ENSURING CHILDREN BORN AT HOME GET BIRTH CERTIFICATES

Many young siblings of the children in our program are born at home. The basic application process of acquiring a birth certificate can be daunting for the desperately poor mothers. Families receive assistance in navigating this process so that the child has an identity number and access to social services - limited as those are.

Advocacy is immensely important for severely marginalized and disadvantaged children. Increasing awareness for the entire community of Makindu of the basic human rights that ALL people deserve is essential; helping to empower them to stand up for those rights and learn how to access available resources are the next steps in the process.

The Center offers free community seminars open to all community members on a multitude of subjects, including child advocacy and protection, women’s rights (both ethically and legally within Kenya), HIV/AIDS, and more. These workshops have helped to connect many, many villagers over the years to other resource groups within Kenya to assist them.

The kids and families within the Program are given many talks and tools to help guide them to becoming more confident and self-empowered, more capable of advocacy, and more independent and self-sufficient. We want them to understand their rights, feel deserving of them, and learn how to fight for those rights.