Upendo Daycare and Academy

Upendo daycare opened its doors in August 2018, it has since grown significantly and looks forward to accommodating more homeless children from street families, and the vulnerable in order to enhance the health, safety and protection of these children. The initiative enhances the efforts of breaking the street families cycle, with the mothers as leading ambassadors.

GMI works to empower mothers through providing daycare for their babies while providing the mothers with skills training to help them start small business. Their children are taken care of, with hot meals, love, and toys.

Helping these mothers to become self-reliant relieves them of the burden of carrying their babies in hot sun or rain while begging, or looking for food – sometimes they are even used for drug trafficking. Another thing common for these young mothers is sniffing glue which allows them to curb their children’s hunger  and help them to fall asleep. 

The increase in homelessness and street families is alarming.

This leads to insecurity in Africa, in return the youth and children involved directly or indirectly go through challenges that threaten their lives through hunger, exposure to drugs, radicalization, human trafficking and sexual abuse.

The daycare has evolved over the past 2 years to become Upendo Daycare and Academy. We currently have 50 children enrolled from Kindergarten – Grade 2. 

Goals and Objectives of the Academy:

– Provide quality education to the street children to break the cycle of school dropouts

-Provide daycare services to families 

-Provide Health and Nutrition nourishment for the street children through a feeding program

-Provide psychosocial support system to the students

Dealing with Covid-19

As the world continues to face the Corona virus pandemic, the street families in Masaku, Ruiru in Kenya have not been spared. Kenya has instituted strict measures ton reduce movement in a bid to slow down the spread of the disease. With low testing capacities and a challenged health care system, the government is not taking to chance and has given strict measures that have restrained movement and asking the people to practice social distancing by staying at home. This has left many with residents of Masaku with no income and facing under and starvation. Click this link to read more on how you can get involved to help these street families access a daily meal.