Attack on Kenya orphanage yields $80k in donations

NGONG, Kenya — Anthony Omari earned the still-fresh 11-stitch scar that runs from his forehead to his upper lip in one of the noblest ways imaginable: By taking a machete to the face while defending an under-resourced Kenyan orphanage from attacking thieves.

Young, traumatized orphans witnessed the assault, which split open Omari's face and soaked his clothes in blood.

But thanks to a posting on an increasingly influential U.S.-based social networking website, this story has a fairy tale ending that brings smiles of amazement and tears of gratitude to Omari, his mother — who runs the orphanage — and 21-year-old tech-savvy Penn State student Ben Hardwick.

After Hardwick posted a picture of Omari and his zipper-like scar two days after the Jan. 23 attack, users of the website Reddit donated more than $80,000 to help upgrade the orphanage's defenses. More than 3,600 people donated from all 50 U.S. states and 46 countries — Slovenia, Brunei and Estonia included. One donation came in from the USS Mount Whitney.

Less than a week after the attack, new locks were bought, two night guards were hired, and more than a dozen construction workers were building a new fortified 8-foot fence around the orphanage, which houses 37 kids in two small houses. Since Christmas, the orphanage has suffered four attacks by thieves likely from a tin-shack slum a half mile away.

The donations have made a cash-strapped orphanage mother eternally grateful. Because of a lack of funds, she has had to move her children's home five times since 2006. In her current location, in the most crowded bedroom eight boys sleep on foam mattresses laid out across the floor.

"Wow. We didn't expect this. This is amazing," said Martha Bosire, the 47-year-old who runs the orphanage and answers to "Momma."

The latest assault seemed to be a revenge attack, Omari said. The attackers, who easily climbed over the orphanage's rickety, wooden fence, apparently were looking for him. The 24-year-old had fended off a previous robbery attack by throwing a hammer at one of the thieves.

A hammer kept under his bed also helped fend of the first of the attackers who broke into his room last week. A thrown machete missed Omari and hit the wall. He fought his way outside but the kids by then were awake and screaming. Omari said he tried to usher them back into their room.