Watoto Wa Baraka International

We are a registered non-profit organisation running a number of programmes, all aimed towards providing support for orphans and rural communities in Kenya. Through these programmes we aim to change the lives of as many people as possible. Here are the programs for Watoto Wa Baraka

Children's Education
WWB believes that education is extremely important to improve the lives of orphans and poor children. We support their education by providing schooling support, continuously discussing their progress with teachers. We also find responsible guardians to take them in and help us support them. With support for food, school uniforms and medical care we ensure their participation and encourage them to complete their education.

Orphanage Program
Watoto Wa Baraka houses the children most in need at our orphanage north of Nairobi and works with communities to find guardians to house more children. Sponsorship for these children (either at the orphanage or with guardians) is crucial for the success of this project. The orphanage currently accommodates 36 children and we have successfully placed many more with guardians in local communities around Kenya. With the support of sponsors, we will be able to increase the number of children that we support.

HIV/AIDS Program
Kenya has been hit hard by the HIV epidemic with approximately 1.8 million adults and over 400,000 children infected. By 2010, it is estimated that up to 30 million children will lose one or both parents to the disease. We are committed to working with local communities to help fight the disease. We are training home-based caregivers to help community members raise awareness of HIV/AIDS issues and take steps to prevent infection. We are requesting local and international volunteers to come and work with the villagers, the schools, and us, to educate and work with students and members of the community.

Orphan Sponsorship Program (OSP)
The purpose and objective of the OSP is to provide basic physical, social and spiritual care to those children who have lost their parents. We have hundreds of children waiting for sponsorship. We encourage foster parents to fill in a sponsorship form and become part of our organisation. An orphan's life can be given new direction for as little as $19 a month. WWB will consider first the orphans in greatest need, or, you can choose a child of a particular age, gender or region. The sponsors' money goes towards purchasing school supplies, books, school uniforms, clothing, medicine, and housing, as well as developing community programs.

Sustainable Agriculture Programme
Recognising the long-term physical, emotional, social and economic effects of malnutrition, hunger and poverty, Watoto Wa Baraka places great emphasis on teaching older children how to grow vegetables and staple food crops. The children learn sustainable techniques to produce basic grains such as maize, beans, rice and peas, and learn how to organically produce garden vegetables and fruits. The farm animals provide malnourished orphans with protein in the form of meat, eggs and milk. They are also taught to use manure as fertilizer. The children learn how to feed, breed, manage disease and record keep in all areas of animal production. The children also learn how to build and tend fishponds, milk dairy goats, and keep bees.

Sanitary Towel Program
The main purpose of this program is to help provide teenage girls and young women with sanitary towels. Many girls and young women share the same piece of cloth with their mother and other female members of the family or miss school for at least four days every month. You may prevent this by sending a sanitary towel for one girl or money to buy one here, at a cost of one dollar a month. For more information, please visit www.sanitarypadsafrica.org

Youth Sports Program
We see exercise as extremely important for personal development. The goal of this program is to identify and develop the rare talents of these special kids. A coach is responsible for developing and implementing a physical fitness program for the children and we run boys and girls football, netball, volleyball and basketball teams.
Others

We are currently looking for funding to develop more programmes that will benefit the children we serve and the community at large. They include provision of clean, safe water for drinking, drilling boreholes for vegetable gardens, the establishment of sustainable commercial projects to curb unemployment, micro-finance to reduce rural-urban migration, and building housing.