Normal Guy... Extraordinary Vision

A Manhattan orthodontist might not be the first person you would expect to lead a humanitarian organization that has helped scores of the most vulnerable citizens of Africa -- but clearly, Dr. Frank Andolino is no ordinary orthodontist.

When he's not fixing the teeth of some of NYC's most well-heeled residents, Andolino, 48, is working tirelessly as executive director of Kageno, a non-profit that has transformed destitute communities in Kenya and Rwanda.

Kageno, which translates to “A Place of Hope” in the Kenyan dialect of Dholuo, creates change by essentially adopting the most alarmingly poor communities in Africa and meeting their most basic needs: providing access to clean water, sanitary bathroom facilities, basic healthcare, education and jobs.

"I feel very lazy when I stand next to Frank because in five years it's really grown a lot," strong supporter Meryl Streep said while attending the Kageno benefit in NYC last November. Other celeb enthusiasts include Robert De Niro and his daughter Drena De Niro, Donna Karan and Kate Spade.

Drena De Niro (pictured here with her father on the left and Dr. Frank Andolino on the right) told Tonic about her experience sponsoring three children through Kagena's sponsorship program: "Kageno has made it possible for many people who have known only hardship, disease and suffering to have the opportunity to flourish within and celebrate their culture and the world around them... In 2006, I chose 3 orphans to sponsor -- Ronnie Owino, Grace Akinyi and Geoffrey Odhiambo. I recently heard from all three through letters transcribed to Harry Thuku and got news of their health and progress in school. Words can not express the overwhelming joy I feel in knowing that not only am I making a difference in three childrens' lives across the world but that I am also contributing to the empowerment, growth and education of these young children within their own community and culture."

Kageno's first success story is Kolunga Beach, a migrant fishing community on Rusinga Island in Western Kenya. Before Kageno arrived, most residents got their drinking water straight from Lake Victoria, which, according to the UN, is contaminated with untreated sewage. There was roughly one latrine for every 1,200 people, unemployment was more than 80 percent and there was no health clinic on the island, a particular crisis since about 40 percent of the inhabitants test positive for HIV/AIDS. Since 2003, Andolino and his non-profit have overseen the construction of a health clinic and nursery school. They have planted more than 50,000 trees in an area whose environment was devastated by deforestation. They have also overseen the creation of crafts classes for women and given them microloans for fishing businesses so that they no longer need to prostitute themselves for food.


Kageno has had similar success in other parts of Africa.


For example, in Mfangano, a Kenyan island of more than 5,000 people, the organization opened a nursery school in January 2008 that now educates 150 students. It's in the midst of constructing a healthcare clinic, and just launched a program that provides families with goats, along with instructions on how to derive an income from them.

On Banda Village in Rwanda, another Kageno project, it opened a health clinic and pharmacy in May 2008, with a nursery school and community center slated to open later this year. Andolino says they are also fundraising to create an ecotourism lodge to bring in extra revenue and have already begun teaching local residents English so they can work at the lodge and interact with its overseas visitors.


So how exactly did a Manhattan orthodontist make all this amazing work happen?


It all started in 2003 when Andolino traveled to a small village near Mozambique as part of a dental outreach program. While hiking part of Mt. Kilimanjaro during a break he met a fellow volunteer named Rob Place. Place told Andolino about his small volunteer organization in the Kolunga Beach village in Kenya that had just built a computer center for the village only to have their grant for the computers fall through at the last minute. Andolino vowed to help, and upon returning to New York he secured the computers needed. Eager to do more, Andolino steadily increased his involvement and eventually agreed to oversee the then-tiny organization, whose name would soon be changed to Kageno.


Today, Andolino says that even though it may appear that his orthodontic practice and work with Kageno don’t have much in common, they actually complement each other well.


"The support comes from my patients," he explains. "If they hear I’m going to Kenya for the weekend they say they want to help. I’m very lucky."

So are all the people Kageno has assisted. For more information about Kageno, please visit their Web site, www.kageno.org