Non-Profit Highlight: Urgent Africa

Recently, we had the excellent fortune to connect with Atieno Kombe, the owner of a fair trade Kenyan product store called Africa Mama located in downtown La Connor, WA.

Ati is a businesswoman with deep connections to her Kenyan roots. She runs Urgent Africa, a nonprofit organization that works to support the people of her native area in Saiya county, Kenya. Over the course of an afternoon, she explained to us her cause and the work that she does.

The impetus of Ati’s drive to help her native community came about due to the fallout from the AIDS crisis in the 1990s. Many in her community were very sick and unable to get medical attention or support. The unmet need continued to mount and it spurred her into action. She attended a conference on AIDS in South Africa in the year 2000 and there learned about field methods that provided the best results for people.

Returning back to Sakwa, Majiwa, Ati facilitated the opening of a community medical clinic. Her uncle Nathaniel Gaya was a pharmacist by trade and he too cared deeply about the problem. He stepped forward to provide the land for the clinic, offering to house the Bastyr University medical students that manned it. This effort was a great success and the clinic still offers health care to those in need today.

The Kenyan AIDS epidemic may have waned but its effects are still being felt. At its height, it erased working populations of adults, leaving many elderly with no family caretakers and a whole new population of orphans. The crisis left a huge rift in present-day society and has led to new societal challenges. Orphans without caretakers or role models will do what it takes to support themselves, and desperation has led to a steep increase in youth-facilitated crime. Resource-starved families are having a difficult time finding ways to repair the community degradation caused by so much death.

Ati is currently focused on fundraising to build the Kombe Odera Sande Community Center (KOSCC) in Gem Mwadi. The KOSCC would provide multi-generational support, housing a senior center, a counseling center and place to worship, as well as offer free classes targeted to support the needs of each generation. Further plans include the offering of nutritious meals and a health center staffed with a full-time health officer.

With her background in business and understanding of the global retail market, Ati is a wonderful resource when it comes to capacity building based on existing skills. On trips back to Kenya, she visits with families to inventory their production abilities and offers free business coaching. She shares her expertise in the hope of moving the people in the community towards an improved quality of life. The wares they create are sold to Ati at fair market prices and can be purchased in her La Connor-based store.

If you’d like more information on the work of Urgent Africa or Africa Mama, contact Atieno Kombe.

Africa Mama

105 S First St

La Conner, WA 98257

(206) 823-4874

Urgent Africa accepts donations year round. You can participate by sending a check payable to:

Urgent Africa:

9151 45th Avenue SW, Seattle, WA 98136

A 501c3 Non-profit (91-2072118)

1-(206) 823-4874

kosccenter@gmail.com