Providing Medicine To The World’s Biggest Family

HPIC Project Partner Profile on Mully Children’s Family Canada

By Alicia Kolenda

Dr. Charles Mulli often gets up in the middle of the night and goes driving to rescue children in need.

An abandoned child himself, Dr. Mulli has made it his life’s mission to rescue children from the streets of Kenya. He worked his way up from a very humble labourer to become a millionaire, with a monopoly in Kenya’s oil industry. After an encounter with a child on the street, he decided to sell everything and never work for money again. He took in his first orphan shortly after. Over the past 27 years, Mully Children’s Family has become huge — the largest family in the world.  More than 23,000 children have found a home with Mully Children’s Family (MCF).

Currently, there are 3,500 children living at MCF at six different sites, five in Kenya and one in Tanzania. Many of the children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, are abandoned, or come out of abusive situations like child labour or the sex trade. At MCF, every child is given enough love and family to make up for their neglect. They are taught how to tell their story, and are provided nutrition, clean water, healthcare and education.

MCF is also committed to supporting the community surrounding each of their sites, hiring their neighbours to work in their agricultural programs. A water tower sits immediately outside the main entrance to MCF’s largest site in Ndalani, supplying the entire area with fresh drinking water every day.

Canada supports MCF by sending their only volunteer medical teams to the permanent clinic in Ndalani. These teams hold two-week clinics several times a year, and provide additional outreach to the community around MCF.

Dr. Karen Ling, a Canadian family physician in Markham, Ontario and a member of the largest medical team sent to MCF, says, “It is a place where the norm for these children was immense poverty of basic necessities, both material, like food, water and shelter, and intangible but no less a necessity, love, hope and purpose. In spite of this, one family built a place that shows the power of restoration in a broken life.”

Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC) has supported each and every Canadian medical team with donated medicines, sending almost $105,000 worth of medicine last year in the form of Humanitarian Medical Kits for primary care and special requests. This medicine was used to treat thousands of patients, and keep the MCF pharmacy well stocked for additional support between clinic teams.

When Dr. Mulli began taking children off the streets one by one, he had no idea he would see so many come through his home. These children have gone to university and trade schools, all paid for by MCF. Not only has Mully Children’s Family changed those children’s lives, but through their outreach programs, including medical clinics, they have changed entire communities.

HPIC is pleased to support Mully Children’s Family. With your support, we will continue to work with MCF, ensuring every child and member of the Mully Children’s Family community has access to medicine when needed.

To support HPIC’s work with other great partners like Mully Children’s Family, visit our donate page.