There have been quite some developments for Marianne Center in the past six months. The main development is the purchase of our plot. In the newsletter, which you can find below, you can read all about our new plot. We also added a success story of one of our students.

Enjoy the reading and have a great Easter!

We are saddened by the news of the death of one of our students, Mary Wairimu Waithaka, who died a sudden death during the holiday in December after being sick for a few days. We are devastated to have to say goodbye to such a great person and student. We keep her family and friends in our prayers and we hope that all who mourn can find peace and rest in her death.

We are very happy to announce that we managed, with the help of our donors, to buy a piece of land of 0.6 hectares in Limuru. We are extremely thankful to the donors who made it possible for us to make this big step! This will help Marianne Center a lot in the continuation of her activities. We are excited to start constructing and will hopefully move to our new compound somewhere this year.

This week our handicapped students had their last training of the year at Marianne Center. They are off for a one month holiday and will resume their training in January 2012. At the moment we have 40 students registered at Marianne Center and more disabled students want to start the training. During this year we have trained our students in agriculture, animal husbandry, computer training, tapestry, domestic chores, bead work, gardening and crafts. The students have gained many skills which they will also implement at home during their holiday. Next year we hope to graduate our first handicapped students.

On the 29th of October mini-olympics took place between different handicapped people; the blind, the mentally challenged, the physically handicapped, the albinos and the deaf. A spectacular scene to watch and participate. Everybody had a game to play including our own staff. We did aerobics, ball games, bouncing castle, short field races, mini football and mini volleyball. It was funded by government, NGOs, business, Global Ethos and even Marianne Center. More than 1500 people attended or visited this event. Everybody was a winner and everybody got a certificate of achievement. Our students refused to board the bus at the end of the day because they enjoyed this day so much.

The People devoted a page of their newspaper to Marianne Center to talk about our students and activities. We are very honored and grateful to have been named in this distinguished Kenyan newspaper. Via the media we are able to reach many people who will learn about Marianne Center and the mentally disabled in Kenya. Through this way we expect to reduce the stigma which is pressing on the shoulders of the mentally disabled in Kenya.

Click on the image below to read the newspaper article.

Our activities are going on very well and at the moment we have enrolled almost 40 mentally disabled students. We hired a new manager to help to network and fund raise in Kenya and among other things to support us in our income generating activities.

Read more about our activities by clicking on the image below.

We are thankful and excited to introduce to you Peter K. Gichigo. Peter is our new Business Manager and will be mainly working on networking and fund raising for Marianne Center in Kenya. He will also support us in (setting up) our income generating activities and other programs. Peter has recently returned from Zambia where he was working in development as a resources mobilization advisor under the VSO volunteering program with his core activities including but not limited to institutional capacity building, networking, fundraising and decentralization.

Previously he worked in The Gambia, West Africa still with VSO, placed at The Association of Non Governmental Organizations [TANGO], the umbrella body of NGOs in The Gambia as a capacity builder in human resources, partnership building, organizational development and financial management, and also with extensive job placements at the Rural Support Organization for the Disabled (RSOD), the Gambia Organization of the Visually Impaired (GOVI), and The Gambia Federation of the Disabled (GFD).

In Kenya, Peter has previously worked for Government at the then Ministry of Commerce and Industry and also at the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation in senior managerial positions. His huge experience in management spans to over twenty years. Having worked  in international placements, and having mingled with development workers from all parts of the world and with local partners and communities from different cultures, he upholds and appreciates the strengths of cross-cultural diversity, and more so, the role played by non-state actors in development. He enjoys working with the marginalized and the less privileged in challenging circumstances.

We are very happy to have Peter on board and we are excited to see what the future will bring for Marianne Center due to his work.

Our latest newsletter is ready for you to read.  As you can read we haven’t been lazy in the last six months. At the moment we have 38 handicapped students who are being trained at Marianne Center. You can read all about it in our newsletter.

We are proud to announce that from today we can show you our documentary: http://www.vimeo.com/20650602. This documentary is about people with a mental disability in Kenya. Click on the link and see for yourself.

Enjoy our newsletter and our documentary.