Whilst on a two year VSO placement in Kenya, Richard Young set up a Provincial Workshop with carpentry and metalwork services, and mould-making equipment, in order to assist disabled children to access education.  In order to better understand the needs of the community, Richard traveled around the province with Martin Wanzala, an Occupational Therapist, evaluating special needs children.  Through this experience he realized the broader needs of the communities, and, along with Amy Johnson, established the Akhonya Trust.

The ethos of the Trust is to work with local partners in Kenya to help the most vulnerable members of society to create sustainable futures.  The Trust is currently supporting three main projects in and around the area of Mumias, Kenya:

1. The Akhonya Trust Childrens Home - education and care of 130 orphans
2. SAIPEH - HIV / AIDS awareness education and the provision of guardianship and education for orphans; and
3. Corrective surgery - and assistance for special needs children.

The mission of the Trust is to improve the quality of life of vulnerable children, families affected by HIV/AIDS and to provide support within their communities.

Emphasis is on community-driven solutions with, rather than for people, instilling ownership, responsibility, and accountability.

How the trust was founded

The Trust was founded after the return to England of Richard Young, a VSO volunteer who had spent 2 years living in these communities.  Throughout this time he made close links and friendships within these communities by becoming totally immersed in their way of life and culture and gained a deep understanding of their needs by listening to the people living there. 

This highlighted a need for a different type of charity, which was based on Community Based Rehabilitation.  The success of the Trust is based on its conception within the deep roots of the community and the fact that all decisions are made with community members’ input both from Kenya and England. This prevents the perpetuation of the massively abused “handout” policy, which is deeply ingrained in the roots of African communities.  This is a result of many years of visitors to these communities feeling that they are able to help by giving money or donating items to these people, without ever taking the time to find out whether they actually need the items.  This usually ends up in the communities having no pride or ownership in the project and the majority fail very quickly.

• The trust and its family support 130 children through sponsorship
• The trust funds operations on children to correct such disabilities as clubfeet, cleft lip and palettes, and knock knees
• It has funded the provision of assistive equipment to over 1,000 people including wheelchairs, crutches, callipers, and surgical boots for disabilities that are inoperable.
• It has purchased 8 acres of land for the children’s home complex at Ematundu.
• It has funded the building of 3 orphanages (or small homes) that provide accommodation to the sponsored children who have lost their entire close and extended families to HIV/Aids.
• It has completed the building of a resource centre to provide eating facilities for children at the small homes, vocational training programmes to give the children skills to be able to earn money in the future, and a library to provide educational support.

Empowering Individuals and Communities

Projects are carried out in partnership with, rather than on behalf of, the community.  Emphasis is placed on instilling community ownership of, and responsibility for projects in a manner that empowers individuals.  An important remit of the overseas portion of the Trust is to source funding to both support and strengthen local organizations.  An important element of the Trust is volunteerism.  Because the Trust is staffed with volunteers, 100% of all funding goes directly to the local community.

Founding of the Trust

Richard’s task for the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) placement was to set up and run a Provincial Workshop in the Western Province of Kenya, which was based in a small town called Mumias.

The workshop was originally set up by a Danish organisation called DANIDA to service eight separate districts, each with their own Educational Assessment and Resource Centre (EARC) built and staffed with government officials.

The objective of the staff located at these centres was to visit rural communities to identify and assess children living with disabilities or special needs and help them to access education.   Assessments were done by special needs teachers and an occupational therapist based in each centre.  Identified children were referred to the nearest school that was able to deal with the child’s special needs. On many occasions children were found to have severe special needs such as access problems or learning tools.  In such cases the provincial workshop was tasked with providing the child with mobility aids or teaching and learning aids to assist both them and the schools to deliver education.  Aids ranged from wheelchairs, crutches, callipers, and supportive chairs to games used to aid dexterity and co-ordination for children with health problems such as spina bifida, and cerebral palsy.

Long-term commitment

The Trust has an enduring commitment to working with the communities and encourages everyone involved with the Trust to consider their involvement over the long-term.  Because considerable value is placed on respecting and protecting the relationships that have been built up with the local communities, attention is paid to protocol and local customs.  Donors are sought who have matching philosophies.  In particular, orphan sponsorship is understood at its inception to mark the beginning of a long-term relationship with a specific child.  With this in mind, great care is taken to facilitate the exchange of letters between donors and children, and the broader community, and in educating any international visitors to the locale of the prevailing customs, and appropriate protocol.

About the Area

This rural community, situated approximately 30km from Mumias, is in the poor district of Western Kenya, off the tourist track.  The area is scourged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic (1 in 3 people are infected), and there are large numbers of AIDS orphans.

Funding

In its early stages, the Trust was funded by private donations from family and friends.  Small scale, individual activities such as coffee mornings and sponsored walks and bike rides now sit alongside corporate donations, and larger, group projects involving the broader community such as football matches, charity balls etc.

Please see Events for up to date information.

If you would like to make a donation to the Akhonya Trust, please click below to be taken to the donations page.