The Home is situated in the town of Nanyuki, which is to be found in the foothills of Mount Kenya, some 100 miles north of Nairobi. It was founded in 1969 under the control of the Children’s Welfare Society of Kenya. It serves the Laikipia region, which is an area of extreme poverty. Its first activity was a feeding programme for malnourished children from poor families who lived in the slums of the region. The children were mostly from ‘single mother’ families - a lot of the fathers had died in Kenya’s struggle for independence. The Home was started in a rented room, initially taking in 15 children. As time went on there was an increasing need to provide a proper home for the ever-growing number of orphans in the area. In 1979 Nanyuki Town Council donated the four acre site where today’s Home is located.
The Home has continued growing, and to date over 6000 children have passed through its gates.
At present there are over 80 children resident at the Home. They range in age from a few months to 17 years. Some of them are orphans, some of them are ‘street kids’ and others have simply been abandoned by their families. There are also several girls at the Home who have been abused by people in their village (often their own family members).They are temporary residents, staying there for their own safety. Sadly, as HIV is now so rife in Kenya the number of children needing the services of the Home will continue to grow.
Nanyuki Children’s Home provides a safe, happy, homely place for these children to live. They are provided with shelter, food and education. There is a nursery on-site, and the older children attend local (mainly Christian) schools. Counselling is provided for those children who need it.
There is obviously considerable expense involved in providing these facilities - although the Home now has a thriving farm and is virtually self-sufficient for vegetables, a lot of food has to be bought in to feed the children. There are also staff costs, medicines to be bought, school fees and uniforms to be paid for and numerous other sundries.
The Home receives very little official funding and relies almost entirely on voluntary donations.
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