News Article

It has been a while since a new face has appeared at the St. Andrews Baby Unit. I’ve come to know the eleven little ones who are there and love spending time with them at the weekends. This weekend, I paid a short visit to the unit as I had work to do with some of the older children but in that time I got to meet the latest arrival who had been there just over a week.

It’s always sad hearing the circumstances that bring babies to the home…this story was no exception. At ten months old, this little one seemed healthy and well developed in that they could stand and crawl about the place. I was told that there were no medical problems and that he had been brought up by his mother.

I was expecting to hear that she had passed away and that was why the little one had been brought to the unit, I was shocked and upset to hear the truth. Apparently the mother has some learning difficulties and decided that she couldn’t cope anymore so she took her baby to the river and was going to throw it in but was found by some passersby who rescued the baby and took it to the local police.

Hearing that story reminded me again what a great asset the St. Andrews Baby Unit is to the local community. Once the relevant paperwork had been completed there was a safe place that the baby could be brought to where it would be well cared for. The staff members work very hard looking after all the babies in their care – even if it means their hands are full as you can see from the photo of the matron feeding several hungry babies at once!

As I left the baby unit to start working with the children, a pick-up truck arrived in the compound. This was filled with donations of food, charcoal, cleaning products and other items for the baby unit that had been donated by a family member of the late chairman of Kandara Children’s Home, AK Mwaura, who worked tirelessly to support the home.

Later in the afternoon, his family arrived to present the gifts and spend time with the children. Such community support is very much appreciated and we would like to thank AK Mwaura’s family and all those who support our projects in their local area.

If you would like to support the work of the St. Andrews Baby Unit by sponsoring a cot or making donations in kind if you live in Kenya, please use our contact form to get in touch.