ESA champions and facilitates activities geared towards making a positive impact on society. As the year’s end is fast approaching ESA thought it wise to give back by organizing a visit to a children’s home. We identified Ntimi Home of Hope, a children’s home in Umoja area of Nairobi, as the perfect home we could make a difference in.
Ntimi Home of Hope is located in Umoja inner core, Tena estate. It houses 100 children, between the ages of 0 to 17, among them abandoned, orphaned and street children. Before it can house a child, Ntimi Home of Hope, in compliance with the laws of Kenya, conducts a reconnaissance to try and figure out the antecedents of a rescued child, in partnership with law enforcement officers. The information gathered is useful to them in coming up with the children’s exit strategies once they come of age.
The children’s home relies on well-wishers for the running of its day-to-day activities and volunteers to help around in the baby sitting of the young ones and maintenance of cleanliness around the home. The younger kids go to different primary schools in the neighborhood from where they transit to various secondary schools around the country. Ntimi Home of hope boasts of four children in national schools, ten in extra county schools and five in county schools, which stands as a testimony of their great track record in academics. Of the setbacks they encounter, school fees and school uniform pose the greatest challenge to them. According to one Mr. George, who doubles up as the director of the home and the father of the children, the Home plans to invest in a school uniform production project targeting the schools the children are enrolled in, so as to secure a conducive learning environment for them, devoid of nuisances of unsettled expenses. To actualize this project, the home will need capital to buy sewing machines, badge makers and the different fabric. The Home is also looking to partner with an organization to provide financial patronage in a bid to ensure sustenance.
The student engineers through the Engineering Students’ Association, paid Ntimi Home of Hope a visit on the 10th of December, 2022, where they donated in kind and in cash. The students spent the day with the kids, engaging them in fun activities, doing their laundry and preparing a meal which they partook of as they interacted with them. The kids formed bonds with the students, whom as ESA we believe will be great mentors to them and the hands they need to hold as they navigate their journeys. It was heart-warming to see the joy written all over the kids’ faces.