“It Started with One Woman and One Hut”

In Nakuru, Kenya, Isabella Robi, affectionately known as Mama Robi, saw something she couldn’t ignore: young children wandering the streets during school hours.

She knew these children deserved more than idle days and uncertain futures. So she did what she could with what she had.

She opened a small hut and began to teach. Mama Robi’s love focused on her students. She learned every child’s name and cared for each as her own. No formal resources. No official classroom. Just one woman, a heart for her community, a belief that education could change lives, and a lot of prayer.

That simple act created a place of safety and purpose, where lessons were more than reading and writing. They were lessons in hope.

Today, that same hut still stands near the front gates of Mountain Park Academy. It’s a daily reminder that big change often starts small.

And what began in that single room has grown into something extraordinary.

Follow along as we share how Mama Robi’s vision grew into a mission called The Kenya Project, and how together, they transformed a humble hut into a thriving campus serving hundreds of students every day.

Years after Mama Robi began teaching in a small hut, word of her work reached Mountain Park Methodist in Atlanta, where Gideon, Mama Robi’s son, was working on his master's degree and raising a young family. During a visit, the church surprised Mama Robi with a gift for essential needs at the school. Gideon felt it in that moment: his path might be changing.

He’d grown up watching his mother pray over every need. And he’d learned a simple truth: when Mama Robi prays, things happen.

Then came an unexpected spark. An eight-year-old girl in Atlanta found her mother’s address book. She began writing letters, one by one, asking for help for the children at Mountain Park Academy. Her mother didn’t know a thing…until the family mailbox started filling with checks. Turns out it’s hard to say no to heartfelt, handwritten letters from an eight-year-old with the faith of a mustard seed.

Moved by her daughter’s faith and encouraged by her husband, the mother, an Atlanta legal executive, traveled to Nakuru, Kenya, to see the work firsthand. The students’ warm welcome moved her; the joy on their faces made the impact undeniable. Back in Atlanta, she completed the legal work to establish The Kenya Project and, with a close colleague, offered Gideon a proposal too good to refuse: two years of funding if he would step in to lead the organization full-time.

With support growing on both sides of the ocean, The Kenya Project was established, and Gideon stepped in as Executive Director to carry his mother’s vision forward. The Kenya Project became the bridge between a small hut in Kenya and a community of supporters in the U.S., organizing giving, stewarding projects, and turning compassion into capacity so the school could stand, grow, and serve the children of Nakuru, Kenya.

What began with one mother’s classroom became a movement led by her son-a story of faith, prayer, and practical action converging at just the right time.

Next: what that faith-in-action looks like on the ground today-clean water, daily meals, classrooms, a trade school, Upendo Homes, and a campus where hundreds learn and belong.

Source: TheKenyaProject.org