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1. History:

Huruma Children’s Home was founded in 1989, but the idea of establishing a Children’s Home was mooted by Mama Zipporah back in 1984. She was touched by the situation of the street children in Ngong Town at that time, and she therefore wrote a proposal which attracted funding from World Vision for a feeding-program for the street children. The feeding-program started in 1985 in a shanty village in Ngong Town under the umbrella of the Ngong Churches Huruma Project.

In 1986 Zipporah relinquished her secretarial job with the Ministry of Livestock Development and began working full time for the street children feeding program. She was constantly moved by needs of the street children and wanted to be able to do more than merely feed these children. Some of the children approached her and told her they would like to go to school, but now the big question they were asking her was where they could stay. Many of the children on the street did not have a home to go to at the end of the day. She tried to find orphanages which could give the children shelter, but with no success. The dilemma she now faced was that of either giving up the orphans and let them return back to the street or making a home for them. She chose the latter.

Zipporah had to leave the feeding-program because the sponsors were not ready for an orphanage. She felt, however, that she could trust God for His continued provisions and kept every child in her family. Her objective was to give these children a loving home, a family, education and a brighter future. She integrated them into her own family and that’s how they live even today. The government guided her through the process of creating a full facility.

Most of the children come from the Kajiado District, though a few are from other districts throughout our country. Most of the children are abandoned, abused or orphaned, so the home offers the only real hope for some of Kenya’s most damaged children. These children all have their own incredible stories of the hardships they have lived through as well as their own testimonies of how God spared them from a life of fear and uncertainty on the street. Huruma is for them a unique residence which provides them with a warm, homely and accepting environment, and gives them help to come to terms with their difficult experiences.

The first home was a mud and wattle structure with cardboard partitions and mud floor. But since then it has been reconstructed and now the family boasts of a basic kitchen, a sitting room and two big bedrooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. With the arrival of electricity, telephone, water and transport the daily living has been made easier for the Kamaus and their big family. But still every day is a struggle to make ends meet so that the children of Huruma can get what they need.

2. The Journey of the founder:

She tried to find a shelter for the children at the existing orphanages but they could not absorb the children. The feeding program operated from 1985 to 1989 under the umbrella of the Ngong Churches Huruma Project, but she had to leave the program because the sponsors were not ready for an orphanage because the boys were being housed temporarily at a room in the project. Faced with the dilemma of giving up the orphans back to the street or keeping them in her home, she decided to take in the children into her family.

She put her faith and trust in God that He will continually provide and kept every child. In 1990, she integrated them with her own family and that was the beginning of Huruma Children’s Home, and that’s how they live, even today. The government guided her through the process of becoming a full facility. Their first home was a mud and wattle structure with cardboard partitions and mud floor.

Mama Zipporah (as she’s called by just about everyone) and her husband, Pastor Isaac Kamau take care of over 100 children who have been abandoned, abused and orphaned.

3. Project needs

Our greatest need now is the building of shelter for the children. As time goes on, the number of needy children is escalating and due to this, some of the children are sharing beds. The dormitories will cost an estimated Ksh 23, 801,892 ($ 317,359), please note that the cost is not stagnant because it fluctuates according to the current economic market.

The children are sleeping in congested quarters but we encourage ourselves, that it is better than sleeping on the cold hard cement on the streets. On April 2007, we held a walk-a-thon to raise awareness about this issue and we are still calling on you to please come and make a difference in a needy child’s life.

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