Our Story
Colleen with kids living at SoH #1
"Do you think I'm crazy?"
Debbie Lee asked her friend Colleen Briggs during a phone call in February 2006.
Debbie explained that she had decided to sell jewelry to raise money for Sanctuary of Hope (SoH) #1, a home for eleven orphans in the process of opening in Nairobi, Kenya through Hope’s Promise Orphan Ministries.
On the other end of the line, Colleen's heart rate accelerated as she asked,
“Well, do you think I'm crazy, because I've just decided to make jewelry for the same reason?!"
Simultaneously and independently of one another, the two friends received the vision to make and sell jewelry to raise awareness and funds for SoH.
Since then, they've just been hanging on to God's coat tails as He expands the mission.
Debbie Lee asked her friend Colleen Briggs during a phone call in February 2006.
Debbie explained that she had decided to sell jewelry to raise money for Sanctuary of Hope (SoH) #1, a home for eleven orphans in the process of opening in Nairobi, Kenya through Hope’s Promise Orphan Ministries.
On the other end of the line, Colleen's heart rate accelerated as she asked,
“Well, do you think I'm crazy, because I've just decided to make jewelry for the same reason?!"
Simultaneously and independently of one another, the two friends received the vision to make and sell jewelry to raise awareness and funds for SoH.
Since then, they've just been hanging on to God's coat tails as He expands the mission.
Debbie's son Jesse holding Sammy in 2002
For the previous eight summers before Pamba Toto was founded, Debbie and her husband Brian led short term mission teams of college students to Kenya with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. They witnessed first-hand the plight of orphans.
Sammy (pictured right) was 10 months old when the Lees met him at an orphanage in the Huruma slum in 2002. Alarmed by his condition due to a massive infection, they offered to take him to a local hospital for medical care.
Their attachment to him grew stronger as they watched him recover and were then able to spend time with him each year when they returned to Kenya.
Pastor and Edith Karau
In 2001, the Briggs adopted a child from a Kenyan orphanage and could not forget the children left behind.
When the Briggs returned in 2002 as staff for Brian and Debbie's short term mission team, the Lees introduced them to Pastor Jepson and Edith Karau, Kenyans who minister in Nairobi’s second largest slum.
That summer Colleen served at the orphanage where the Lees first met Sammy.
When the Briggs returned in 2002 as staff for Brian and Debbie's short term mission team, the Lees introduced them to Pastor Jepson and Edith Karau, Kenyans who minister in Nairobi’s second largest slum.
That summer Colleen served at the orphanage where the Lees first met Sammy.
Sanctuary of Hope #1
In 2005, Colleen unexpectedly sojourned in Kenya for 7 ½ months to complete the Briggs’ second adoption of a child from Kenya, and the Karaus carried the Briggs through this difficult experience.
During this time, the Lees’, Briggs’, and Karaus’ common passion for Jesus and broken-hearts for Kenya’s two million orphans birthed the dream of opening a small children’s home for some of the orphans from Mathare Valley.
During this time, the Lees’, Briggs’, and Karaus’ common passion for Jesus and broken-hearts for Kenya’s two million orphans birthed the dream of opening a small children’s home for some of the orphans from Mathare Valley.
Mama Karau with her kids
Through the Briggs’ connection to Hope’s Promise, a non-profit adoption agency and orphan care ministry located in Colorado, the dream became reality in 2006 as 10 orphans were enfolded into Sanctuary of Hope #1.
In early 2008, Sammy (at age 6) was welcomed into SoH #1 and in August of that same year Sanctuary of Hope #2 opened its doors to 10 more orphaned children. Two more children were added to the homes in 2010.
Now the Karaus are the parents to 23 former orphans through SoH #1 and #2.
Sanctuary of Hope #2