No one ever thinks about pens unless they are without one, but for thousands of children in Africa pens are lifesavers.

With pens they can acquire an education and free themselves from ignorance and poverty.

Dori Lowe, a resident of Solvang, has just returned from Kenya, Africa, where she and her volunteers distributed more than 100,000 writing pens to school children in remote areas of the country. Many of these children had never seen or used a pen before.

Lowe and her friend Linda Shaffer are the co-founders of the nonprofit organization called pensforkids.com . All the pens were donated by people from around the world.

Locally, Shepherd of the Valley Preschool in Santa Ynez did a pen drive and the children collected about 1,000 pens in a week, which she took with her to distribute.

Lowe is a world traveler and donates much of her time to orphanages and health clinics in the countries she visits. She is also a nurse who works in the Santa Barbara area.

On this trip Lowe visited 10 orphanages, one of which was dedicated to children who are HIV-positive and another housed young girls who were escaping from the tribal ritual of female genital mutilation (FGM) which happens at the age of 13.

“I was very impressed with these young girls,” said Lowe. “Eighty percent of the population believe in FGM so these young girls are very courageous to buck the system. Some, with the support of their mothers, were sent to the orphanage to avoid this archaic ritual. Some left home on their own refusing to take part in this procedure. They are now considered outcasts.”

For the most part, these are uneducated people who live in tribes, Lowe explained. They believe that sex is not for pleasure — it is for reproduction purposes only —  although men are allowed to have four wives. The women and children do most of the work and the children are sent out at a young age to take care of the goats.

They have little or no contact with the outside world and they think HIV is a demon possession, she added. These children are cast out of their tribes — they are the untouchables. No one will go near them.

Their families are afraid to touch them in case the demon will possess them too, according to Lowe.

“I became attached to these children. I didn’t want to leave. I would take their pictures and they would laugh, thinking it was the greatest thing ever,” said Lowe. “I would hug them and kiss them — this kind of affection is rare because, although the school is run by wonderful people, there are about 1,000 kids in residence and there are not enough kisses and hugs to go around.

“I want to send another 5,000 pens or so to help these children and young women get an education,” said Lowe.

She wants to return to Kenya next spring and spend some much-needed time with the children with HIV.

“I am hoping to go back in April to work for a month at the HIV school which is located just outside of Thompson Falls,” said Lowe.

On this last trip she went on three safaris, seeing prides of lions and a cheetah so well camouflaged in a tree that her guide had to point it out although the animal was about four feet away. She also saw many giraffes and wild animals.

While they were there, the group also adopted a 3-week-old female elephant who was orphaned when her mother was killed by poachers when she was three days old. The baby wondered into a Maasai camp. Sheldrick Wildlife Sanctuary in Kenya was called in to rescue the baby and it will be raised there until it is able to be released back into the wild. A fund has been set up to help in her rehabilitation.

“It was a bittersweet trip,” said Lowe. “We were either in a car going somewhere or at a game refuge or at a hotel. You can’t socialize in Kenya, at least not right now. It was worse than being in the Sudan. It was very sad.”

Lowe has documented the trip with photos and clips from this trip. Her Facebook pages enables a look at this experience.

She can be reached at dorilowe@hotmail.com.

Anyone wishing to donate pens or funds can visit www.pensforkids.com.