Our Story

To Care for the Children

In 2019, a man set out on a mission.  Not a commissioned mission, not a funded one, backed by anyone with money, or indeed, backed by anyone at all, except Stanley and his family.  

Being an orphan since infancy himself, Stanley Mwene was raised in the Amukura orphanage in Busia County, Kenya.  He grew up with poverty and often the inability to have basic needs met, like food, a home, and love..  

Stanley was an accountant by trade, caring for his own family, including his wife Carolyne, his daughters Vivian, Hellen and Nevian, and his son Lucky.  During the COVID pandemic in early 2020 he lost his accounting job. During this time he began to notice many children without homes and living in the streets, eating what they could find from trash cans.  Stanley, being a man of faith, felt God guiding him to serve and care for these homeless children, to offer them a home and a better life than what they currently had.  It was a struggle to provide for his own family, yet he began accepting orphaned children into his care from his church and the surrounding area of Kisii. Stanley and his family gave everything they had to start the orphanage.  When people thought he was “crazy” for trying to care for all of them while he didn’t even have enough for his own family, Stanley says he would tell people, 

“God will provide.” 

Stanley lived in a tiny single room, mud-walled house lacking doors and windows, caring for his family and nine rescued orphans.  They slept crowded together on mats on the dirt floor, and were lucky to scratch out a single small meal each day of Ugali, a corn meal made from ground maize. 

“I always knew God would provide. It was just a matter of time.”

–Stanley Mwene

The Faith that Moves Mountains

Enter Benjamin Sevy, a young American music educator in Colorado, in 2021.  Through a chance meeting on Facebook, Stanley connected with Ben, and the two began talking, and becoming friends over many, many miles and with the desire for connection and friendship during a lonely and isolating time of the pandemic. Ben learned of Stanley’s efforts to care for these children, unassisted and unsupported, and his desire to operate an orphanage that would become the home and family the children did not have. Stanley never asked for anything, but Ben asked the right question….”What do you need?”

Ben too had an unwavering faith and a deep knowledge that he should support Stanley in caring for the children.  He was only able to send small amounts at a time for Stanley to buy critical supplies, including food, medicine, clothing, and money for rent.  

“Stanley’s faith is inspiring. I felt the whole situation was divine. There was no reason Facebook should have connected us. We had no connection whatsoever! When I asked Stanley why he had first messaged me, he said that he did not know! He just saw my name on the recommended friends list and said he overwhelmingly felt God tell him to message me. He had no expectations at all nor did he ask for anything from me, he just knew he had to message me. So after about three weeks of messaging and phone calls I finally asked how I could help out. Since the first donation I prayed for God to lead me. I was in a very low place when I met Stanley. I surrendered to this situation completely. If He wants me to go, I will go. If He wants me to give, I will give, but God will make every decision. And look at what has happened! I cannot wait to see how far this project can go and how many children we can serve.”

–Benjamin Sevy

Not long thereafter, Ben told his parents about the children, and asked if they would be willing to help.  Suzanne (a Nurse) and Pete Sevy (the owner/operator of an elderly assisted living home) also had a deep feeling this was what they needed to do, and had faith that they had to be involved in a deep way.  The first donation from the Sevys also included the funds to move into an actual rented house, and buy  mattresses, bedding, and some beds for the children.  “The thought of small children sleeping in the dirt was more than we could bear.”  After connecting with Stanley and meeting the children over a very spotty video call, the family had no doubt that this was where they were needed, and God was calling them to continue to help however they were able. 

To Build A Home

The Sevys began to enlist the help from other Sevy children (Amelia, Benjamin and John), other extended family and good friends.  With the monthly financial donations, the children were all clothed, all had shoes, all were eating 3 meals a day, and all were enrolled in school, as schools there require payments to attend.  Stanley and his family were now responsible for the care of forty children ranging from ages 3 to 17 years old, and chose to name the orphanage Love Angels Children’s Home, to portray the love they felt for all of the beautiful children. 

In July 2023, Ben and Pete Sevy flew to Kenya Africa to meet Stanley, his family, friends and church members, and to meet the children.  The goal was to further evaluate the continued needs of the children.  It was on this trip that they realized the children had a place to stay, but were all crammed into only two bedrooms and the living room floor of this small home that was being rented. The Sevys decided then and there that the only thing to do was provide a permanent home, a place the children could call home.  While in Kenya, the Sevys decided to mortgage their home in Colorado in order to buy a Kenyan home big enough for all of the children and the Mwene family, and have enough land to grow some food (maize and beans) and allow the children room to play.  

The home and 3 acres of farm land purchased in Kehancha, Kenya is the permanent home of the Love Angels Children’s Home, founded by Stanley Mwene and family.  They have added to the house/property to make it more comfortable and safe for the children, as the Sevy family has been able to afford financially . There is so much more to do and so many more children to serve, but it is a slow process that is a difficult task for one average family and a few friends.  We need more friends out there to help us help the children in Kenya. 

“We want to help the entire community of Kehancha, and grow outward into the surrounding area. Everyone in the community will benefit from our mission, and every child on the streets needs a home.”

           As the old saying goes….. ‘It takes a village.’  These children need a village.  

They need many villages, as many as possible.  

They need our village, and yours.

Where is Kehancha?