Kenya Child development & therapy in a special needs school

Katharina Schmigielski Start Date: Jun 27, 2017 - End Date: Jun 26, 2018
  • Kenia
  • Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenia

My Travel Story

by: Katharina Schmigielski Start Date: Jun 27, 2017 - End Date: Jun 26, 2018
The Gede Small Home is a boarding school for approximately 130 (there is a larger demand but the school is at maximum capacity) physically and mentally challenged children from the ages of 5 to 19, most of whom have cerebral palsy, limb dysfunction, or hearing impairment as well as a range of other disabilities – spina bifida, effects of polio, visual impairment, Downs’ Syndrome, autism, epilepsy, for example. Some children will always be confined to wheelchairs and/or have limited ability to communicate.

Most of the children are taught by the teachers at Gede but if they are able they are integrated into the mainstream primary school which is on the same site. Currently 15 of the children attend mainstream school. School hours including lesson times and break times are the same at Gede and the mainstream school and some children from both schools mix socially at break times.

The main aim is that the children feel that they cared for and accepted by the community.

The school is keen to develop the family clinic outreach programme to educate families and communities to assist with family support and early diagnosis.

Many children are supported by one-on-one sponsorship - the school also has to fundraise for nearly all its supplies and facilities because it does not receive the budget from government. - special needs facilities, medical intervention, school supplies and medical equipment and even staff salaries.

They have no secretarial support and the accounts clerk is shared with the primary school.

Children with disabilities in Kenya face more struggle than the average Kenyan or the average disabled person in a developed country. The children supported by Gede are often shunned by society and sometimes even their own parents. Some children have been abandoned, abused, hidden, or simply ignored because of their disabilities. There are some parents who send their disabled children onto the street to beg.

I am a Physiotherapist and a healt care manager and would like to support the home with my therapy, my knowledge in aid supply and holistic consultant. 


  • Kenia
  • Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenia

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