A group of orphans in Kenya now have somewhere to call home for the first time in their lives thanks to the generosity of Bermudians and a local activist, Christine Atcheson.

Mrs. Atcheson is the kind of person who gets things done. When her husband died of AIDS in 1985, she was emboldened to start STAR for Bermudians suffering from AIDS, and then His House for male drug addicts.

Her good works continue. After a recent visit to Africa she raised $10,000 in Bermuda to build a small orphanage in Kenya called Hope House, and then formed a new charity called Restorers of Hope.

?I use to wonder why the Bible was always talking about feeding the widows and orphans,? said Mrs. Atcheson who is a person of deep religious faith. ?It was like widows and orphans were singled out above the other poor people. Now with what is happening in Africa I understand completely.?

The statistics are staggering. In 2003 in sub-Saharan Africa alone 12.3 million children were orphaned by AIDS.

Rather than be intimidated by the numbers Mrs. Atcheson wants to use Restorers of Hope to build orphanages in Uganda.

?People say the AIDS problem is so big in Africa, so what difference could I make,? she said. ?That is folly. If I, with God?s help, and the people of Bermuda?s help, can build a Hope House for say, 50 orphans, if they are bought up to live a decent life and to be educated about AIDS and to serve God and live decently, they are going to transform their community. They are going to be the next generation who is going to say no to AIDS.?

Mrs. Atcheson first became interested in the plight of Ugandan orphans a few years ago when she visited the country to talk about her experiences as an AIDS widow for a British organisation called Judah Trust.

?I was supposed to be just an attendee,? she said. ?When I got there they asked me if I would speak at the conference, from the perspective of being a widow to AIDS. I agreed.

?I told my story mainly to pastors and leaders in health care. I ended up sharing with them what I had done here in Bermuda with Star and different aspects.?

Her speech opened a door in the hearts of the people who heard her. She was then invited to speak in different parts of Africa.

?It was while I was over there that I began to see the problem,? she said. ?The problem is so huge. When we sit here in Bermuda it is just figures. People talk about the Tsunami, but as many people in Africa die from AIDS every 18 days as people who were killed in the Tsunami. There is a subtle Tsunami going on every day in Africa.?

The idea for the orphanage was germinated when she was invited to the home of a Kenyan woman who was also a widow due to AIDS.

?She was taking in orphans, she had as many as she could fit in her house,? Mrs. Atcheson said. ?She had a piece of land next to her house that she was willing to give to these orphans to build a home.

?I asked her how much it would cost. She said 10,000 US dollars.?

Mrs. Atcheson declared that she would get the money to build the orphanage. After all, she lived in one of the richest countries in the world, Bermuda. Through her friends and family and more than a little bit of digging into her own pocket she managed to raise the required sum. The house has now been built near Kisumu, Kenya, and is in operation.

She said: ?When I saw how easy that was to do I said ?man, why can?t I be a pipe for the money that is in Bermuda to get that money into Africa, if it costs such a small amount to help people?. That is when I decided if I needed to be a registered charity.?

Although the first children?s home was built in Kenya, she wants to focus her attention on Uganda. The orphans in Uganda are made parentless not only through AIDS, but also war.

?People are very aware of the war in Sudan, but hardly anyone realises that in the north of Uganda, there has been a war for 18 years,? Mrs. Atcheson said. ?It is very similar to what is going on in Sudan and what we have seen in Rwanda.?

While in Uganda she was deeply saddened to see the large numbers of children living on the streets.

?If you don?t get your hands on those children at a young age they get caught up in selling their bodies for food,? she said. ?They get sexually abused. These children are prime targets. Nobody cares about them; nobody knows who they are; nobody will miss them if they are dead and thrown on the garbage heap.?

She hopes to oversee the running of the orphanages by travelling back and forth, and also using the wonders of modern technology.

She has also enlisted the help of two Ugandans who want to run the orphanage, Milton and Celestine Agaba.

?They are newly married and have just had a baby,? she said. ?They are willing to give a piece of land for us to build on. They are going to give up their jobs and run the home, and get in other locals.

?Milton is one of the leaders in his church so he can get people from his church to help.?

Mrs. Atcheson hopes that the children raised in the protective arms of the orphanage will be better equipped to not only avoid getting AIDS, but also be able to better resist or outwit the rebels.

She would also like to take a small group of dedicated Bermudians with her to see the situation for themselves.

?Last time I took my son, Nathan, and a lady who works in Bermuda as an accountant, Gina Southam. They came with me in the summer and now they want to go with me when I go back now that Hope House is open.?

Mrs. Atcheson said one scene she witnessed that illustrated the depth of poverty in Uganda was when she saw people making gravel with tiny hammers.

?These women and children were sitting in the baking sun with these tiny little homemade hammers,? she said. ?The pieces were piled up beside them. They were making gravel. Their hands were raw. Our hearts were broken. Milton was crying when he told us that evening, the sad thing is they don?t even know if a truck will come to collect the gravel.?

Another time, Mrs. Atcheson offered a child on the street her water bottle and a fight broke out as other children tried to seize it from him.

The next time she goes to Uganda she plans to take a suitcase of clothing to give away to the children living on the street.

?A friend of mine was closing down the children?s part of a shop,? she said. ?I have a huge suitcase of clothes that she has given me. So I am going to pack a bag every day and go out on the street and give the children the clothes and tell them we are going to build a house, that is going to be somewhere, and let them connect with Milton.?

She said Mr. Agaba and his wife are doing all they can to help the children, but it is difficult without a physical structure like the one built in Kenya.

?You don?t know if they are going to get robbed of what you have given them,? she said. ?You can give them food and someone can come along ten minutes later and take that food from them. It can be an adult, that is the sad part.?

Mrs. Atcheson said her faith keeps her going, no matter how difficult or scary things get.

?I love going out there,? she said. ?When I stayed in South Africa we were staying in one of the townships built of corrugated iron. We were staying in a place called Beautiful Gates, and literally on the other side of the wall from where we were sleeping you could hear gunshots. One day I was sitting out on the grass and I put my hand down and there was a spent bullet.

?Children are living in that lawlessness, because people get hopeless and when they get hopeless they just give up. I wasn?t scared. I have a very, very strong faith. Everything I do is motivated by the belief that God puts us here on this earth to make a difference while we can. I am a great believer that if you see something wrong you are responsible to do something about it.?

She said Bermudians have so much that they can well afford to share a little with the world?s poor.

?I have spent my adult life helping people,? Mrs. Atcheson said. ?That is something I feel I was meant to do,? she said. ?A lot of us in Bermuda have heritage and roots in Africa. This is why I feel like we, Bermuda, can help Africa. Why don?t we divert some of our finances and energy that way??