The Ekenywa story begins with two childhood friends, Ashley and Elsie: Nestled deep in the mountains of the Kenyan Rift Valley lies a Christian boarding school where deep friendships are forged and classmates become family. High school can be a time of discovering who you are and while there are many moving parts to becoming a successful graduate the one constant that remained was a friendship of two girls that grew to be sisters.

As part of Ashley and Elsie’s story, the drive and compassion to help others was a core value they shared. Although they stayed up late chatting about all the usual high school drama, they could be found volunteering at the local mission hospital on Sunday where they were able to provide care and compassion to burn victims that often had no money, resources, or family with them at the hospital. It was one particularly cold and rainy night in the rift valley when Ashley and Elsie were in their room (supposed to be sleeping) and they talked of all the children they saw without shoes, tattered uniforms, and the lack of opportunity to ever get out of poverty. They vowed one day they would do something to change that. 14 years later, two successful careers in energy and healthcare, they have returned to Kenya and co-founded Ekenywa. Their way of being part of a collective impact movement to break the cycle of poverty through innovative programs that address the multi-faceted needs of poverty in rural primary schools.