Siamanda Chege is someone you want to know. One of eight children raised in Kenya, she had just started college when she learned her father, a beloved reverend was ill. Siamanda had to take leave of her studies and try to support her family. Blessed with both beauty and brains, she modeled internationally and was able to purchase several income producing properties in her native village and help send her siblings through school.

After settling in the States and becoming a mother, Siamanda returned to Kenya wanting to make a difference. Her father had always opened his home to orphans, and the AIDS epidemic had grown so quickly that many children were homeless and parentless. Not satisfied to just raise funds to start an orphanage, she created a children’s clothing company Bébé Ravi, that employs over 100 village women to handknit beautiful sweaters and dresses. The women are paid handsomely, receive meals and have become a part of the ever-growing Chege community.

Every summer Siamanda takes her own children to Kenya, so they may experience the beauty of the country and get to know the children of The Patrick Chege Memorial Orphanage. She has been able to house the children on her property, and this summer she hopes to oversee the building of one large home to house the 21 orphans she has embraced as her own. The property is sustainable, and even the little children pitch in and help with the garden, farm, and animal chores.

Her goal is to create a nurturing environment for these children, help heal their psychological and physical wounds and give them the education they need to better their lives. Siamanda would like to keep all the children together until they are ready for a university, so that they may know what it is like to have a stable home full of love.

We caught up with Siamanda and wanted to get to know her a little better, so we gave her our changemaker questions. We are so impressed with all that she has done and continues to do, that we are standing behind her vision to build the home and hope you will support her as well by going to The Patrick Chege Memorial Orphanage Project.

What is your favorite journey?
Going back to Kenya

What is your idea of earthly happiness?
To spend the rest of my life caring for the less fortunate

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Losing the zest of life

Who are your favorite heroes in literature?
Nicholus D. Krisof and Sheryl AuDunn

Who are your favorite heroes in real life?
My late father

Your favorite virtue?
Compassion

What is your favorite cause?
Patrick Chege Memorial Orphanage

What is your present state of mind?
Sublime

How do you define “good”?
Giving back

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being a mother, wife and establishing an orphanage and a women’s cooperative

What one good thing have you done most recently?
Encouraging all my friends to join my causes

What is your motto?
A person is a person because of other people