Neglected children in Nanyuki will receive medical support from the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (Batuk).
The officers of Batuk Medical Centre yesterday visited Sangi’da Children’s home yesterday. The team led by Charlotte Park carried out a detailed needs assessment.
They will provide physiotherapy and other medical support to 10 children at the home.
Some children at the new home haves limb deformities arising from neglect by their pastoralist parents. Some were born with deformities and neglected.
The Sang’ida Foundation was established a year ago to support to children with disabilities from the pastoralist communities of Laikipia North subcounty.
Many of the children are neglected because they are seen as a burden since they cannot herd livestock.Some children born with disabilities have been abandoned at lagas (dry river beds) to die or to be mauled to death by wild animals.
Sang’ida Foundation director Jacinta Silakan, a nurse from Aga Khan University Hospital, said currently they are caring for 31` children. She comes from Laikipia North subcounty
“We rely on well-wishers to support these children and we have managed to take some children to Kiwanja Special School,” she said.
“We would wish to house them at our Sang’ida home but we lack facilities,” Silakan said. She has a 22-year-old autistic son who has suffered from discrimination and has been humiliated.
The pastoralist children would would remain there the whole day under harsh sun, wind and sometimes rains till the rest of the family came back home.
