
Amani Cottage Family Photo
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." (Helen Keller)
Amani Cottage currently serves as home to 15 children with physical and/or mental disabilities. New Life Home Trust is committed to providing quality care for rescued infants until adoption. However, many of the infants we rescue with disabilities are less likely to be adopted, as they require more intensive and expensive care. As New Life began to encounter abandoned infants with special needs, we recognized the necessity of a long-term provision for these infants as they grew up. In early 2008, seven children with special needs, ages 2 to 3 years old, were transferred to our Kisumu home to grow and thrive outside the bustle of Nairobi, thus creating the Amani Cottage unit. The housing unit was appropriately named the Amani Cottage because 'amani' means peace.
Over time, as the children grew, so did the need for a larger facility. In early 2013, we had a groundbreaking ceremony in Kisumu for a facility to meet the varying needs of our Amani children, including specially adapted bathrooms, classrooms and bedrooms, a spacious kitchen, and a sensory therapy room. Through many generous donations, the building was completed in 2014. Our staff helped to build excitement for the children, giving them construction updates and countdowns, and allowing them to tour the rooms that would become their bedrooms. Slowly, cautious about all of the change, the children became excited about, and then accustomed to, their new bedrooms and common spaces (which they now love, of course).
In 2015, after committing 5 years to the general care and oversight not only of the children, but also to the construction process, funding needs, and standard of care at the Amani Cottage, a UK couple with expertise in special needs returned home. They were an incredible blessing to the Amani children and to New Life Home Trust during their time with us. In their absence, the Amani staff are daily rising to the challenge of learning and growing alongside the growth of these children. One of the greatest assets along the journey of New Life's Amani Cottage is the many specialized volunteers who have shared their time, knowledge, skills, and experience with our staff and have helped secure donations of need-specific equipment.
As the children age, the needs of our Amani children shift: outgrowing wheelchairs, reaching puberty, and just getting bigger. It is for this reason that we continue to seek funding for them and for this project to keep the as mobile as possible as they grow up. We continue to strive to offer these incredible kids the best care because they deserve it! Help us fund this bus project and enable transit to school, physical therapy, and other fun and beneficial activities by sharing why you care about our project and inviting your friends and family to lend their support!
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