Kandara Children's Home
Kandara Children's Home is located on the edge of a small rural village called Kandara, which is about 45 kilometres North East of Nairobi. The home cares for approximately 80 children, who range in age from newborn babies upwards to teenagers. These children are healthy, happy and well cared for but this has not always been the case...
Before Vision Africa became involved with Kandara the home was is in desperate need of assistance. The twenty seven children that were in the home at that time were living in pretty dreadful conditions, which would be unimaginable to most of us. They could not go to school as the home had no money to pay school fees and the children had no chance of free admission to school at that time. All in all, this was not a happy place to be.
Their buildings, which once had been purpose built, were in a very poor and dilapidated shape. One of the buildings had no roof and was completely unusable as the timber beams had been removed to be used as firewood. The other buildings were large cold halls which constituted bedrooms for the children, with no curtains, no wardrobes, just simple metal framed beds on a hard stone cold floor and a mattress for the lucky ones. Their few belongings were stored in old metal chests.
There was no electricity, no running water indoors and the sanitary facilities were dreadful and needed to be completely rebuilt. The original facilities had long since stopped working and fallen into an unusable and filthy state. They had been replaced with simple, but wholly inadequate and unhygienic earth 'drop' toilets, but these too were falling apart.
While the staff working in the home did the best they could for the children, they were fighting a losing battle. They had not been paid for a long time and were totally demoralized. They had no money to pay their bills, which in turn led to a poor reputation and relationships with the local community suffered as a result.
Through Vision Africa donors were found and the work began. Slowly by slowly, a new home emerged from the ground. Since 2003 several local workmen have been employed to carry out an amazing transformation. Kandara Children’s Home now consists of 4 dormitories (2 boys, 2 girls) all with bunk beds complete with mattresses, sheets and blankets, running water allows indoor toilets and showers, floors are tiled and there’s electric lighting. The kitchen has been refurbished and fitted with energy saving jikos (metal wood-burning stoves).
In November 2007 we officially opened the St. Andrews Baby Unit which cares for abandoned and orphaned babies from 0-3 years old.
As Kandara Children’s Home improved the relationship with the local community grew stronger and the home now enjoys regular visits from local schools, churches and other community groups. These groups also help with donations of food and clothes where possible. In recent months, Kandara Town Council has resumed management of the children’s home.
Vision Africa is working in partnership with the town council and we are trying to empower the local community to take responsibility for the home and the children for a brighter, more sustainable future. In doing so we are continuing to walk alongside them and have chosen to focus our support on education - education being one of the most expensive ventures for a child under the care of the home yet one of the most important factors for their healthy development and brighter future.
To enhance the education of the younger children in the home, Vision Africa has set up a small school which covers ECD (Early Childhood Development) and the first years of primary education. By providing teachers to work with a small group of children, this allows them to develop their language and number skills and work to their full potential. By giving them a good grounding it is hoped that they will have the best possible chance of performing well when they move into the local primary schools. The school also welcomes fee-paying students and it is hoped that this will give them the best possible chance of a brighter future.
We do continue to channel any donations received for Kandara to the home and the children. You can support the Kandara Children’s Home School or St. Andrews Baby Unit by making a donation today. Alternatively, if you live in the local area you can donate items such as food, soap or exercise books.
Please, if you can help support Kandara please click on the button below to give on-line. Or visit our fundraising pages to find out other ways you can support us. Thank you!
Updated: October 2010