Early X-mas treat for children at Eldoret Rescue home

It was song and dance for hundreds of children at Eldoret Rescue Centre yesterday after receiving an assortment of foodstuffs and other donations from various well-wishers among them a team from the Permanent Presidential Commission for Music.

Thomas Wasonga, the presidential event coordinator, also led the team of choirs drawn from National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), National Housing Corporation (NHC) and National Industrial Training Authority (NITA), to entertain the needy children with Christian songs adding that their gesture was aimed at enabling the children to celebrate Christmas like other Kenyans.

According to the rescue centre’s acting manager David Magut, the facility is home to 200 children, the majority of who are living with different forms of disability and health challenges.

“Initially, the facility used to host more than 2,000 children but we have since re-united them with their parents, relatives and guardians from various parts of the country after rehabilitating them,” said Magut.
From streets

The manager explained that some of the children, who were picked from the streets of Eldoret town by the Uasin Gishu county enforcement team, suffer from mental related complications, while others are orphans and disabled.

“Let me extend my gratitude to various well-wishers for extending a helping hand through their donations to enable the children to enjoy their Christmas and New Year in style,” he added.

Magut said the gesture has come at a time when they are facing major challenges in keeping the children at the rescue centre, key among them the rising cost of living.

Anthony Sitienei, the County Executive Committee for Education, Vocational Training and Social Protection assured the facility of the regional government’s support in infrastructural projects to ensure the children are well taken care of.

“There is urgent need for the construction of a modern dining hall and expansion of the dormitories and the store which the county will support in partnership with well-wishers like Safaricom,” said Sitienei.

He said the local community has agreed to donate 10 acres of land for the facility towards its expansion plans in addition to the 19 acres the rescue centre sits on owing to the rising number of the street children that are brought at the facility for rehabilitation.