OUR STORY
In 2009 a group of young adults from the UK travelled to Nakuru to volunteer in street child rehabilitation centres, orphanages and schools. During their stay, an orphanage where they were volunteering was forced to close.
The lack of social support within Kenya meant the children would be forced to return to unsafe environments where violence, drug and alcohol abuse are commonplace, or to grandparents too frail and poor to properly care for them.
Worse still, they may have ended up on the street, some aged as young as six. The UK volunteers, still teenagers themselves, were so profoundly shocked they embarked on the extraordinary task of raising funds from family and friends to buy land and build the first St Jerome’s centre, which opened in 2012.
In 2014, the home was relocated to Murunyu, on the outskirts of Nakuru. The construction project was run by Orkid Studios, an architectural charity staffed by volunteers. The St Jerome’s Centre now has capacity to accommodate 40 children in a light and spacious home suited to their needs. The home provides full time employment to 7 local people, including a Manager and 3 Aunties to provide guidance, love and support as well as some home cooking.
This residential home has now given 33 children the chance of a better life, with access to education, food, shelter and a safe haven from the endemic problems of the region, which has been battered by political upheaval and HIV.
The oldest children are now coming to the end of their time at the home. The St Jerome’s Centre is therefore committed to supporting them in a successful transition into adult life. This will hopefully pave the way for many more generations of vulnerable children to follow in their footsteps through the centre.