New Dormitory for Baraka Children's Centre, Kenya

Aim

We want to build and equip a new dormitory and kitchen for orphans and vulnerable children at Baraka Children Centre in Nyeri, Kenya.

Hello, I'm Mary Myers.  I have started a small charity called 'Friends of Baraka Children's Centre' which aims to help orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya. Baraka Children's Centre was founded in 2004 and is run by my amazing friend, Francis Kimaru. It is located in Nyeri, in the beautiful central highlands of Kenya, about three hours drive north of Nairobi, near Mount Kenya.  It is a fertile but poor area, with many children orphaned by AIDS.  The Kenyan government offers very little help for kids who lose their parents and/or who end up on the street through abuse at home or whose parents die or abandon them - for example due to teenage pregnancy or alcoholism or other social or psychological problems.

Francis, who runs the Centre, has also built a school called Baraka Peace-Building School which offers primary education to 189 pupilsl, 49 being orphans or vulnerable and who do not pay school fees.  At present 28 of these children are pupils at the school and also residents at the Centre, as they have no other home. Here, Francis and his wife and family, along with two house-mothers, care for the children's physical and psychological needs and try to provide a home for them.  However, there is constant pressure on Francis to accommodate more orphans on a permanent basis.  To do so, he needs more beds and needs to complete another dormitory which will separate the boys from the girls.

Here is the beginning of the new dormitory block.  With £10,000 we can finish the building work and equip it with beds, bedding, shelves, books & toys, other equipment ad toiletries, electricity, water and loos.  A small kitchen block will also be refurbished to cater for the children's meals.

This project successfully funded on 29th November 2019