Kenyan visitor on Northbrook airwaves for mission
By karie Angell Luc Contributor January 24, 2012 10:14AM
The Hon. Fred O. Outa (right), MP., Kenya National Assembly with Northbrook's Susan Vaickauski before a Northbrook Community Television (NCTV) taping Monday. | Karie Angell Luc~for Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: February 27, 2012 8:41AM
The Hon. Fred O. Outa, MP., Republic of Kenya, Kenya National Assembly, stood in Glenbrook North High School’s television studio after taping the Northbrook Community Television show “Talk Around Town with Jack & Susan.”
“This is a great school,” observed Outa, who is building a new high school for girls on seven acres in Kisumu near Nairobi, Kenya.
“I just wish you could park it in Kenya,” he said, looking around the studio where Apple computers feature Final Cut Pro programs.
“I could just take it with me,” he said, smiling. “I would have my high school built.”
Outa was in Northbrook this week at outreach events with Northbrook’s Susan Vaickauski, a retired Northbrook District 28 Westmoor School secretary, who formed the 501(c)3 Fred Outa Foundation from her Big Oak Lane home.
As foundation president, Vaickauski promotes Fred Outa’s mission. On Friday, the Northbrook Junior High School hosts its eighth “Concert for Africa.”
“I’m just wanting to show gratitude for Northbrook District 28 for their involvement in supporting the vulnerable kids in Kenya,” said Outa.
Proceeds assist Kenya’s new St. Esther’s High School for girls which starts construction next month. The land, purchased for $30,000 with money raised from Concert for Africa proceeds and private foundation donations, should feature a new school building by December.
“We had to build a fence around the whole seven acres because the zebra and elephants walk around,” said Vaickauski.
“We have to protect the students from the wildlife, the elephants will just come in if you didn’t have a fence.”
Northbrook residents take steps to curb wildlife like deer from entering their property.
While deer and elephants are respective concerns raising local awareness about global issues is why NCTV hosts Jack Coombe and Susan Carrington welcomed them to the Talk Around Town set.
“It was an uphill battle (for Outa),” observed Coombe, who also hosts “Northbrook : The Video Newsletter.”
“I’m very honored to have them here on Talk Around Town.”
“For the first time in the 17 years I’ve been doing this show, I’ve never been this in awe,” added Coombe.
Said Carrington, his co-host: “I’m extremely impressed with the work that District 28 is doing and I think that Northbrook residents can learn about the rest of the world.”
During the taping, Outa explained his history.
When he was three, Outa’s mother died. Of knowing what having a mother would feel like, he told Carrington and Coombe, “I have no clue of it,”
His father died when Outa was in the eighth grade. He became a street orphan.
“You don’t make money as a street boy,” explained Outa, who searched for food in garbage.
“It’s not a very comfortable situation, but it is very humbling. It made me who I am today, compassion and love for humanity is what made me who I am.”
At 16, Outa was welcomed into an American couple’s home. They sent him to school, leading to a United States college education where he earned three degrees.
“Despite what I got in America, something kept reminding me, to go back to Kenya,” said Outa.
College summers returned him to Nairobi slums, reaching out to others like the boy in him.
Outa went on to found Spurgeon’s School in the Kibera Slum, a grade school through eighth grade.
To hosts Carrington and Coombe: “I’m grateful for you for having us here,” said Outa.
“We still have a long journey ahead.”
Said NCTV Volunteer camera operator Laura Jacobs after the taping: “That was very fascinating. We enjoy our guests but it’s not so often we get mesmerized.”
School District 28 PTO Council-sponsored fundraising activities and private donations have netted more than $110,000 for the Fred Outa Foundation.
The foundation was necessary so proceeds could be legally transferred to Kenya, said Vaickauski, who traveled to Outa’s homeland in 2004.
Of the NCTV “Talk Around Town” program: “It’s great because it is an opportunity to disseminate the information to well-wishers who will see us as part of this noble cause to reach out to the needy kids of Africa, specifically Kenya,” said Vaickauski.
Outa will appear before the Northbrook Village Board tonight and was a guest in recent years of the Northbrook Rotary Club which donated $1,000.
The Friday Concert for Africa runs from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. at NBJH, 1475 Maple.
“Sunset (Foods) just asked me yesterday, “What can we do? Do you need water, what can we do?’” gushed Vaickauski, of donors.
Admission is $10, including water and pizza — served from 6:15 to 7 p.m.
February’s NCTV “Talk Around Town with Jack & Susan” government access program runs on NCTV Channel 17 daily at noon, 8 p.m. and midnight. AT&T subscribers can tune to Channel 99 and search “Northbrook.”
Visit www.northbrook.il.us/NCTV. Visit http://northbrook28.net/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=835. Also www.fredoutafoundation.org
Comments Click here to view or make a comment