By Sherry Waweru | Impact Assessment Officer and Project Leader
“I never thought that I had relatives who would accept me back to be part of the family”
These are words from Wilson, one of the children from Mbeere Children’s Home in Kenya who you helped us reunite with his family. Wilson had lived in an institution for so long, he never imagined being able to live with a loving family. He was four while her sister Roselyne was two years old when they were brought in the children’s home after their parents passed on. They have three older siblings who dropped out of school as there was no one to care for them.
During the family tracing process, our support staff found relatives from Wilson and Roselyne's paternal family but due to a conflict with regards to property left by the children's parents, the family members were not willing to take the children back. Fortunately after many family visits and consultations, one of the uncles took Wilson who is in high school while Roselyne remained with a trusted guardian in Mbeere so she could complete her primary education as she is about to sit for her final end of primary exam.
When we met Wilson and the other children reintegrated back to their families in April, I was impressed by his school performance. He was just an average student while in primary but now his grades have significantly improved in high school and he attributes this to the fact that his uncle has been supporting him with his academic performance and encouraging him to work hard so that he can attain good grades that will enable him get an entry to university.
Bright futures
Vision Africa continues to pay for the school fees for the children we have re-integrated and we keep a close eye on their welfare both at home in school. We hope to strengthen and empower the families to provide other basic needs so that these children are able to realise their full potential and have a successful life in future.
As the second term of school year began, all the 63 children from our re-integration programme are back to school! All their educational needs have been met thanks to your generous giving towards this programme. Re-integrating these children from institutions back to their families was an enormous task, it would not have been possbile without the support of people like you.
In April we held a get together for all the children and families that have benefitted from this programme, Derrick and his good friend Emmanuel (pictured below) were some of the first children to be re-integrated from Kandara Children's Home so they hadn't seen each other in some time - they enjoyed catching up and sharing stories of their lives with their new families.
Thank you for contributing to this work and making a difference in the lives of these brave, brilliant children who have finally settled in loving families and are performing well in school.
We look forward to keeping you updated about their progress.
Sherry Waweru
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