Kenya/ Kantafu Center for Children with Disabilities
Background
Mathare, an informal settlement, a vast slum settlement, emerged even before Kenya’s independence. Many people who had lost their land to British settlers moved to Nairobi and settled with their families along the Nairobi River. They survived by working as porters, gardeners, cooks, and nannies for wealthy families in Muthaiga, a wealthy neighborhood in Nairobi. They remained in Mathare even after independence, as the new Kenyan rulers returned their land to them. The population continues to grow rapidly, as many people from rural areas who come to Nairobi in search of work end up in these settlements. Over the years, other slums such as Kibera, Mukuru, and Korogocho have emerged, mainly along the river.
The Forgotten People
Those settled there are forgotten people. They live without any social or infrastructural services. There are no planned houses; the children live in shacks made of tin, wood, and cardboard. There are no schools, no hospitals, no roads, no sewers, and no sanitation! As a result, many children are born with various disabilities. The environment is harsh for the population, but even worse, more hopeless, and life-threatening for people with special needs.
St. Maurus
Decades ago, the Benedictine missionaries launched several social projects for the locals. They founded a center, the St. Maurus Special Center. At this center, social workers recruited children with various disabilities. They were examined and referred to specialized facilities based on their special needs. Over the years, this center lost financial resources, and the premises have since been used by the local parish for a private school. Furthermore, a large church was built nearby. The children no longer have a place to live except for a small tin room, where the social workers still employed are trying to continue the original project. Please click on the following YouTube link to see more:
Friends of St. Maurus
We understand the plight of these children because we have worked with them ourselves. Therefore, we continue to advocate for them and do our best. Back in 2015, we founded the local association “Friends of St. Maurus” and began collecting donations to build a center for these children in a quieter, rather remote area outside of Mathare. The social workers/teachers and former volunteers succeeded in building the Kantafu Children’s Center.
Please click on the following YouTube link to see more:
The Challenge
The center is now completed, and PBF has provided us with the container classrooms that were purchased at the time for a school project to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in Mathare. However, we cannot currently accommodate our children at the center because we lack the funds to cover the running costs.
We are pleased that Peter Bachmann, the founder of PBF, visited both the Mathare reception center and the Kantafu center in May 2025 and has pledged his support to accommodate these children at the center now. There, they can live in a safe, healthy environment and acquire practical skills that can help them achieve limited independence in the future. We are ready to get started immediately. The most urgent needs include:
- Professional social workers to live with the children.
- Food.
- Medical care.
- Security.
With a budget of $1,500 per month, we can begin the first steps immediately.
Thank you.
Dan Amolo
For PBF