The first eight girls have joined the new children’s home
On Friday 27 June 2014 Olturoto Children’s Village (OCV) opened its doors to eight little Kenyan girls aged five to ten years old. Three sets of sisters, Dorcas & Faith, Vivian & Lillian, Shiiru & Sarah, arrived on Friday and and Maria and Esther arrived on Saturday. The girls will be living at ‘Grace’ which is the first of four children’s homes to open at OCV.
The girls have come from the streets of Nairobi where they have been exposed to often dangerous conditions and have gone without basic care and education. They arrived today with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. Kickstart has partnered with two charities, Rescue Dada and CARA, to help identify the most vulnerable and at-risk children to join OCV.
The goal of OCV is one of long term reintegration, meaning OCV will be a half way home for the kids until they are ready to transition into a loving family environment. While living at OCV, the girls will be cared for on a daily basis by our new matron, Mary (pictured far left), and supported by our highly experienced Programme Manager, William (second from right). The girls will attend Olturoto Primary School and for some this will be their first exposure to formal education.
Since purchasing land in 2009, Kickstart’s team across Kenya, Australia and the UK have been focused on designing OCV in a way that promotes local empowerment through sustainability principles. Environmental sustainability is achieved through obtaining all power from renewable sources (wind and solar), cooking with biogas, water sourced on site and waste also treated on site. We are also targeting financial sustainability through a commercial farm operated by our OCV farm manager, Lucy (second from left). Chillies and other vegetables are exported to UK supermarkets with the long term goal of farm profits covering all the monthly running costs of OCV. There is still a long way to go and ongoing donations are very much needed to support the children at this stage. The plan for the next 12 months is to take 24 more young vulnerable children off the streets and welcome them to OCV.
How you can help
Recurring donations are the key to ensuring Kickstart can maintain the highest level of quality care for these eight girls and welcome in 24 more children by this time next year.
Australia: Tax deductible donations can be made online at Givenow and with the end of the Australian tax year approaching fast this is a great opportunity to make a difference.
UK: Donations can be made online at BT Donate and Just Giving.
If you have any questions at all about donating, need assistance to set up a recurring donation or or would like to donate from an EU country outside the UK, please contact our sponsorship manger Elyse Bakunowicz at elyse.bakunowicz@kickstartkidsinternational.com
