Kiserian Children Centre

What We do

Who do we Admit

The street children constitute 90% of the total intake; while 10% comprise orphans and other vulnerable children.

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Our Purpose

• Rescue and rehabilitation of street children in destitute circumstances.
• Spiritual (Christian) and psychological nurture to children.
• Molding children to be responsible, respectable law abiding citizens.
• Empowering children to grow to become productive members of society.

Our Core Values

1. Christ centered: the hope we bear is solely anchored in Christ hence every activity is intended to display the love of Christ to the children, staff and the community.
2. Child focused: the call to serve children is fundamental to all our operations.
3. Transformation: the nature of our work is to positively impact each child so they can in turn transform their world.

Our Objective

Our Objective is to Love – PENDA:

1. Provide the rescued children with an opportunity to experience the love of Christ by addressing their mental, social, physical, psychological and spiritual needs.
2. Empower families of re-integrated children to take responsibility for the wellbeing of their children and protect them from abuse.
3. Nurture the talents of children and provide opportunities for them to identify and utilize their God-given abilities.
4. Deliver quality education for the centre children in line with their intellectual ability, physical stamina and interest.
5. Advocate for the rights of children and mitigate on pertinent issues that affect their wellbeing for successful re-integration to society.

Our History

NPC (CITAM) Children Centre was founded in 1995 by Pastor Dennis White as a rescue and rehabilitation centre for street children. This was first launched in 1993 as a feeding program at CITAM Valley Road which was then upgraded to a rehabilitation centre to cater for the needs of street children beyond daily food and bathing. Particularly, these children were destitute as their lives revolved around the streets where they faced danger, abuse, crime, stigma and disease. They were addicted to drugs especially glue and often suffered child labour. It was envisioned that giving them food and a shower was not enough to help them lead meaningful lives. They were thus relocated to a safe haven away from the city.

By May 2015, the Centre had 85 children (41 boys and 44 girls) under rehabilitation at the centre, 37 in fully sponsored in public primary boarding schools, 48 in public boarding schools, 8 in technical institutions and 5 in university. The centre has the facility capacity of 192 children but the admission is highly limited by the operational costs especially food and fees

Provisions for children include: three well balanced but inexpensive hot meals every day with two snacks in between; Bibles and Bible study materials; uniforms for school, home and sports; Sunday best outfits, pyjamas, beds and bedding; shoes; sports equipment; indoor games; stationery, text books and story books.

When the centre opened its doors in December 1995 to 108 children, it offered training either in carpentry, motor mechanics, tailoring and basic life skills. Over years of execution, it was evident that there was little transformation in the lives of children above 10 years. It became necessary to target children aged between 6-8 years who were still in their formative years; so as to create a niche for holistic rehabilitation including education and also reach out to the neediest of the children on the streets. Today, rehabilitation is a three year program that is followed by education scholarship for children in primary, secondary and university depending on the interest and ability of the child. At admission, about 70% of these children are without any form of schooling, have never owned a toothbrush, a pair of shoes or slept on a bed.

Rehabilitation covers the following areas:

1. Training in social aspects such as personal grooming, communication, family relationships.
2. Early child education which is a precedent of 8-4-4 syllabus.
3. Education in regular school.
4. Rehabilitation from drug abuse and street life.
5. Spiritual nurture based on Christian doctrine with daily devotions.
6. Psychological counselling and where necessary trauma counselling.
7. Career counselling and life skills.
8. Recreation with child appropriate programs and activities.

All the children at the Centre are placed in small groups called “families”. A family consists of 5 – 10 children of different ages, and is headed by a staff member. This helps children individuate more easily. It also gives each child a few children to identify more closely with. This is the forum that children use to seek to understand, question, complain or give suggestions on the operations of the Centre. We also have an open forum once in three months where children can ask questions without fear of discrimination or victimization and their questions are answered to their satisfaction. The children are free to consult with members of staff, the Board of Directors and the Christ is the Answer Ministries administration on any issues of concern. Each family meets for an activity at least once every week.