ABOUT LEKISHON OUTREACH
The Beginnings
Roots in the University of Oregon
In 1994, Ole Ronkei and his wife Renoi and Therese Picado and her husband Steve Curtis and their families were all living at University of Oregon (UO) Westmoreland Family housing. It was a wonderfully supportive community of families, all with young children and pursuing education in a variety of programs at the UO. Ole Ronkei had already earned a bachelors and masters degree in Journalism at the UO and ultimately completed a PhD in Communications from the UO in fall 1995. Steve Curtis received a bachelor of science degree in Planning, Public Policy and Management from the University of Oregon in June 1997.
A close friendship was formed. After Ole Ronkei, his wife Renoi and family returned to Maasai lands in Kenya, we stayed in close touch, and, through Ole Ronkei and Renoi, we and others from the Eugene community would periodically sponsor children, especially girls, who would otherwise drop out of secondary school for lack of the compulsory fees.
Picado-Curtis Family 2005-2006 World Trip
In 2005-2006, Therese, Steve, their two sons and Steve’s mother traveled around the world for one year, encountering the people and cultural and natural sights of close to 30 primarily developing countries, as well as, working on volunteer projects. View the archive of the trip. Ole Ronkei and family were then living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the time, as he was working in global development with Compassion International. Through Ole Ronkei, we visited his and Renoi’s Maasai village of Enoosaen in southwestern Kenya, stayed at his homestead in Enoosaen and worked on phase 2 of a water project, funded by another long-time friend of Ole Ronkei, Jim Bryson of Bryson Distributing of Eugene (a wholesale supplier of knitting needles internationally), and Rotary International. Over several weeks, we cleared and leveled the site of a second underground water source in preparation for the engineers tapping and piping it, as a second clean water source for the community. Read about their work. Scroll to Feb. 5-15, 2006, “Introducing the Enoosaen Water Project.”
Connections with Kabale, Uganda
Prior to departing on the trip, Therese worked as a public information officer for City of Eugene Parks and Open Space, and, just a few months before the family launched their travels, she received an inquiry about starting a community gardens from Pastor Edward Kanyesigye of then Victory Community Care Services (now Victory Africa Ministries). She forwarded this inquiry to the City of Eugene Community Gardens Manager and also informed Edward that she and her family would be traveling to East Africa during their world trip. Edward immediately invited the family to visit them in Kabale, Uganda. A year later in February 2006, the family arrived and, along with a group of women of the village, helped terrace and prepare the leased plot of land for an active community gardens site, as well as, presented a week-long seminar in a variety of subjects, including land use management, volunteer management and recruitment, and media relations.
Lekishon Outreach is Born
Over the years, these friendships and partnerships have born much fruit, as Ole Ronkei and Renoi and Edward Kanyesigye and his wife Peace Komugisha have expanded their operations to include robust programs of outreach to marginalized populations, and Therese and Steve and many other Eugeneans, as well as communities around the world, have contributed to these projects.
In spring of 2023, Ole Ronkei visited Eugene and shortly after that in June 2023, Edward and Peace also visited and shared their work in the community. From these discussions and interactions, the idea of establishing a 501-c-3 charitable organization to provide tax deductibility to donors was born. We called the fledgling organization Lekishon Outreach. “Lekishon” was the name that was given to our son Paul by his adopted Maasai godparents when we celebrated his 12th birthday at Ole Ronkei’s homestead in Maasai lands; it means “Promise of Blessing” in Maasai, and we thought this was an apt description of this effort born out of many years of friendship and cooperative ventures to lift up the marginalized through education and sustainable microenterprise.
Guided by the expertise of tax consultant and investment advisor Steve, we were fully operational by July 2023, and since then our impact has grown exponentially. Therese, with her background in project management and community relations, serves as project coordinator and Steve as treasurer and we have recruited board members and members at large who have helped expand our impact.
Lekishon Outreach serves as the principal entity for charitable donations from the U.S. for projects undertaken by Pakishu Women Group in the Maasai lands of Enoosaen, Kenya and by Victory Africa Ministries in Kabale, Uganda.
BOARD MEMBERS
Steven Curtis, Treasurer
Jennifer Giustina, Secretary
Andrea Rosenzweig, Vice President
Therese M. Picado, President
Stephen Ssenkaaba
MEMBERS AT LARGE
Jim Bryson
Edward Kanyesigye
Peace Komugisha
Ole Ronkei
Renoi Ronkei
QUESTIONS?
Contact Lekishon Outreach to learn more about our organization and programs and how to get involved.