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 120 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 loosing 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). There’s also a dining hall, recreation room, dispensary and we have recently constructed a new Baby Unit for abandoned babies and toddlers (see our separate page on this). All of the children enjoy three square meals a day and regularly attend school… all in uniform and with all the required books and equipment.
As Kandara Children’s Home improved and new team of staff was employed, 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. However, the home still receives a good amount of its funding through Vision Africa as we continue to support one of our most successful projects. These are great kids at Kandara that really need and deserve our help and ongoing support.
An education fund has been set up to help pay for uniforms, exercise books, nursery education, secondary school and tertiary education fees and vocational training costs. We also have ongoing repairs and improvements to make. So as you can see, we still need and value your support.
Thanks to your generosity and ongoing support Kandara is now a flagship children's home with excellent facilities, professional and dedicated staff and lovely, healthy, happy children.
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: December 2008