We headed over Nairobi to check out the amazing work of Thomas Barnado House Orphanage.
The orphanage is home to approximately 200 beautiful kids ranging from only 1 day old up to 16 years old who have either been abandoned, orphaned or came from destitute families who couldn’t afford to support them. We first went in to one of the many houses which is typically run by one ‘mumma’ who parents up to 15 kids of different ages.
I found this to be an amazing set up because it actually mimics the family home where other orphanages tend to be set up in mass dormitories and the children don’t get the love, care and attention they desperately need. We then headed into the abandoned babies unit which literally ripped my heart out.
The unit houses between 40-50 babies ranging from only one day to 2 years old and I was overwhelmed at how such beauty could just be abandoned to fend for themselves but then I also had a massive revelation that they were receiving all of the love and basic necessities that they would maybe never have received should they have stayed with their biological parents.
The home also has it’s own fashion school and wood/metalwork school that provides an education both to the teenagers of the home and other kenyans that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it so that they can go out and earn a living for their families.
It costs about 50,000 Kenyan shilling or £370 a year to feed, house, educate, provide medical care, emotional and spiritual welfare to just one child. That’s the equivalant of £31 a month and when you times that by 200 kids you see the sort of figures they’re up against just to keep the home running.
Charity does have a lot of negative connotations to it in terms of corruption but seeing the work of Barnado’s first hand, the money really is making a difference in the lives of these amazing children.
The way we eradicate poverty is by helping one person at a time. If this in any way pulls on your heart strings and you have even £10 a month spare, why not visit their website and sacrifice the equivalent of a few coffees a month, you can honestly make a MASSIVE difference.
Failing that please share this link with your friends as it’s all about generating awareness!
