Makimei Children's Home (Kenya) & Orphan Aid

Hello everyone! Shereen and Maria here! We are two 6th year medical students who are travelling to Nairobi, Kenya, for a 4-week medical volunteering project. As well working in various hospitals and clinics, we will be visiting orphanages in and around Nairobi.

Unfortunately, orphanages in Kenya are not governmentally funded and therefore, have very little oversight, meaning corruption is rife in these institutions. As a result, donations do not always reach the children.

We have now arrived in Nairobi, Kenya and have visited multiple orphanages as well as spoken to local social workers to identify the orphanages that are most in need and free of corruption. Therefore, we have decided to work with the Makimei Children’s Home which is an orphanage that is severely overcrowded and underfunded.

The orphanage currently has 109 children, with the youngest being only 4 weeks old. However, due to very limited space and resources, unfortunately 5-6 children are sharing a single bed and multiple babies are sharing cots. This of course is very difficult for the children, especially as they are growing and is of course, a huge health and safety concern. Therefore, the orphanage is working on constructing a new, larger building that will be able to provide the children with more space as well as a bed each.

Moreover, as there is little to no funding for this orphanage, they are also struggling to pay the children’s school fees. Each child’s school fees are around 18,000 Kenyan Shillings for a semester (3 months in each semester). This is around 100 GBP. School supplies such as pens, pencils, folders, shoe polish etc are also needed for the children.

Therefore, we would be extremely grateful if you could donate whatever you can so that we can provide the children with better living conditions and also, the ability to continue their education and have a better future.

We will also be using this money to help the orphanage in other areas that require aid such as food and nutrition and we will also aid any other orphans we meet outside of this institution.

Thank you very much!