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Amy and Tony Hoffer, Hoffer Photography[/caption]

eduKenya relies on many faithful partners in working to break the cycle of poverty for children and their families in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya. We depend on these donors not only for their financial gifts, but also for their passion in serving the poor. More than just donors, these partners have hope for the people of Mathare and believe their transformation is worthy of time and investment. This month we will highlight the stories of several Partners for Hope from different walks of life for whom we are exceedingly grateful.

By Tony Hoffer

I admired my friend Adam Gould long before he made the decision to start something so radical sounding as eduKenya. Although it doesn't seem like a radical concept in practice, it certainly was in theory. Especially for Adam, a guy who had seemingly just left college when it all began. The truth is that I spent a lot of hours praying since eduKenya started, wishing that God would give me the gifts of vision, discipline and execution that my friend Adam had been given. As eduKenya grew, my wife Amy and I wanted to support it. We wanted to support our friend. We saw his dedication, his drive and his selflessness.

There are a few distinct things I remember learning about myself and our decision to support eduKenya. First, instead of waiting and hoping that someday I would develop the personality and gifts to start my own 'eduKenya', I was brought to the realization that those gifts aren't meant for everyone. More specifically, that if I was going to do something to attempt to help, that I could start NOW... that I could use the gifts I have NOW. That's when we decided that we wanted to go to Kenya and document the work of eduKenya. We wanted to use the visual and marketing gifts we had to help this amazing organization. Selfishly, I had wanted to have all the recognition of having something that I could accomplish. It took a few years to realize that God doesn't work that way. His people work together. So we tried our best to start thinking of ways to do just that.Second, I spent a lot of time telling people about the amazing things Adam was doing in Kenya over the years, but it wasn't until I went to Kenya that I realized the incredible work was being done by Kenyans themselves. Everyone involved with eduKenya serves the same mission and in various complementary roles they have been gifted to hold. What I have grown to love about eduKenya is the beauty of the people involved. eduKenya doesn't exist so that people can 'save' other people and then talk about how great the work they do is. It exists so that we can ALL work together. Kenyans, Americans and everyone in between. The beauty of eduKenya for me is its ability to be wholly transformative, not just for the children but also for the people it employs and the people who support it.Every week we try to make the choice to be a part of eduKenya. For us that isn't an official role. It's probably not one that's going to ever be recognized by the children of Mathare. It's simply one that we feel uses the gifts that God has given us, including financial support, photography and helping with design projects. There are certainly millions of organizations out there, but I've never experienced one so pure and transformative as what I've seen first hand through eduKenya.[caption id="attachment_434" align="alignleft" width="300"]

Headmaster Michael with a solar lantern[/caption]When we were in Kenya, the power went out in the slum, which commonly occurs. As we walked through the school we noticed that one of the classes was almost completely in the dark because of the power outage. In fact, every time the power went out, these students had their education interrupted. The next day we were in the grocery store. In Kenya, a wind up solar lantern costs about $20. I still remember my reaction to seeing the price of that lantern. Twenty dollars is pretty cheap.It's not that eduKenya didn't have that much money to buy a lantern. It's that the money they get is weighed against paying teacher salaries, investing in properties, feeding the children and buying supplies. We were there the first time Headmaster Michael was illuminated by the light of the first lantern. We saw his face in the light. We support eduKenya because we photographed the faces of every child in that darkened classroom, and I never want to be the reason that those children can't see their teacher when the power goes out.Tony Hoffer is a wedding and commercial photographer living outside Philadelphia. He is a graduate of Eastern University ('04) and his work has been featured in many national publications. He and his wife Amy own Hoffer Photography and enjoy traveling, food and gaining new experiences through their business.