Submitted by olivia on Thu, 2013-10-24 09:21
- STORIES FROM MAAI MAHIU, KENYA -
Before CTC, being a child with special needs in Kenya meant being shunned, disapproved of, and left out. Parents often hide or ignore their disabled children, knowing that often people see the child as a sign of sinning on the parent’s behalf. In some instances, parents would sometimes even make the decision to leave their child at home alone when they had to go for work, rather than bring the child out into the public. There were few resources for the child, let alone for the parents to help learn to care for them. If a disabled child lives through infancy and toddlerhood, they are left out of schooling as they cannot keep up physically or mentally. Plus, the private schools are expensive and the public schools are already extremely overcrowded. Given the poor prenatal care and perinatal care that many women in the area receive, children with special needs are far too common. Sadly, children with disabilities are still sometimes considered cursed, and they and their mothers live in isolation with limited access to often-unaffordable resources.
To address the needs of these children and their mothers, CTC created the Malaika Kids program (Malaika meaning “angel” in Swahili). When the Malaika Kids program began in 2008, it was staffed by caretakers to look after the special needs kids of Mums in the Malaika Mum's program, which was created to give the mothers employment and empowerment in a sewing studio created by CTC. It was a safe place for the children to be, they were given love and attention, and they were in the same location as their mothers. It provided peace of mind to the stressed and worried mums so they could work and obtain a steady income in a job they could be proud of. The goal of the Malaika Kids program is to see that each child reaches his or her full potential to lead a life with dignity and independent living skills.
There are currently 22 kids with various types of mental and/or physitcal disabilities receiving full time day schooling through the Malaika Kids program with CTC. There are three groups that the kids are placed into, based on their level of development. 10 kids are seen for outpatient therapy, on a part time basis by the Malaika Kids team. Currently, all 22 full-time children are in small rooms in the CTC staff offices, with as many as 8-10 kids in each room. CTC has developed relationships with Special Education Specialists of Kenya (SEP), which is a society of therapists and teachers who work with special needs children throughout Kenya. They visit the Malaika Kids once a month to work with the students and provide opinions and feedback to the caretakers who care for them. Representatives of Sarakasi Trust travel to Maai Mahiu once a month to conduct entertaining and educational activities for the Malaika Kids as well. These valued partnerships have made the Malaika Kids program stronger, but they needed more.
Dr. Tim Williamson (a CTC board member and TRIBE member) had visited Maai Mahiu several times on medical mission trips, when he was drawn to this very special school. Working in collaboration with CTC, multidisciplinary professionals from KU Medical Center, as well as other medical centers and supporters throughout the country, The Acacia Fund was founded in 2011 with the goal of helping CTC continue to grow and develop the Malaika Kids program. We have amassed a small committee of dedicated individuals, most of whom have been on a medical team to Maai Mahiu with CTC, to dream big and come up with new and exciting ways to spread the word about CTC and the Malaika Kids, and ultimately raise as much funding as we can. Our first fundraiser was in 2011, and we have since grown in leaps and bounds. This November will be our third annual fundraiser in Kansas City, and we have high hopes it will be great! With the funds we have raised so far, we were able to help CTC hire a full time Occupational Therapist in Martin Millimu, and a full time special education teacher in Patrick Omondi! They have done amazing work with the children, including enabling some of them to be integrated back into public schooling, something virtually unheard of in Maai Mahiu. Our goal for the fundraiser this year is to begin the capital campaign to build the new school on the CTC land just outside of Maai Mahiu, as the program is outgrowing its current surroundings. The future of The Acacia Fund is exciting as we dream up new ways to be able to provide for specialized equipment, handicapped-accessible vehicles to transport the kids, expanding educational outreach and home-based care programs, to develop an exit program for graduates of the Malaika Kids school into a trade vocation, and to increase the capacity of the program to reach more kids in need of specialized care.
Would you like to learn more about The Acacia Fund or help us out? We would love to have you! Learn more about us at www.ctcinternational.org/acaciafund. Come to our fundraiser in KC! acaciafundfundraiser.eventbrite.com. Or donate to the cause at ctcinternational.org/donate1 and specify The Acacia Fund. Every dollar helps support CTC in the amazing work they do with the Malaika Kids. For anyone whom has ever met them, they truly are Angels!
Asante Sana,
Maggie Reavis, CTC TRIBE Member
