About This Partner

En-Gedi Children’s Home is a rescue home for children with severe disabilities - all rescued from very unfriendly and unloving environments due to various challenges related to the severity of their disabilities, stigma within the family and the community and in many cases belief systems that lead to neglect and isolation of such children. Even in this century, there are many people who belief that having a disabled child is a curse, an evil spirit or they have been bewitched. With these believes, disabled children are mostly locked out in cages, tethered and completely isolated from the rest of the family members. There are some communities who leave their disabled children in the bush to be found and eaten by hyenas. En-Gedi Home lives out the belief that every child has a right to be appreciated, loved, respected and given an opportunity to exploit their potentials regardless of their limitations and abilities.

Our Home offers an environment where children are loved and cared for with special attention to developing abilities using individual education plans for each child – depending on their special needs. We also work with parents/guardians to develop an acceptance/love relationship with their children and for many to try to wade away their superstitious beliefs and myths related to disabilities.

Some of the challenges that we have faced include parents/guardians of rescued children completely staying away from us and only wanting to see dead bodies of their children. We sign a co-parenting agreement with the known guardians or parents of the children we rescue and the document allows the family members to come visit and learn from us as many times as they would be available; but they do not come. We reach out to them through phone and sometimes through the local government chief who witnesses the agreement and who is our main contact in the respective community. The part of the agreement that stipulates that families of rescued children are responsible for burying their children when children pass on is the only part many families want to hear from us.

After several community visitations and getting very little positive response, En-Gedi started outreach to schools and Churches in our neighborhoods. During the outreach visits, we invited children ages 8 to 12 and any willing teenagers to come learn about disability at En-Gedi Home. Co-ordinated by Church school teachers and teachers of Grade 3 to 6 from schools around, children started to come and many were very curious and inquisitive wanting to understand disability. After such learning visitations, many parents call us to express their appreciation and to share how changed in perspective their children were. Parents talk about their children praying not just for En-Gedi children, but also for disabled people at large. Many have come back to visit with a desire to help our children. Some children share about how they helped a special needs child in either their school or during their Sunday school session. That's where we have seen positive change. Many Church groups have had seminars at our facility to learn about handling special needs children in their classes and to experience a practical lesson observing how we handle our children.