Make a difference in the lives of disabled children

The Malaika Initiative was born and officially registered in November 2014 as an NGO by The government of Kenya. Malaika Initiative is a non-political, non-religious, and non-profit making organization.

On December 7, 2015, the Malaika Daycare Center started its operations.

It is located in a church compound in rooms that used to be the kitchen area for the church

cookeries.

The organization runs Malaika Daycare Centre for the mentally retarded and physically

challenged people, majoring in children with disability (CWDs). The founder Mrs. Grace

Njuguna started the foundation as a result of her granddaughter, who, due to meningitis and

stroke, suffered multiple disabilities. The institution depends on well-wishers for assistance in its

daily running. She approaches individuals to sponsor each child at Kshs 200 for daily upkeep

and any other assistance. Sometimes she uses her pension to facilitate the day-to-day

running of the Centre. Most of the children come from neighboring slums like Bondeni, Lake

View, Kivumbini, Flamingo, Kwa Rhonda, Manyani, Paul Machanga Kaloleni, and the outskirts

of Nakuru town.

The center started with five CWDs. Today it caters to 30 CWDs who have various disabilities

due to cerebral palsy and meningitis. Others have multiple disabilities like being blind, deaf,

dumb, bow-legged, and spinal problems which have condemned them to wheelchairs. The institution

is a unique daycare center because it is for the most disabled children and their poor caregivers

who cannot afford the healthcare fund, and also it’s the only one of its kind within and around

Nakuru County.

Each child should pay a fee of Ksh 200/= per day for the care, feeding, and therapy interventions

given at the daycare center. The center has 30 children only 9 of them are able to pay for

three days per week, totaling up to Ksh 21,600/= per month. If all the 30 children paid, it would be a total

of Ksh 120,000/= per month, but they don’t pay due to poverty and lack of sponsors. In addition,

some of the families and caregivers live very far from the center, whereby the mothers are

forced to walk with the children on the back or in wheelchairs for a period of even between

1hr-1.5 hours which totals to about 3 hours walk to and from the center. At the center, the

mother and children receive breakfast and lunch meals, and of course, the child receives

therapy for 45 minutes to 1 hour from the pediatric occupational therapist.

We, as the Malaika Initiative, are in urgent need of your financial help. We have a challenge with

funds. The organization has five (5) workers, and only three (3) of the workers are paid. The

members of staff are: the founder, Mrs. Grace Njuguna; the pediatric occupational therapist, Mr

Peter Tanui; a project assistant, a caregiver, and a cook. The therapist is only paid Ksh 20,000/= per

month as we cannot afford more. The caregiver and the cook each receive pay of Ksh 10,000/= per

month. The founder Mrs. Grace Njuguna and the project assistant are purely on a voluntary basis.

The therapist works daily from 9:00 am to about 3:00 pm under primitive circumstances, lacking

running water, good equipment, and space. To make ends meet, he has to find other jobs.

Each child receives a treatment of 45 minutes to 1 hour thrice a week. With 30 children, we need

a second therapist, but as you can understand, we do not have funds.

Another big problem is the lack of space. This is also a result of the increased number of children

from five to 30. We are in a small building situated within the church area. the building used to be

a kitchen area for the church. We subdivided it into four rooms: the room with

equipment where the therapist works, the founder's small office, the therapist’s office, which he

shares with the project assistant, and a very small kitchen. This underlines the need for more

money for us to enlarge.

Hopefully, you can find it in your heart to help. Thank you in advance for your help. --Malaika Initiative for Children with Disability