It is our mission to offer the children of today a better and brighter future. It’s not for nothing that we’re called Macheo, which means ‘sunrise’ in Swahili.
Orphanage
Our aim is specifically to improve the situation of children in Thika, Kenya. We do that first and foremost with Macheo Children’s Home, which is home to 56 children. We operate on the basis of a number of clear principles for the orphanage and the upbringing of the children.
Education programme
In addition to the orphanage, we also help thousands of other children who live in the surrounding slums with our education programme. When doing this, we attempt to give as much responsibility as possible to the schools, and teachers and parents of the children. Their involvement and support is essential for successful programmes, now and in the future.
Income-generating projects
Our projects with which we generate our own local income make up the third pillar of Macheo. It is very important to us to become less financially dependent on sponsors and donors. We wish to avoid the existence of the orphanage and our projects being threatened if one of these sponsors were to withdraw in the future.
Other activities
We’re always looking for ways to improve the future of children in Kenya and one way we have done this was to establish a ‘family empowerment’ programme to assist parents to raise their children. We help them to create a permanent source of income; sometimes we give small loans or offer them advice where needed.
As an organisation, active in a country like Kenya, you sometimes need to step in in emergency situations. One example of this is the Joyous project, which, together with a sister organisation, we help a group of 40 boys who have been sexually abused to get their lives back on track.
Clear priorities
Despite all our activities outside Macheo Children’s Centre, the orphanage and the care of the children always takes precedence, regardless of what happens. After all, we have taken the responsibility upon ourselves to offer over 50 children a good upbringing. And a really fun childhood, of course!