Valerie Kelch

PRESIDENT  |  Co-FOUNDER

I have always been fascinated with culture diversity, drawn to Africa and passionate about helping those in need. Although it's not always easy following your passion, the end result inspires my perseverance. I have traveled to Kenya four times and fall deeper in love with it each time I'm there.

My first trip to Kenya was in 2006 for 2 1/2 weeks with my mother, Christine Kincaid, vice president of  Tumaini Volunteers. In 2010, I returned to Kenya as a volunteer for six months. I traveled throughout the country and provided my services in several orphanages, schools, and medical clinics. I met many volunteers from all over the world, made lifelong connections, worked with several organizations and witnessed much of the good and bad about volunteering in a third world country. I returned to Kenya for a third time in the summer of 2013 and used that time for personal reflection. The outcome was a decision to give the Kenyan people more, hence starting my own non-profit organization, Tumaini Volunteers.

Christine Kincaid

Co-FOUNDER

I traveled to Kenya for the first time, on a mission trip, in 2006 and since then my life has never been the same. Despite crossing that off my bucket list, I felt disappointed because the work we did on that trip did not provide the local people with anything sustainable to change their daily lives. Though our work positively impacted them, it was only temporary. In 2009, I volunteered in Ayacucho, Peru, but returned home feeling very much the same. Around that time, I started writing a memoir of my first trip to Kenya and quickly began yearning to return to Africa. In the spring of 2013, I traveled back to Kenya with my daughter Val and thus began our life’s passionate journey of starting our non-profit organization, Tumaini Volunteers.