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Club member Grace Kuto is committed to creating a better world for the women and children of her African homeland in SE Kenya.  She has partnered with the Tigard and Portland Rotary clubs, and co-founded the Harambee Center to provide sustainable programs in education and healthcare in Kenya and neighboring Uganda.

 The Chwele Campus encompasses a health clinic, a comprehensive care center and maternity ward, schools, and a community resource center that was completed in 2016.  The health clinic serves over 10,000 people per year, providing patient care in areas including HIV/AIDS, diabetes, malaria, and maternal health.   Last year, Grace worked with Tigard Rotary Club to raise funds and purchase an ambulance for the Chwele community.  This year, her efforts will be focused on raising additional funds to modify the Chwele Community Center building and to hire a development director to oversee fund raising in Kenya.  Paul just returned from spending nine months in Chwele working on construction projects at the Center.

Grace and Paul Kuto are personally connected to many people in the community of Chwele.  “These people,” said Grace “are our cousins, parents, brothers, and sisters.”  The importance of an ambulance in this remote and rural part of Kenya recently hit close to home when Paul’s father had a medical emergency.  Grace emphatically noted that “Paul’s father would not have survived without the ambulance.”

It is evident that Grace’s heart is in her work.  She has authored several books and held countless fundraising dinners highlighting African cuisine she personally cooks.  And, she has built a network of volunteers who are also passionate about the work.  Last year, Tigard Rotary member and Registered Nurse Carol VanDomelen spent several weeks in Chwele teaching local volunteers about disease prevention.

Grace Kuto is the author of Harambee: African Family Circle, and other books. She is also authored and teaches the school curriculum, Africa is not a Country, developed in 1979 when she was a student at Portland State University.