THE KENYA CHILDREN’S TRUST
A personal account by Jenny Sharman
I was introduced to the children of Gataka, who live in a growing slum on the
outskirts of Nairobi, in 2006. I’d been encouraged to go by an elderly man who
worked for a family I often stay with when in Nairobi. He had explained to me,
very passionately, about the problems in the slum and the distressing level of
poverty, alcoholism, HIV and crime amongst the adults. He described how this
was affecting the youngest members of the slum and how it was the ambition of
his small church to try and protect them.
The next day I visited the small, mud brick church that was full of children under the age of 8, the youngest being a baby. The pastor explained to me that through donations from members of the congregation this impoverished group of people were trying to provide a safe haven for the poorest and most vulnerable children in the community. Their aim was to have a small nursery school that could also feed and clothe these children, protecting them from the violence and crime that was ever present on their doorstep.
I was told not only about the susceptibility of these children to being lured into a life of crime, but also about the shockingly high incidence of rape that many children were forced to suffer when left alone on the streets while their parents went in search of work.
I was very affected by what I heard, and impressed by the passion this community portrayed in their desire to make a difference. It seemed to me that with a relatively small amount of money, these visionary people could make their dreams come true. After a few years of informal support, The Kenya Children’s Trust was formed as a registered UK Charity, and thanks to incredibly generous support, the community are now well on the way to having the school they were longing for.
Go to THE KENYA CHILDREN’S TRUST website for more information.
Working as a trustee for The Kenya Children's Trust, I have come to have an insight into what it takes to make a successful charity. I use this experience when working alongside other charitable organisations to help them achieve their aims.
