ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE AND WHERE IT ALL STARTED
Children's Aid International (Kenya) was formed in 1999 by the Founding Trustees, Mike and Jane Finch after a trip to Kenya on the East Coast of Africa. The plight of the orphaned and desperate Street Children they witnessed in and around Nairobi and further North, up the Rift Valley in the city of Nakuru had a real impact on their hearts.
On their return to the UK they vowed to do all they could to reduce the Children's suffering. Over the following months there were many presentations to Church groups and others which resulted in many much needed donations being made to the newly formed registered Charity, Children's Aid International (Kenya) together with the special interest of a very benevolent Christian couple from Southern England who revealed that they happened to be in Kenya at about the same time as Mike and Jane and had also seen, and been really disturbed by, the situation of the hopeless and lost Street Children.
On Mike and Jane’s subsequent return to Nakuru in Kenya to investigate more fully the plight of these poor Children, a small Rescue Centre was discovered in the downtown slum and sewage area of the city which was being run, on the very minimum of charitable donations, by a very dedicated Christian Pastor, Michael Nieswand, originally from Germany.
Pastor Michael Nieswand had identified the plight of these Children many years before and had, over the years, struggled and fought to protect as many of these Children as he could by taking them from the streets and introducing them to a secure Christian environment and giving them hope along with his wife and children.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, momentum was increasing, more donations were being made and, what was so exciting was the disclosure that the couple from the South of England who showed so much interest, had a family Christian Charitable Trust and offered to finance the entire purchase of a farm that had become available on the outskirts of Nakuru, overlooking the beautiful and well known Lake Nakuru, famous for its tens of thousands of Pink Flamingos.
This Farm, of some 100 acres, was acquired for the sole purpose of providing a Christian Rescue Centre for Aids Orphaned Young Children offering a caring home, secure and clean with warm clothing and wholesome food together with ongoing spiritual and educational rehabilitation.
Over the next eighteen months detailed building plans were prepared in the UK, to include new Dormitory Blocks, School Classrooms, Meeting/Dining Hall, Kitchens and Sanitary accommodation, quotations from local Builders in the Nakuru area were obtained, a builder selected and construction of the Rescue Centre, on the newly purchased farm, was completed.
Having the facility of accommodating over 200 rescued Street Children, the International Childrens Mission (ICM), as it is known, was registered as a Christian based Non Government Organisation. In addition, it was able to offer initial locally approved Primary Education - and as time progressed, Secondary Education.