Kate Fletcher’s mission began in September 2003, when she went to Kenya to volunteer at an AIDS Orphanage called Nyumbani Children’s Home located in the village of Karen, ten kilometers west of Nairobi. As she saw how the needs of these HIV-infected children were handled by Nyumbani Children's Home, she began to think of all the other AIDS orphans who are not HIV infected and who might be languishing in slums or upcountry where their aged grandparents were unable to care for or school them. She was especially concerned for girl children, who typically receive less attention than boys.
After two years at Nyumbani Children's Home, Kate Fletcher joined forces with a Kenyan couple, Christopher and Mary Gichuhi, who own three houses on three acres in a quiet neighborhood. That site became Hekima Place, and Kate began to house orphaned girls and to provide for their schooling. She returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to raise money to start the orphanage. The funds to support the girls initially came from donors in the United States, but individuals, churches and organizations in Canada, Europe and Kenya now contribute to the care and future of the girls.
Hekima Place is now located in Kiserian, Kenya just outside Nairobi, on property purchased by the U. S. Board of Directors in July 2009. Construction of the new permanent home for the girls at this site was completed in December 2010. Approximately 20 km south and west of Karen, Kenya, the new home has six cottages and a dining hall along with a significant amount of land for gardening. Kate, the staff and girls moved to the new home in mid-December 2010.
In June of 2005, Hekima Place was incorporated, and in August of that year, Hekima Place was granted status as a 501c3 non-profit organization in the United States, with its base in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Kate Fletcher, who serves as Executive Director of Hekima Place in Kenya, has a Bachelor of Science in Education from Duquesne University, and earned a Masters of Public Health in Administration Health Care from the University of Pittsburgh. She taught primary school for 15 years, was an adjunct professor in Sociology at Duquesne University for 20 years and managed nursing and convalescent homes in the Pittsburgh area before beginning her work in Kenya. She was honored in 2009 with Duquesne University Alumni Association’s “Mind, Heart and Spirit Award” to recognize her commitment to the five pillars of Duquesne’s mission – academic excellence, moral and spiritual values, ecumenism, service and world concern.