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| About Us |
We derived the name Casaupendo from God's
second commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Casaupendo means
House of Love. Casaupendo Orphanage was founded by three friends who
yielded to a calling to serve orphaned children. Steve Mercill, Emmanuel
Sasaka, and Sarah Namukoa founded Casaupendo after being confronted with the
trauma, heartache, and suffering of orphaned children. Steve Mercill wished to
honor his father, the Hayfork's Everyone's Doctor Earl Clayton Mercill MD. Earl
Mercill dedicated his 50 years to serving the community as a GP doctor. His
wife, Mariane Mercill had wanted to care for orphans all her life but couldn't
do it. Sarah Namukoa, now a Ph.D. candidate, lost her father at ten and
her mother at the age of 17 years. She understands the challenges of
an orphan child and grew up with a deep desire to change the lives of
orphaned children. Emmanuel Sasaka is a philanthropist and enjoys putting
a smile on the hearts of others. During a
safari visit in Kenya, the three friends identified the many needs of Kenyan
people. The majority of people live in poverty. Kenya has
over 3.6 million children who have been orphaned and are vulnerable. Wehoya
village has more than 1,000 orphaned children needing care and
support.
Something had to be done to create an impact in this community. To change the
lives of orphaned children in Kenya, Casaupendo Orphanage was set up. On
November 26, 2018, Casaupendo CBO was registered as a community-based
organization to support orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya. After the official registration
of Casaupendo Orphanage in Kenya, a simple survey was conducted in Wehoya
village within Tranzoia County in Kenya. The study's findings established
that orphaned children experience extreme child poverty and malnutrition.
These children live in poor conditions, with their elderly grannies who can't
afford a single meal, and in some cases, they live alone in their deceased
parents' homes with graves showing evidence of loss and trauma. During a visit
to one house, an orphan child told our team, "We sleep hungry most of the
time when granny brings home no food." On the other hand, the granny shed
tears, saying, "I beg food in the streets to feed these children. When I
get no food, we sleep hungry. Please help me". Casaupendo
Orphanage also supports the feeble grannies who cannot afford a single meal. In February
2021, our mission was registered as a 501 C3 non-profit organization in the USA
with Cheryl Lusson as the president, Rob Hawley as treasurer, and five board members
including Allison Sims, Steve Mercill, Emmanuel Sasaka, Cheryl Lusson, and
Sarah Namukoa. Our program manager, Sarah Namukoa, a professional psychologist
and Ph.D. candidate, designs life skills programs and trauma-informed care
interventions that help children achieve their developmental milestones
and heal from past traumas. We depend
on your support to realize our mission. Please get involved! |
Some people live with less than
one dollar of income a day. The children, mostly orphans, suffer in the
community with no one to help them. With the high rates of HIV/AIDS infection
in some regions in Kenya, parents die at a younger age and leave their children
with either elderly grannies who can't afford a simple meal or no one at home
to care for them. 
In
the photo, we visited a home and found an orphan with his granny hungry. They
had not had a meal for two days. The two live in the tiny mud house in their
background. We delivered food for the orphan and granny and enrolled the orphan
in our orphan program. In our program, each child gets three balanced meals
daily, clothing, safe shelter, clean water, health care, education
sponsorship, counseling, spiritual mentorship, and training in