By Grace Disabled and Orphans Centre is based in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi. It is situated on the eastward part of Nairobi at the heart of the sprawling Kayole estate in Embakasi Division. The few all-weather roads that cut through the estate are so narrow that even a professional driver will have immense difficulty in navigating his or her way around. With the teeming population of this sprawling estate and the absence of pedestrian footpaths, driving in this part of the word is not for the faint hearted.
The Centre is surrounded by numerous slum dwellings, which include Soweto, Kwa Ngurue, Kibarage, Mworoto, Matopeni and Humama. These areas are characterized by inadequate infrastructure, squalid housing structures, abject poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, acute HIV/AIDS prevalence, family violence and many other vices that make living here something akin to sheer hell!
The stench emanating from open trenches that spew their ugly contents onto footpaths, coupled with stinking garbage that litter almost every open space, makes the art of breathing in this part of the world a dreadful exercise indeed. It is this stench that plays on one’s nostrils upon their arrival in these slums.
Yet in the midst of this jungle of concrete, iron sheets, garbage, sewage, coupled with teeming humanity, all manner of vices flourish with abandon. Prostitution, crime, violence, and every manner of perversion abound. Predictably, HIV/AIDS, violent crime and disease have taken their toll on the inhabitants of this place.
But the hardest hit and affected by these conditions are the children, especially those orphaned through HIV/AIDS and crime. With no one to fed for them, they ‘escape’ into the streets where they are sucked into the torrid miasma of street life, characterized by sexual exploitation (especially the girl-child), drug abuse and violent crime.
However in the darkness of this ‘hell on earth’, God’s Light shines unhindered. Where you would expect to see grotesque tortured faces, instead you see faces of children beaming with joy, as though without a care in the world. Were you to be told that most of these children have been orphaned through AIDS, and more still have been rescued from sexual abuse, perhaps you will find it hard to believe.
And yet this is the all-too-familiar story of children at By Grace Disabled and Orphans Centre. The Director of the Centre, Ms. Salome W. Muturi, has seen it all. Countless are the times she has attended burials of parents of children now under her care. These disadvantaged children, some of whom are disabled, look up to her as their only hope. In turn she does not disappoint; for she is a woman of faith, faith God and in His ability to take care of His children.
The Centre takes care of physically, socially, economically, emotionally and spiritually disabled orphans; mainly drawn from those affected by HIV/AIDS. The Centre is dedicated to providing free education, accommodation, food, clothing, good health, individual skills enhancement and spiritual support to the children. Counseling is an integral aspect of the services provided at the Centre, especially to traumatized children whose parents have succumbed to HIV/AIDS, or who have a history of physical and sexual abuse.
By Grace Disabled and Orphans Centre was registered by the Kenyan government in 2002 under the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services. It is run by volunteers and comprises of an administrator, who also doubles up as a social worker and headmistress.
The Centre has 15 volunteer workers who include teachers, counselors and cooks for the 400 children, 160 of whom are boarders - the remainder, mostly those from very poor households, are fed and educated free at the Centre.
The Centre has 15 six-by-ten feet classrooms for various grades (from Kindergarten to High school), which also double up as dormitories for the boarders. At night, the children spread their beddings on the floor where they lie down to sleep.
- Food and clothing. The Centre relies on the generosity of well wishers. Availability of food is a daily miracle. There is almost always no guarantee that the next meal will be available. The Director, Salome Muturi, is however always confident that God will provide – and He has never let the Centre down!
- Land. The Centre is currently hosted in a rented place. Apart from congestion and poor ventilation, the current premises are inappropriate for the children. Salome has however identified a piece of land, an expansive 20 acres located on the outskirts of Nairobi city. This land, however, is going at the prime price of US$500,000! A well wisher from Eastbourne, UK, Sarah Johnson, has already raised about £2,000 towards this project. She and her accomplice, June, visited the Centre in November 2004. As the children mature, the Centre plans to equip them with apprentice skills with an aim of making them self-reliant. When the land is acquired, the Centre hopes to establish vocational training such as computer skills, carpentry workshops, poultry farms, horticulture, and other ventures that will not only benefit the Centre, but also impart technical skills to the children so that they can fend for themselves when they leave the Centre.
For more information about By Grace and how you can help, you may contact:
Sonya Grace Atkinson
Overseas Administrative Assistant
By Grace Disabled & Orphans Centre
P.O. Box 12147 Tom Mboya 00400
Nairobi, Kenya
email: olivejls@yahoo.com