Our Affiliates

The Kenbe La Foundation was established by New Zealander Emily Sanson-Rejouis in memory of her husband Emmanuel Rejouis (39) and their two young daughters, Kofie-Jade (5) and Zenzie (3), who died in the earthquake that devastated Haiti on 12 January 2010. Their youngest daughter Alyahna (1) was rescued after 22 hours trapped under the rubble.

Kenbe La means ‘Never Give Up’ in Haitian Creole.  The Foundation is a vehicle for hope in the face of a personal tragedy and a humanitarian crisis.  It honors Emmanuel’s passion to support disadvantaged children in his native Haiti – to provide educational opportunities to help them realize their potential and lift them from poverty. In 2011 the Foundation expanded its vision to encompass children in need in other parts of the world also. 

In Haiti, the Kenbe La Foundation has partnered with the Children of Haiti Project (COHP), which shares the same vision for providing learning opportunities to children in need – those who have little or no access to a formal education. After a recent visit to the COHP school Emily said, ‘ I feel confident that the support we are providing is making a tangible difference in the lives of these children from the tent camps who otherwise would not be at school. The committed leadership and comprehensive education programs at COHP will change their opportunities and give them a better future. We want to grow our support for this inspirational program and help them to reach out to more children’

Purple Cake Day, nominated as 1st of March annually, is the flagship awareness and fundraising campaign for the Kenbe La Foundation. The vision of Purple Cake Day is to celebrate our children and empower them to learn about children around the world and promote awareness and action for children in need.

Launching for the first time on 1 March 2011 in Nelson, New Zealand with Haiti as the country in profile, the Purple Cake Day campaign had wide reaching impact. Purple themed celebrations by and for children were held across schools and communities in over 10 locations worldwide, including; New Zealand, Nigeria, Burundi, The Congo, United Kingdom, Belgium, Singapore, Japan, Australia, USA and Haiti. Thousands of children dressed in purple, sang, danced, wrote messages of hope, and created artwork to express themselves and their wishes for children in need in Haiti. NZD $15,000 collected through small fundraising activities, mainly by children, was donated to the COHP school.  Purple Cake Day will profile a new country each year but remains committed to ongoing support from this campaign to its Haiti program.

Kenbe La Foundation
PO Box 899
Nelson 7040
New Zealand
www.kenbelafoundation.org