The Foundation is present in Ukunda, a semi-rural village in the county of Kwale, near Diani Beach. In 2008, the first block of “Nyumba ya Watoto 1” foster home was opened in Ukunda. This project sustains those little ones who lost their parents and help them achieve a “normal” way of life.
With the plan of building several orphan-asylums and accommodating as many children as possible, the area has been filled up with houses having between 8 and 10 children of different sex and ages with a “mum”. The latter would run the household with the monthly salary of the Foundation, and is in charge of bringing the kids up, nourishing, training and giving them an education. The orphans would then grow up like brothers and sisters with the idea of a real family.
Each house is provided with electricity, running water and a bathroom. It has a separate room for boys, another one for girls and a third one for the “mom”. A typical African kitchen is used as a dining room, a courtyard and gardens are for play time. The buildings include a community hall and doctors.
A private founder donated a football pitch, a volleyball and basketball court and a vegetable garden. A farming project has been added to the program: the gardens (“shamba”) are looked after by the children themselves when not at school, and the harvest will be shared between all the foster home facilities and used to prepare food. This is also a chance they have to learn a job.
The Foundation has also provided the kids with a bus so they can reach the primary school of “Saint Joseph School Ukunda”.
Thanks to the several sponsors’ contribution, sewing machines and computers were bought for the children to use so they can learn new skills, expand their knowledge and socialize.
From time to time, the Foundation organizes big meetings between the kids and their birth parents. The orphanages, who organize songs, dances and acrobatic games together with their instructors, show their abilities especially in acrobatic dance to their biological moms and dads – if they’d show up at the meeting…
In this gallery you can experience what I witnessed at one of these meetings.
Find more information about this project on the official website for Fondazione Chincherini.
