recently, several local restaurants held an evening where they donated a portion of their profits to Flying Kites.

“It’s not enough to be a bleeding heart,” Leila said. “Everybody must do something.” And they are.