NYAMURI CENTRE FOR THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTHS WITH DISABILITIES

Nyamuri Centre for the education of children and Youth with disabilities is a non governmental organization with an aim of reducing the ravages of poverty on people with disabilities by endeavoring to remove barriers to education, increasing access to health service, providing vocational and life skills training and availing sporting/leisure activities. The centre is located in Kisumu, Nyanza Province in Kenya. This is a province with a very high poverty index in Kenya. The Project is guided by the UN convention (1998) on the Rights of persons with disabilities and aims at creating an enabling environment where the pupils with disabilities in this rural area may realize their full potential and live a decent life like other ordinary members of the society.

As the Centre is in its inception stage, our focus is on outreach activities which provide rehabilitation programmes that includes amongst others: a service for finding foster homes for learners with disability, linking parents and their disabled children to relevant education and health institutions, creating awareness and advocacy within these rural communities about the importance of taking disabled children to school. Apart from this we also intend to help some of the local schools to fully include learners with special educational needs in their classrooms and dealing with the challenges and barriers which they encounter. In the long run, the centre also hopes to run a school and an elaborate, accessible education resource centre for the disabled learners, their teachers, parents, caregivers and social workers by providing information in a variety of formats, IT facilities, counseling services that will challenge attitudes and mistaken assumptions about people with disabilities and networking with other local stakeholders with the same endeavor.

Until now, our work has been funded through our own (board members) contribution which has greatly limited our activities. However, we believe that a more concerted effort is needed to realize our objectives and prepare the persons with disabilities and their parents to deal more effectively with the challenges they face. That is why we are proposing for an extended education approach which, we believe, will also stimulate community-based activities to address the issue in a concerted and broader way. For such a project to succeed, more resources are needed than we can hope to contribute. As a result we hereby ask for any possible assistance that may support the centre realize its vision. Any other relevant documents (registration documents and proposal, auditing firm) that you may need are readily available upon request

Yours faithfully

CHRISTINE AUMA (MD)