Our Team - USA

The Koins Board of Directors oversees all of the Koins for Kenya Projects. Our mission is to strive to assist developing communities in eliminating dependency by providing long-term solutions for everyday problems through programs that are self-sustaining and use education as their foundation.

All board members are volunteers, contributing their time, expertise, resources and ideas to the building and advancement of rural communities in Kenya.

One thing that sets Koins for Kenya apart from many non-profit organizations is that there is no donated money that goes to pay for salaries, administrative costs, or the overhead required to run Koins. The board covers those costs as well as donating their time and talents towards the work in Kenya.

The Board of Directors is comprised of:

Bret Van Leeuwen -  Chairman of the Board

Bret Van Leeuwen has traveled to Kenya more than 20 times since 2001, with the desire to assist the rural villages of the Kwale district, the southeast coastal region of Kenya. Bret has been able to use his business acumen as well as his persuasive personality in accomplishing many things, among them establishing a good working relationship with Kenyan political figures and building trust with villagers. The working model he has established within the Koins villages, requiring them to provide at least 10% of all necessary project funds up front, and to provide all of the unskilled labor required to accomplish a project has a two-fold outcome. This method gives true ownership to the local villages, with immeasurable gratification knowing their efforts created the opportunity. And it has built a trust between the local villagers and Koins, as they see the rewards of new school buildings, water cisterns and other completed projects. Bret lives in Alpine, Utah. He is the owner of Stratus Insurance Services.

Ingrid Van Leeuwen -  Administrator

Ingrid Van Leeuwen accompanied Bret on his first trip to Kenya in 2001. Initially naive to the issues faced by so many Kenyans, both had a desire for their children to experience Kenya and help the people there. Bret returned the following year with their oldest daughter, and continued returning, each trip building on the concept of a family foundation that would focus on the needs of the people of Kenya. With the establishment of Koins for Kenya as an official 501(c)3 in August of 2006, Ingrid stepped up to meet the requirements of a growing organization, doing a little of anything and everything that needed to be done to keep things in order. Currently, maintaining the blog and website are her two main priorities. Ingrid is the mother of 3, the grandmother of 6, and resides in Alpine, Utah.

Mike Workman -  Head of Construction

Mike Workman became involved with humanitarian work in Kenya when he sent his wife and daughter on their first expedition in 2002. Since then he has traveled to Kenya several times and has been instrumental in helping to build and develop several classrooms and libraries and continues to lend his expertise to the ongoing construction and desk projects in Kenya. He lives in Utah and runs his own construction company, Pineview Builders.

Cindy Workman - Education Specialist

Cindy Workman is a 6th grade school teacher in Utah. She became interested in humanitarian work in Kenya in 2002 when she and her daughter participated in their first expedition. Since that time she has returned to the village of Mnyenzeni several times with the sole purpose of improving lives through better education. She involves her classroom students in Utah in a project each year and as a result has been able to help facilitate the building of classrooms, sponsoring of scholarship students, and providing text books.

Steve Littlefield  - Treasurer

Steve Littlefield became involved with Koins For Kenya in 2004. A life long desire to work with the African people came to fruition through his introduction to the Koins organization. As Treasurer, he handles financial responsibilities for both the Koins USA organization and works closely with the Koins Board in Africa on financial matters. Steve is a software executive whose company provides systems for the lumber and buiilding materials industry. He divides his time between Seattle, Washington and Park City, Utah.

Nancy Littlefield  - Scholarship Coordinator  

Nancy Littlefield became involved with Koins for Kenya in 2004. Her love of education, and particularly teenagers led to her area of work with the scholarship program in Mnyenzeni. As Scholarship Coordinator, Nancy tracks students who have been chosen to receive scholarship assistance at the secondary school, coordinates student/sponsor information, and raises funds to allow the scholarship program to succeed. Nancy, a homemaker and mother of three daughters and nine grandchildren, divides her time between Park City, Utah and Seattle, Washington.

Jami Quesenberry - Expedition Leader

Jami was raised in San Diego, California. She served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Buenos Aires Argentina. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1986 in Civil Engineering.

She has been married to Stephen Quesenberry since 1985. They have lived in Kansas, Washington, and now reside in Salem, Utah. Jami is the mother of 8 children and 1 grandchild. Jami says she has traveled extensively through the world but no place has affected her as much as little Mnyenzeni, Kenya.

Curt Tingey - Workshop Manager

Curt joined the Koins board in 2010. Curt has expertise in construction, and his board responsibility is the BTW Workshop and related building projects, with an emphasis on developing a solid cost of construction for ongoing projects, and training local workers in construction jobs.

Our Team - Kenya

Our Team - Kenya

The Kenyan based Board of Directors for Koins is comprised of local villagers who live and work in the communities within the Koins service area. They provide direction to the American board based upon their interaction with village councils and local leaders, all on a volunteer basis.

Each board member is responsible for a program area, i.e. water, construction, agriculture, etc. The local board ensures that work is completed on a timely basis, programs are implemented as designed, and the village areas do their part as per their agreement with Koins.

The importance of this local board is that it solidifies our goals in village presence towards self-sustainability of projects. These individuals have spent their lives in the area that we serve, therefore they are familiar with local leadership, customs and culture, ensuring the success of all of Koins programs.

The Kenyan Board of Directors is comprised of:

Anthony Yama, Executive Director. Anthony was raised in the village of Mwache. He teaches grade 8 at the Miyani Primary School. Anthony has been involved in Koins since we began working in the Mwamenyemi village cluster (Koins Service Area).

George Kihoro, Chairman. George serves as the headmaster at the Kinango Secondary School. He is instrumental in implementing the Koins scholarship program. He has been involved with Koins since 2005.

Samuel Tuku. Chief Tuku is the retired area chief, equal to a county sheriff/ commissioner.

William “Buffalo” Mwangi. Buffalo lives in the village of Kasomeni. He is a dynamic teacher in the Miguneni primary school, and owns a small general store in Kasomeni. He oversees the Koins agriculture and construction programs.

Eliud Tsuma. Eliud is our education/scholarship board member. He helps coordinate Koins scholarships, and works with Steve and Nancy Littlefield to ensure that grades and letters are exchanged with scholarship recipients and their donors.

Naomi Mwenda. Naomi works at the local dispensary, her duties there include general nursing and advising women on childbirth and neonatal issues. She is fluent in English and is a great resource for Koins in our interaction with the village women, many who are illiterate and can’t communicate in English.