Help Kenyan children with disabilities into school

Summary

103 children attend Athi Special School under the care of inspirational special-needs teacher Esther Kirema. (38 have a mental disability, 4 are hearing impaired and 61 are physically disabled.) Many more are hidden at home due to stigma and ignorance. The school is part of North Meru DCC, a wider project to increase community awareness of disability issues. progress report read updates from the field

How You Can Help

Make a donation
	£6 - could buy two blankets
	£27 - buys a pair of special shoes
	£34 - would buy several useful reference textbooks
	show more

	£ Other amount

Received $285 from 8 donations from people like:

Anette

Richard (RJ) Hill

(Anon.)

+

YOU!

Give now to become donor #9!

See all photos

Actions

Printer Friendly
Add to Registry
Add to Fundraiser
Add to Giving Group
Subscribe to Updates
Subscribe to RSS Feed

Share & Save

Spread the Word
Tag on del.icio.us
Add to Facebook

More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

Many children with disabilities are hidden from view due to prevailing local attitudes and perceptions. Children with remediable and manageable conditions are often not being presented for treatment. Parents need to be encouraged to seek advice and help, taught coping strategies and offered ongoing support. In this poor rural community with hilly terrain, difficult access and poor transport options, it is often the cost which limits what can currently be achieved.

Activities

So far we have helped build a dormitory able to accommodate up to 80 children (40 boys and 40 girls) with special needs, and a wheelchair-friendly dining hall. With the help of experienced short-term volunteer professionals and some funding support, we are now encouraging Athi to develop its work, provide training for staff and help more children more effectively. Some need expensive surgery and/or equipment - we aim to help identify needs and enable solutions to be found and implemented.

Funding Information

Total Funding Received to Date: £181
Remaining Goal to be Funded: £5,635
Total Funding Goal: £5,816

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources

Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

Improving facilities, staffing levels. training, equipment and resources enable the project to develop and help not just those children attending Athi School, but others in the community. The educational outreach aims also to benefit future generations.

Project Message

We found Josephine in a dark room. No windows. The smell was awful. In her eyes I saw the despair of someone who had lost the will to go on. We will help her now. We must...
- Jamie Hood, HATW dining hall building volunteer

Latest Update from the Field

April Update

By David Steiner - HANDS AROUND THE WORLD CEO, April 24, 2012 02:45 PM

Just a quick note to keep you up to up to speed and let you know that Amy (physiotherapist) will be going shortly to Athi to help at with the children in the school. She will be staying until the end of June.

Amy will be traveling out with Heidi our project co-ordinator who will add a report here on her return at the end of May.

We're looking forward to hearing how they are all getting on, including of course Nelly who is due for her surgery at the beginning of June.

There are four key areas to explore in discussion on their visit to Athi. (Maybe others will also become apparent!) These are:

1 Dining hall/kitchen

2 The dormitory and its water supply,

3 Future volunteer help and

4 Provision options for supplying all-terrain wheelchairs.

Please watch this space!

Read 2 more "Updates from the Field" | Comment on this update

Subscribe to "Updates from the Field" by E-Mail