Moses and Mary Mwangi Girls Home, Elburgon. Update January 2007.
This is the first Eagles Wings project, which to date has taken about 2 years to complete. Wholly financed with UK money, the Girls Home has become ‘home’ to around 40 vulnerable girls, many of whom have been orphaned and were previously cared for by relatives and friends.
The girls are aged from 3 years up to 14 years, and lived in desperate circumstances in poor conditions in Elburgon town. The town has a large population and certain areas are filled with slum dwellings, with little or no law and order. Unemployment is very high, life is difficult and there is not enough food to go round. The children, particularly the girls, are under high risk and we decided to target our help there first.
Mwangi Girls Home
The late Mary Mwangi, who tragically died in a car accident with her husband in 2005, had a vision to see girls rescued in Elburgon and we had visited some of the most vulnerable families with her before she died. The completion of the girl’s home is the fulfilment of her vision and we hope, the beginning of a number of similar rescue centres to be built in Kenya.
Many UK businesses, hospitals, schools, churches, community groups, families and individuals have together made her dream come true and it was a privilege for us to welcome and open the Girls Home with our partner Mark Kariuki, who was actually born in Elburgon and lived there as a boy for many years.
The girls home has been fitted out with beds, cupboards, blankets, towels, running water, showers, toilets and a kitchen. There is a resident house mother called Rachel, who has a real heart for the girls, and attends to house discipline and management. Rachel works with a local management team to oversee the welfare and education of them all.
The home has been decorated with Disney ‘favourite’ posters and curtains, and each of the girls has a recorder and a personal gift pack sent at Christmas. There are 2 violins, trumpets, drums and percussion instruments in the communal area along with a treadle sewing machine for skills training.
The first dairy cow has now been purchased, which will supply enough milk for the home, as our desire is to see this project fully self sufficient.
The final stages are to buy more cows which can generate income, to buy 1 to 2 acres of farmland locally to grow potatoes, vegetables, fruit and maize. Egg laying hens can be looked after on site and all of this can be managed by the girls themselves and local volunteers.
Typically it costs around £15 to £20 per month to cover one girl’s education, healthcare, food, clothing and water, and accommodation costs including the statutory matron and social workers required by Kenyan law.
You may wish to sponsor one of the girls or pay in regularly towards the ongoing costs of the home. Larger amounts will be used to buy cows (approximately £500 for a good dairy cow) and an acre of farmland costs about £1500 with another £500 to £1000 for the seeds and equipment necessary to start farming. Once this is financed we will start building our first boys home in Nakuru.
