A.C.K. Madeleine, Bungoma
Mechimeru Village
Mechimeru is a rural village in Kanduyi Sub County in Bungoma County Kenya. It has a population of approximately 200,000 people. The major economic activity in this area is small-scale farming where most of the people depend on this as a means of livelihood. Majority of the daily challenges experienced by people in this area include; an inadequate supply of clean and safe water for domestic use, child abuse, early marriages, low literacy levels, and malnutrition in children, among other social and economic issues. This justifies the need for an education program in the area. Yatima Outreach therefore runs the A.C.K. Madeleine Community Centre in the area to improve access to education through holistic interventions
A.C.K. Madeleine Community Center
ACK Madeleine Community Center is located in Mechimeru Location in Bungoma County, in the Western region of Kenya. It was established in 2006 by the Forsberg family based in Sweden. In 2008, the school got support from donors to purchase 5 acres of land and was relocated to its current location in Sango area, Mechimeru location. In 2016, the management was handed over to the ACK Diocese of Bungoma by the Forsberg family, and the school was renamed ACK Madeleine Forsberg Academy.
In the same year, the diocese partnered with Orphan Outreach through their implementing partner Yatima Outreach Organization, a registered NGO in Kenya whose purpose is to minister to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in Kenya by working alongside like-minded partners through provision of wholistic educational interventions. This partnership was scaled up to include ongoing psychosocial support for the learners. In 2017 an additional intervention was introduced to include the provision of health care services after the construction of Dr. Pike Roper Medical Centre following the generous support received from Dr. Pike Roper from the US. The center started with 170 children and the number has grown tremendously over the years to over 300 at ACK Madeleine Primary School, over 150 in the graduate program, and approximately 30 in colleges and universities to date.
Our Interventions at A.C.K. Madeleine
Education
The main goal of ACK – Madeleine Community Center is to increase access to quality education among orphans and vulnerable children in the area. Through this program, children are able to get quality education through teaching and learning. They are also supported to get learning materials and their school fees paid to retain them in school. After successful completion of grade eight, they are graduated into the graduate program under the sponsorship program to progress with their secondary school education. The center currently supports over 300 children in primary school and over 50 children in secondary school. Through the graduate program, the secondary school children get school learning materials, school shopping and school fees. The efforts have paid off since our pioneer student is currently a law student at Moi University pursuing law.
Food & Nutrition
To ensure improved nutritional status for our children, the Center runs a school feeding programme where children are able to access 2 meals in a day. This includes nutritious porridge for breakfast and a well balanced diet for lunch. Through this we are able to reduce malnutrition among our children since at home, some are not able to get 3 meals in a day due to the vulnerable backgrounds they come from. Nutritious meals are also ensured through our agricultural projects where the agricultural products such as milk, eggs and maize are used to supplement the diet.
To cushion families where our children come from, relief food is distributed to these families depending on the need. This is done on the basis of social worker’s nutritional needs assessments reports. Through this we have managed to reduce cases of malnutrition and observed improved health status among our children.
Psycho-Social Support
Mechimeru being a rural village, it is characterized by a lot of issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, drug and substance abuse and low literacy levels among other related social related issues. As such, our children face a lot of challenges due to some of these social issues. This contributes to high-school dropout rates, regular absenteeism, teenage pregnancies and earl marriages. To help our children cope with the issues and to ensure improved school retention, our social workers and teachers offer psycho-social support and mentorship to the children. Through this intervention, we have achieved improved school retention and concentration of children in class.
Health
Our goal under this intervention is to ensure improved health status for all our children at the Centre. This is achieved through direct medical support at the A.C.K. Madeleine clinic where our clinical officer attends to sick children at the Centre.
For complex medical cases, our C.E.O. partners with other hospitals and make referals of the sick children to access medication. We also support the children through direct purchase of the required drugs. Approximately 18 children are attended to at the medical clinic weekly.
To ensure improved access to affordable medical services for Mechimeru residence, the clinic is working in partnership with other stakeholders to install medical equipments required to fully offer quality medical services. This is geared towards improving the health status of residents in the area.
For us to be able to achieve this goal, we welcome all people of good- will in the health sector to support us in this initiative
Water, Hygiene & Sanitation
Mechimeru being a rural area in the county of Bungoma, access to clean and safe water for domestic use is a challenge. The residents in the area rely on unimproved water sources such as rivers, boreholes and rain water which is usually not stored in clean containers. As such, the residents experience water related illnesses such as; Typhoid, Cholera, Bilharzia among others. To address this health need, Yatima Outreach through A.C.K. Madeleine Centre drilled a borehole to ensure consistent supply of clean and safe water to the residents as well as supply of liquid soap. Through this intervention, over 1000 Mechimeru residents get access to clean water for domestic use as well as liquid soap since some cannot maintain proper hygiene at home due to lack of soap and other related detergents for cleaning.
Through this intervention, we have ensured improved water, hygiene and sanitation conditions in the area which has consequently improved the health status of Mechimeru residents
Missions
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