Mental Health Services for Children in Kibera

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!