About the Home

Blessings Children’s Home is a non-governmental, non-profit project. It is located in Ruai, Nairobi East (Embakasi Estate).

Ruai is a small town in the outskirts of Nairobi, 25 kilometres away from city centre. It has features of a slum as there is a huge number of unemployment. Many people are poor and the number of those, who are suffering from HIV is extremely high. Because of the social hardship, many people get addicted of alcohol or drugs and the crime rate is very high. There are also cases of child labour and child prostitution!

For all those reasons there are a lot of children suffering. Either they are destitute, because their parents are not able to care for them or they lost their parents, for example in cases of diseases like Malaria or AIDS. The number of orphans also increased after the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008, when many people lost their homes and lives.

These children have found a new accommodation and family in Blessings. On 30th of June 2007, the home was established by Susan Miriti. She started renting a house for taking care of about 30 children. They are living in 4 rooms, two for each gender. Many of our children have been in a really bad state of health and mind when they have come to Blessings. Therefore, the main aim of the project is to give them the possibility to grow up in a safe and sheltered environment, to fulfill their basic needs like accommodation, food, water and medication and to offer extra activities like sports. Unfortunately, the capacities of Blessings are limited, because of the insufficient financial situation. Urgent costs are covered by the community and donations of well-wishers and friends. Concerning nutrition Blessings mostly depends on donations.

The equipment of the home is simple, most children are sharing their beds. Next to the four dorms we have a kitchen, an office room, which is also used for the Kindergarten, one room for the nanny and a „library“, in which the children can rest, do their homework, eat and were the school takes place. A connection to electricity is missing.