Help 60 Vulnerable Children Stay in Their Families

A visit to families of reintegrated children was quite a new experience for me and our volunteers from the UK who had come to Climb Mount Kenya in support of Raising Futures Kenya this month.  This is because I have seen these children growing up since they were toddlers while living in the institutional care at Karanda Children’s Home and it warms my heart when I saw them again happy and contented living with their families.  

The two families we visited are living not far from each other in one of Nairobi’s slums called Korogocho.  Maggy is a single parent of two children called Emmanuel and Peter.  Maggy was also raised in a children’s home after her mother passed away.  Emmanuel, who is the older child, is now 8 years old though he lived the better part of his childhood at the children’s home because Maggy was just a teenager when she gave birth to him.  Maggy got a second chance to go back to school but unfortunately dropped out again before completing her secondary education when she became pregnant the second time with Peter.  During our visit, we learned that Maggy does casual jobs like washing clothes and selling coffee and cakes in order to cater for the basic needs of her children.  When Emmanuel was reintegrated back to his family from the children’s home, Raising Futures Kenya decided to support Maggy to meet the educational costs for her children by paying school fees, buying uniforms and other related costs for the two children to enable her cater for other necessities.  

We also met with Aunty Esther, as we call her, as she is the guardian to a young girl called Esther.  Aunty Esther lives in a single room with her four boys and she took Esther in, she became their little sister.  Esther was the lastborn in a family of four siblings.  Unfortunately her mother passed away when she had just turned one, she was then left in the care of her elderly grandparents.  Esther became malnourished and sickly as her grandparents could not afford to provide balanced meals for her and her siblings.  It was then that Esther was taken to Kandara Children’s Home and placed at the baby unit to be cared for.  She lived in the institution for 11 years, separated from her siblings at a tender age thus she did not know any of her family members while growing up.  It was during family tracing that one of her paternal aunties learned that Esther has been living at the children’s home and she willingly agreed to take her in.  Although she is now raising all the children as a single parent Aunty Esther does not regret her decision and this is what she told me during our conversation; “I am happy to have Esther as my daughter because I was blessed with only boys and she is a ray of sunshine in my house.  I will continue to work hard to provide for all my children despite the challenges of life.” Esther is in class seven and has significantly improved in her school performance.

The good news is that Raising Futures Kenya is in the process of implementing the economic empowerment programme that will benefit all vulnerable children who have been reintegrated with their families.  The organization is committed to ensuring these families have access to sustainable and dignified livelihoods by enabling them to start their own small businesses so they can become financially independent enabling them to pay for the educational costs for the children.  Maggy and Aunty Esther are among the first group of families that will benefit from the programme.  It is exciting to know that they will soon be able to earn a sustainable income and be able to provide all the necessities for the children in the families and most importantly raise their standards of living.  Raising Futures Kenya’s core belief is that by growing up with the love, care and safety of a family, children who once lived under institutional care will be able to achieve their full potential, to lead healthy, fulfilled, socially and economically engaged lives.

We wish to thank you so much for your generous donations to 'Help 60 Vulnerable Children Stay in Their Families'.  We feel privileged that you selected our project to support out of so many wonderful causes.  We are thrilled that you've become a part of our loyal community of supporters and we look forward to continue sharing exciting news about our project. 

Thank you!

Sherry Waweru
Senior Programmes Officer