Who We Are
HelpHeal Foundation is a Civil Society Organization, working at the intersection of healing, identity, and community transformation.
We support individuals, families, and institutions to reconnect with their authentic selves, align with their purpose, and build environments where human dignity is not negotiated, but lived.
Our work is grounded in a simple understanding that lasting change does not happen only through systems, nor only through individuals. It happens when the inner world and the outer structures begin to move in the same direction for individuals, organizations and communities.
Our Why
Across many communities, too many people live in environments shaped by silence, fear, and misunderstanding. For people whose identities are perceived or experienced as different, especially within LGBTIQ+ contexts, this often translates into stigma, exclusion, and at times, violence. Families are left without guidance, communities struggle to respond, and institutions often lack the tools to act with clarity and courage.
We exist to shift this. We believe in a world where every person is met with dignity, where families are supported to walk with their children rather than away from them for whatever reasons, and where communities learn to replace fear with understanding. At the heart of this belief is a deeper truth:
‘A world where love flows without boundaries begins with people willing to confront what limits it.
HHF spreads love without boundaries.
Our Journey
HHF was founded by Otieno P. Odongo and George Onyango through a journey that did not begin as an organization, but as a response to a moment of need.
In 2004, Otieno visited his mother in the hospital. Next to her bed was another lady. She was bedridden, withdrawn, and had stopped speaking. She was not taking her medication. It seemed as though she was simply waiting for her time to come.
Together, Otieno and George spoke with the matron, who agreed to have her cleaned and attended to. They brought her medication. They brought her food. They sat with her. There was no medical intervention from them. Only presence, care, and insistence. Within two weeks, she began to recover. Soon after, she was discharged. Though not medics, they ‘helped’ to heal her, hence the name ‘HelpHeal’.
On the journey back home, walking from the hospital, a question stayed with them:
If care and presence could bring someone back from that edge, what would it mean to do this for others? That question became the beginning. They started working with patients who had
been abandoned in health facilities at the height of HIV/AIDS. At the time, Kisumu was carrying the weight of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Many were isolated, disconnected from their families, and left without support. They walked with them. They helped reconnect them to their families. And in that reconnection, something shifted. Healing did not come only through medicine. It came through relationship, dignity, and belonging. Over time, this work evolved.They began to see that the same patterns of disconnection, silence, and fear existed beyond hospital wards. Families were struggling to navigate complex realities, especially around identity. Parents were searching for understanding, often without safe spaces to ask questions or process their experiences.
At the same time, organizations and community structures were grappling with how to respond meaningfully to issues of identity, belonging, and human rights.
They saw the gap.
A gap between intention and action.
Between policy and lived experience.
Between love and fear.
HelpHeal Foundation was formed to stand in that gap.
Today, the foundation creates spaces where parents of LGBTIQ+ Kenyans can think together, heal together, and build solutions that are rooted in both truth and compassion.
Our Approach
We do not impose solutions. We co-create them.
Our work moves across two interconnected layers:
The Inner World
We support individuals and families to engage with identity, belief, and emotion. This includes creating spaces for reflection, dialogue, and healing, especially for parents navigating complex realities with their children.
The Outer System
We work with organizations and communities to strengthen structures, governance, and practices so they reflect values of dignity, inclusion, and justice.
These two layers cannot be separated. When systems change without inner alignment, they remain fragile. When individuals shift without supportive systems, change does not hold. Our role is to bring these into alignment, so individuals, organizations and communities can thrive.
What We Stand For
Our work is guided by a set of lived values:
● Dignity: Every person deserves to be seen, heard, and respected.
● Co-creation: Solutions are strongest when they are built with the people they serve.
● Courage: We engage difficult conversations with honesty and care.
● Compassion: We hold space for complexity without rushing to judgment.
● Truth:We work with what is real, even when it is uncomfortable.
A Constellation of Work
HelpHeal Foundation is not a single program or intervention. We are network of individuals, families, practitioners, and communities working together to restore dignity, strengthen relationships, and reimagine what is possible.
Within this constellation:
● Parents of LGBTIQ+ persons find space to connect, reflect, and act.
● Organizations find clarity and alignment with their missions and vision.
● Communities begin to shift the narratives that shape everyday life.● Health Service providers reconcile their practice and faith, so they offer services without discrimination
● Law enforcements officers temper fidelity to law with human dignity as they work with those on the margins of society
● Educational sector actors, anchored on true inclusive culture of Africans support all children to access their right to education regardless of how they identity.
● Faith leaders open their spaces to children over God, in their divinely ordained diversity.
Each point matters. Each connection strengthens the whole.
What Change Looks Like for us
The work we do is both quiet and visible.
It looks like a parent choosing understanding over rejection.
It looks like an organization aligning its systems with its values.
It looks like a community beginning to question long-held assumptions.
Over time, these shifts accumulate.
When families change, LGBTIQ+ Kenyans and their siblings find safety.
When institutions align, communities find direction.
When narratives shift, possibilities expand, inclusion is embraced and violence averted.
When narratives shift, stigma and discrimination evaporate, and communities thrive.
An Invitation
HelpHeal Foundation is a space for those willing to engage, reflect, and act. We work with
partners, funders, and organizations who understand that sustainable change requires both
structural clarity and human depth. If you are committed to building communities where dignity
is lived and not debated, we invite you to walk with us.
