OUR HISTORY

Back in the 90’s, the late Mr. Chidi Ogbonna and Mercy Chidi Baidoo worked with different international organizations for a period spanning more than 10 years, until God gave them a strong conviction to reach out and save children’s lives. This call gradually built a huge fire of passion in their hearts and kept them restless and greatly disturbed at the reality of living in luxury yet seeing the human degradation, suffering, death and rampant abuse ravaging the lives of children and families.

That singular goal we started off with of rescuing abandoned babies and rehabilitating orphans and vulnerable children in society has reaped massive rewards. Thanks to our work, we have expanded our focus to key community development initiatives related to women and children in Kenya

Setting Out Into The Unknown

As much as their hearts were settled on the assurance of the divine calling, Chidi and Mercy had the fear of economic survival. In this seeming confused condition, they prayed to God, sought counsel from well meaning people and waited upon God. Armed with faith in God, family savings, encouragement from friends and a determination that could not be deterred, they started on a journey that where they would later realize the true cost of the call.

Answering The Call

In the words of Ripples International Co-Founder, Chidi Ogbonna…

“Having heard the divine direction to settle in Meru [Mercy’s home town], we walked out of our old lives, rented a house in Meru town and started the work in line with the divine calling. Our driving force was to fully answer God’s call in our lives, serve God in our generation through helping children, families and the oppressed.

However, choosing to move to Meru did not happen without some second thought. It meant giving serious considerations between giving part of our life experiences in service to humanity and resisting the temptation of getting a huge salary at the end of the month.

We were focused and determined.

We had to do what was necessary to save lives and give hope.

We thank God for gracing us with hard working, dedicated and supportive staff and partners through whom the organization has grown constantly.”

Why Are People Abandoning Babies?

In the course of our work, we discovered another shocking and equally disturbing trend in society. Babies, as young as 7 days old, were (and still are) abandoned by their families. Some are dropped in pit latrines, abandoned at the local police station, thrown in the woods. That anybody would do that to a helpless little baby is beyond belief. Upon investigating the causes behind this, tears filled our eyes when parents told us they were unable to fend for the little babies. With no money, no source of livelihood, the only possible solution to them was to drop them off that the nearby police station, hoping that the police would be able to rescue the baby. Other parents find that their baby is born with HIV and they feel that all hope is lost. They therefore abandon the baby.

In many African societies, HIV is seen as a taboo and a cause of curses in the family. Thus, the parents leave home in the morning with their baby and return home without their baby. Some callous mothers simply give birth and promptly drop the baby in a pit latrine out of shame and fear of societal condemnation.