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NGATA CHILDREN IN KERUGOYA |
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by Danson Mwaniki In August 2000, John Kariuki, a successful businessman in Kenya, decided to start Ngata Children's Home in Kerugoya - a town just under two hours away from Nairobi, so that some of the numerous street and destitute children from various towns, particularly in Nairobi, could be released from a life of abject poverty, crime and abuse, and look forward to a life of positive choice and opportunity. Life is never easy in Kenya at the best of times, but in just six years, Ngata has made its mark and it doing well. There is some financial and spiritual help from the Anglican Church of Kenya, and financial help from the Austrian Government. Everyone is determined to make this project work, knowing only too well that many others have simply failed through the lack of expertise and funding. In the very precarious and quite dangerous city of Nairobi alone, over 160,000 boys and girls live on or have been known to roam the streets with nowhere to go or no one to turn to - many simply begging to finance their glue-sniffing addictions in order to escape the pain of life at so early an age, not to mention those who have been orphaned because of the AIDS epidemic. At the moment, Ngata is able to cater for 170 children. Twenty of these are resident boys and the remainder an equal mixture of girls and boys who attend on a daily basis from poor families in the community. The education and the protection of girls are paramount, and Ngata is succeeding by having built a small dormitory, initially for ten girls. This costs money and to date the project has cost about £1,000. Ngata tries to create awareness of the beneficial things in life so all have access to spiritual counseling, formal and informal education, moral support, vocational training and, most importantly, much better health care than they could ever possibly otherwise receive. They are also taught the essential marketing skills needed for today in order to sell the furniture, metal work and other things which the kids make in their workshop in order to subsidise their living costs. |
Two boys have a story - Duncan spent much of
his childhood simply roaming the streets. His mum left home and his dad showed no interest in any of the family. Duncan now
lives at Ngata home. He is fifteen years old and is enjoying school. He is currently in Form Four and has shown a great interest
in farming where he cares for the poultry. Paul lived at home with his mum and his three brothers and sisters. He was attending
nursery but was taken out of school because his mum simply could not afford the school fees. Paul was spending his time begging
on the streets at such a young age. At his mum's request, Paul moved to Ngata. He is a polite, humble and grateful boy who
works hard. He is now seven years old and attending Form One.
Ngata is also developing various farming and animal project. At the moment they keep rabbits, some dairy cows, pigs and poultry if only to enhance their diet - sorry to the City-Slickers, but the kids don't need Jamie Oliver to tell them that they don't come oven-ready from the supermarket! About £25 will meet the cost of the daily needs of one child and their carers to become self-sufficient in the process. This will feed, clothe and educate a child, probably for the first time in years. It will also include a small payment of about £3 per month to the Country Director, creating employment there so as to supervise the programme and also make an income. In the short-term, it is very necessary to pay out money like this. Various income generating projects are being set up so that guardians of the children can invest wisely and have a better chance of becoming self-sufficient, rather than be the recipients of handouts. |
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