Malou Clarito started serving in ANCOP as volunteer in 2005. She eventually became the ANCOP Coordinator for the Child Sponsorship Program (CSP) in Kenya in 2008, a post she holds to this day.
Malou and husband Jun are full time pastoral workers of Couples for Christ (CFC) Toronto assigned to do mission work in Kenya. As husband and wife team, Jun and Malou conduct values formation through Christian Life Programs and oversee the operation of ANCOP’s Child Sponsorship Program. This dedicated couple find joy in managing the CSP because it completes their mission — to work closely with the poor and to help families build a happy and stable home environment in this African nation.
Today, around 100 Kenyan children are benefiting from the CSP scholarship. Each scholar writes his or her sponsor updates on his or her progress in school, developing a special bond between them as they share lives. ANCOP scholars in Kenya are currently getting their funding out of the generosity of sponsors in Canada.
This ANCOP effort is important and beneficial to a poor country like Kenya, where children suffering from poverty and malnutrition and lack of opportunity to get a decent education are prevalent.
Malou looks forward to hearing success stories in ANCOP’s CSP initiative in Kenya. She and Jun hope to see the ANCOP scholars finishing school, eventually finding good jobs, and consequently helping their siblings go to school. This offers poor families the best chance to be freed from the vicious cycle of poverty and to strive for a better life. And, this fulfills ANCOP’s highest aspirations.
A long list of potential ANCOP child sponsorship in Kenya awaits generous individuals in Canada and other areas in the world to be sponsors. There is an urgent need to send these poor children to school and provide them opportunities for better life. Majority of Kenyan families live in poverty, and parents simply do not have the means to live a decent life, much less send their children to school.
ANCOP Canada envisions being able to establish its own school in Kenya and help countless poor children. Catholic priests who work closely with ANCOP volunteers in this country support this future endeavor.
As the ANCOP team tirelessly pursue ANCOP’s vision and work for the poor in Kenya, they seek the support of people especially in Canada. “There is a need to open the eyes and hearts of the Canadians to the harsh realities of life outside our country” Malou said. “We are so blessed with our sheltered life in this beautiful country, and we need in return to share what we have with the poor,” she added.