I have been coming to Lamu, Kenya for the two years visiting and renting homes in July-August and December-January. Lamu is a town, an island and an archipelago on the Kenyan coast; (East Africa) located just 2 degrees south of the equator. Last August when I was there, I found a shamba (farm) that I wanted to buy behind the town of Lamu-, which is a very old town of Swahili, and Arabian people that haven’t changed much for 2000 years. There are no cars; the mode of transport is donkeys, walking, or boats to get around from one side of the island to another. It’s become very chic since Princess Caroline and Prince Ernst of Hanover have bought a house here but also rockers like Ron Wood, and artists like Tracey Emin, and actors like Sienna Miller and Ewan McGregor have passed through, as they make their rounds.

The shamba was a bit remote, but was covered with mango, cashew, neem, tamarind, and coconut trees. Most mazunga’s (whites) lived on the part of the island, called Shela, a very wealthy enclave of Europeans and Americans, some of whom have been coming to Lamu for thirty years. Shella was safe and secluded, gentrified, if you closed your eyes you could be in some back streets of Capri or Korfu, but Lamu was untamed and the people were rough, governed by a moderate Islamic culture, that was both poor and sadly, uneducated. I was drawn to buy the shamba land, as it was sandy and flat whereas most of Lamu was built on dunes the size of small mountains, it was like owning a bit of Central Park, 10 acres of peace, after spending the past eight years in New York City I not only needed a new way of living but also a new place to go. As the family motto goes, “ya never know you’re going till you’re on the plane” and “get on the plane and change your luck”.

Moving to Africa meant closing my Fashion Company, debraRODMAN and packing up my loft on Greene St. in Soho, New York. Everyone thought I was crazy to do both, but my father had just passed away in January and my mother, had Alzheimer’s and was very well cared for, but whenever she saw anyone of her four daughters, she became so agitated, reminding her that my dad WASN’T HERE, that it was best not to see her at all than distress her so. She knew dad was gone but was unable at this stage in the progression of the disease, to understand the concept of death. So we stopped speaking to her, but would only see her from a window in another room “looking in”. It was nuts. I felt free of family, albeit quite heartbrokenly so, and was due some love and affection myself, after dedicating the last eight years to growing my company, running my boutique, designing my dress line, and my yoga wear line- yogini which sold in 6 yogini stores in Tokyo. I achieved a lot but something was missing. It was also hard not to notice that great boutiques, big and small, couldn’t pay their bills and though my collection was carried in over 100 boutiques worldwide and in department stores from Hong Kong to Los Angeles- it still was difficult to pay the bills and I sensed the economy tanking and I refused to go further into debt.

The good news was that I didn’t have to abandon the frivolous life altogether! When I was in Lamu I met a perfumer’s daughter who brought me to Paris to met Pierre Bourdon, who created the most extraordinary perfumes of the 20th Century, and he made Girlie for me, his masterpiece which he gave to me on the condition that I did not change a note of it. It was just what I was looking for something fresh with an unfathomable mystery that transcends gender, and modern times. So armed with Girlie and the desire to move to Africa and do some good I focused on imagining a new life. Though I never had any children of my own, I had always comforted myself with the thought that one day I would have an orphanage or do some thing for and with children. After a long stint in rock n roll, I volunteered with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity soup kitchen in the Bronx, her home for unwed mothers in Los Angeles, Sloan Kettering’s cancer ward in New York City, and Palliative care homes in California –Mother Teresa taught me a lot about how to run a tight ship, do things simply and to produce down to the bone, so I knew what it took to lend a hand- though I had no idea what form it would take and how it would happen. I always agreed that you give from your hand directly into the hand of another- no intermediary no fuss.

So here’s my story of how I opened Man-Rod Academy, a school for 247 of the poorest children in Lamu, Kenya ages 3 to 8 years. I hope you enjoy the ride and are able to see how great these kids are through my eyes.

Oh and if you don’t mind I will also share how this journey brought me to hang with a man whose eyes shine brighter than diamonds in the sky. Come along for the ride.

Lot’s of love,

Debra Fay Rodman