About Us

Patrick Muthuri is a highly respected Photographic Journalist whose wife Lydia is the Secretary to the Presiding Bishop of Kenya and they have two delightful children, Victoria who is three years old and one year old Victor. They are a devout Christian family committed to helping those living on the very edge of society.

The Patrick Muthuri Family Foundation provides education, health and welfare support for the orphaned children within their community. All their effort and resources go into getting the children off the streets and into school.

Water

Many of the orphaned children in Kijijone, Meru County Kenya, end up on the streets after the death of their parents. If they remain on the streets they may well start taking drugs and living a life of crime. The children are the poorest of the poor unable to afford to attend school.

The young girls, if they are lucky, will earn a few pence carrying water all day long and are most vulnerable. The young boys often start sniffing cheap industrial glue which leads to a life of dependence and crime.

Food

Food and nutrition is a key element of a good education. Children are often forced to beg for food on the streets and we aim to support these children with the basics for life and the future.

Parents often can’t afford to provide for their children and sometimes force them to leave home. Homeless children on the verge of starvation have even been known to eat grain with hens.

Hygiene

Most if not all girls aged between 13 and 19 years in Kijijone, Meru County are missing a week of school every month, for lack of sanitary pads. Girls use unhygienic alternatives such as newspaper or sand and leaves, or sponge and old cloth during their menstrual cycle which puts them at huge risk of infection.

School children walk and stand barefoot in areas infected with the hookworm and jiggers disease. Each pair of shoes that we are able to provide will cut down the spread of these debilitating diseases and encourage children to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Uniform

To attend school parents are required to buy uniforms and pay fees to keep schools running as the government could not cover the costs of security, maintenance of structures, teaching staff or basic equipment. The majority of parents simply could not afford the fees and had no option but to keep their children at home.

All children are required to wear a school uniform… No uniform… No school which adds a further financial pressure to the cost of their education. The situation also makes it impossible for orphaned children to obtain any form of education.

School

In 2003 the Kenya government promised free primary education which delighted those families with young children who had given up hope of ever obtaining an education for them. However, classes were congested, teachers were overwhelmed, with some classes having as many as 100 pupils. Additional teachers were not recruited. More desks were not provided.

Children represent the future of their country and providing them with an education allows them become self-sufficient and in turn make a positive contribution to their community.

Housing

Houses are no more than shacks or shanty’s as they are referred to. They have no running water, no sanitation, no electricity, and in a very poor state of repair, often leaking water when it rains and very cold in the winter months. They may if they own lamps, their only means of light, be lucky enough to obtain kerosene which is scarce and expensive due to government duty. Cooking facilities are restricted to a wood fire in a circle of stones on which cooking pots are heated. These poor conditions lead to many health and nutritional problems which impacts upon the children and puts them even more at risk.

Orphaned children out of school on the streets have no future.