amani

About Amani CDP

The Genesis:
Amani Child Development Program was founded by Rev. Kenneth Wachianga in 1996 in Sirembe village and later moved to Mindhine village in the year 2004. A priest by profession Rev. Kenneth deeply felt that the church had overlooked one of its core duties by not doing enough to carter for the many orphans and the aged group in the area. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in recent years has led to an alarming increase in the numbers of widows and widowers in the Nyanza region of Kenya. Existing home based care programmes often lacked volunteers and building capacity. This spurred an active far sighted priest, along with 10 supporting board members to establish a long term development program for the local children.

Amani Child Development Program was officially launched on the 18th February 2004 by the Rev. Dr. Angelo D'Agostino, founder and Medical Director of Nyumbani Children's Home in Nairobi. The occasion was also graced by the DCO and members of the local community. The center had its humble begining with just four children at its inception, fast forward to the present day and the program has been involved in the lives of a total of 100 children, both boys and girls with ages ranging from day 1 to 19 years old. The center is currently a safe and a happy home to 69 very happy children.

Amani Today :

Unlike its early days when its success was the main question from majority, Amani CDP today is a safe, friendly and nourishing home to children who would not be living happily or not at all. The children attend nearby schools and integrate well with other local kids. Having so many brothers and sisters can sometimes be challenging but it can also be a lot of fun when you learn how to overcome challenges! It means they never need to be alone and there is always someone to play with. Apart from enjoying education, helping with some work and playing, our children also attend a local church on Sundays. At Amani CDP, we emphasis on a good Christian morals upbringing being as one of our core elements of the children's spiritual development. The facilities at Amani CDP may be very basic by the western world standards but are comfortable by local ones. The structural integrity and building materials used at the center are exemplary by local comparisons.

We recently installed a fresh water pump on our center grounds. This has come at the right time and has gone an extra mile by saving our staff lengthy trek king hours to the river to fetch water for washing, cleaning, cooking and much more. We are currently working on having electricity at the center. If this dream is realized it shall open a new avenue of equal opportunities to our community members at the center. Amani CDP positively believe that your precious time that is spent here shall encourage you to consider making noble steps towards helping souls that need your care, contribution, your precious time, your encouragement and above the already mentioned your LOVE! and we strongly believe to leave behind our positive legacy through making many faces to smile in life. This has been an extra ordinarily long journey. Moreover, it even seems longer than what we anticipated and we are powered by your will of solidarity when it comes to sharing our dreams for the needy children.

Our Staff

Rev Father Kenneth Wachianga, the founder and Director of the center leads a positively active team of 7 fulltime and 4 part time staff. The children are cared for on a day to day basis by a full-time 'Housemother' along with 2 other full time social workers, called 'Teachers', and specialist round the clock care for the young babies.

They are supported by 3 'Aunties' who often do a majority of the cooking as well as helping out with the multitude of other tasks at the center. Alongside these workers are 2 grounds men who cultivate available land on the site to produce home grown food for our community members.

A qualified senior medical nurse pays us visit on a regular basis per week for the purpose of checking of our community members' health. This entails diagnosis, prescription and drug administration.

How we work

At Amani CDP, our new community members are admitted in a number of different ways; Many have been brought to the orphanage by older relatives after the child's parents passed away, mostly due to HIV/Aids. To date we still receive numerous cases that are relevant to the above mentioned. Some are brought to our centre by the Children’s Department simply because they either have nowhere else to go or because it is dangerous for them to be at home. Some are brought by older siblings who find that they cannot care for all their brothers and sisters simultaneously. Some children have been found abandoned by their parents, either by the roadside or in the fields. This has turned to be a very cruel way of neglecting living souls and it is deeply rooted in our ethnical cultures that some cases are literally regarded as either a taboo or a curse.

The Children's typical day at Amani CDP
At our centre life still continues just like or better than how it was at home to the majority. The school-going children leave early in the morning to walk or to catch the school bus. The workers have to wake up even earlier to wake them up and make sure they are prepared and given their breakfast so that they are ready for school. There are some morning chores which the older children take turns to do on a rotational basis, such as fetching water, sweeping the courtyard or serving breakfast. Once the older children have left for school, the younger ones are woken, washed and given the second round of breakfast. They are free to play until lunch on most days but are also given some pre-school teaching when time allows. Lunch is served by the staff for the younger children; some of the older ones who attend school locally come back to the centre for their lunch too. In the afternoon after school, the kids split their time between helping to do chores with the workers, or playing in the yard or making an early start on some homework. In the evenings, everyone contributes in cooking, serving and thereafter washing the evening meal utensils. Ugali, kales, rice, chapati, beans, meat and fish form the staple diet for the children, as is the case with most Kenyan families. After supper, everyone gathers in the common room to sing, play music, dance and say evening prayers. The younger children head off to bed, while the older ones stay up to finish off the day’s homework together.

Rev. Kenneth is committed to supporting this charity and the community, and he says “It's an organization that I have chosen to support because they are doing such great work with the children, community and faith based organizations. This orphanage is the lifeline for all these grassroots' groups. The orphanage provides shelter, counselling, and education about HIV prevention, care and treatment; distributes food, medication and other necessities. Healthcare helps orphans and vulnerable children access education and work through their grief, and support children and babies.”  

Here is where you can learn more or donate. Please feel free to contact Father Kenneth anytime to enquire about a visit (see Contact Information).