Mental Health Services for Children in Kibera

by St. Vincent de Paul Community Development Organization

Project Report | Feb 29, 2016
Update: Mental Health Services for Children Kibera

By Christina Stellini | Resource Development Volunteer

Over the past six months, we have been hard at work raising funds to support counseling services for the most vulnerable children in Kibera, Kenya. In full disclosure -- it has been a struggle. Perhaps it's because 'counseling' is not as tangible as school tuition or food. But for the children that we serve in our rescue center - who have faced significant traumas (e.g., loss of parents, abuse, neglect) in their short lives -- it is absolutely essential.

Despite struggling with our project on Global Giving (we have raised $50 from 2 donors), we are quite pleased to report that other efforts have been successful. First, we have applied and been awarded a grant from Global Giving UK, which will help to cover a portion of the costs of counseling. Secondly, we applied and have been awarded a second grant from The Forgotten International, to cover another portion of the counseling costs. With these two awards, we will be able to cover counseling services for the next one year for our rescue center children.

Over the past month, we have been working to identify potential counselors and determine how the counseling sessions will be set up. Our work is still underway, but we have identified three potential counselors and will be moving forward in the next few months to finalize our selection and initiate services. We are excited by this advancement and what it will mean for our children who suffer trauma and desperately need emotional support. We will continue to keep this project open on Global Giving in hopes that we may expand the counseling services to children from other programs that we currently run.

We thank you for your support in helping us reach this important milestone!

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Dec 1, 2015
What's Most Needed Isn't Always Most Glamorous

By Christina Stellini | Resource Development Volunteer

Over the past couple of months, we have been working to raise funds through Global Giving to be able to hire a much needed counselor to work with the orphans and vulnerable children we serve in Kibera. We have done this in several ways: by creating a project on Global Giving; by budgeting a portion of the salary for the counselor in proposals; and by talking to potential donors about the great need.

Unfortunately, our project on Global Giving hasn't attracted much support. In fact, we have received just 1 donation. Our initial concern of posting a project to pay for a salary -- albeit a hugely important one -- has thus far been realized. We know it is hard to attract support to pay salaries and also hard to attract funding for mental health services as they may not seem as needed as food or education.

But we haven't given up. We know it takes staff to actually provide services to our children. And we know that mental health services - particularly for children who have experienced abuse - are vital. These services are critical for helping children to overcome past trauma and abuse and grow into healthy adults. So we continue to talk about this great need.

We are thrilled to be able to report that through a grant competition with Global Giving UK, we have raised about half of the funds needed for the counselor. And we are underway with talks with a small foundation that would support another portion of the salary over the next year. We are hopeful that by the beginning of the year, we will have earned enough to cover the salary for the 2016 calendar year. In the meantime, we are going to continue to publicize our project and talk to as many people as we can about the great need for such services for the vulnerable children that we serve.

Links:

St. Vincent's Website

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