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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday January 16, 2008 - 11 Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-845-3824, ext. 248 Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: angela@oakvillebeaver.com PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEVIN FLYNN AT HOME IN AFRICA: Youths, at left, have a meal in the girls dormitory in Ndalani. The children are eating ugali, which is made from maize flour and water. At right, Kevin and Charles Mulli at their Banana Plantation. A bulldozer will help them clear land to plant more crops. Doing his part to help children in Kenya By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF s Kenya continues to struggle with riots and unrest in the wake of December's disputed election results, Oakville's MPP is helping to bring aid to the country's most vulnerable. Three years ago Kevin Flynn became involved with the Mully Children's Family Foundation, which provides shelter, food and education to hundreds of orphaned children in Kenya. With an ever-growing number of children under its care, the organization's founder Charles Mulli is always looking for ways to expand his operations and Flynn has just the plan to allow him to do that. "What we're doing right now with A the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), right here in Oakville, is raising funds to buy them (the foundation) a bulldozer. We've been working on this for a number of years, the IUOE has a fundraising event planned for this April and they've talked to Caterpillar and they've got all the shipping down. The Crossroads Ministry has agreed to handle the cost of the shipping," said Flynn. "If he (Mulli) has his own bulldozer he can do a lot more. He can clear a lot more land, feed more kids, feed more people in the community." Flynn said his desire to help the orphaned children of Africa began in 2005 after hearing a speech by former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis. "He explained the impact AIDS "If he (Mulli) has his own bulldozer he can do a lot more. He can clear a lot more land, feed more kids, feed more people in the community." Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn was having on the African continent, and when you did the math it became pretty easy to see that a whole generation was being wiped out and there were a lot of kids being left orphaned," said Flynn. After talking to Lewis, Flynn initially focused on a plan that would see Ontario concentrating its aid efforts on a single province in South Africa. However, Flynn soon found that gov- ernment meetings to move the project forward were really going nowhere. Still filled with an interest in Africa and a desire to help, Flynn continued to go to presentations outlining what others were doing to assist the stricken continent. "I got invited to a drug company event, these people were providing anti-viral drugs to people in Africa, and I was sitting next to this lady. We got talking about things in Africa and she said, `I belong to a group and we don't have a lot of meetings, we just go over there and do good things.' After my experience with the government that was what I wanted to do," said Flynn. "A year later I was in Africa." It was during this trip to Kenya, which Flynn paid for out of his own pocket, that he met the Mully Children's Family Foundation founder Charles Mulli. Mulli, Flynn said, had been a street kid who managed to pull himself out of poverty and eventually come to own and operate a successful gas distribution business. One day, one of Mulli's Mercedes' was stolen and when police found the car and arrested those responsible, Mulli saw that the thieves were street kids, just like he had been 30 years ago. Determined to do something to help these kids Mulli walked away from his company, took the land holdings he had and built rudimentary homes for orphaned children. "When I say homes, I'm talking about very primitive homes made out See Youths page 20 Newly adjusted pricing that helps you take advantage of the strong Canadian Dollar PLUS We pay the freight up to $1,350 On select models. See dealer for details. 175 Wyecroft Rd., Oakville 905.845.6653 Between Kerr & Dorval www.lockwoodchrysler.com