*Below article is based on written materials by Elder Paul Muasya, the Possibility Ministry Director for the East Central Africa Division and submitted by John Blake.
Kakima SDA Special Needs SDA School is a Seventh-day Adventist institution located in Kenya at Wanzauni location, Tulimani division, Mbooni west Sub-County, Makueni county build on a 12 acre land. The first building with two classrooms and two offices was constructed with funds donated by REACH International.
The school started on 15/1/2019 with 11 deaf pupils (8 boys and 3 girls). One of the class rooms was used as boys dormitory and the other one used for studies. The girls used one of the office rooms as dormitory.
A Better world Canada constructed an extra room which now serves as the girl’s dormitory. Prof. Muting’a donated funds for the construction of the administration block which is now 80 % complete and is now being used for offices and classroom.
For the whole of last year 2020 the school was closed because of COVID19. The school opened again in January this year with 21 deaf children and 3 more have been admitted to report when the school opens in May this year. We expect the number to grow around 30 before the end of the 2021.
The school admits children of ages between 5-12 years. We currently have 3 teachers and 1 matron, 1 cook 1 watchman. Kakima Special Needs Centre is positively impacting the community by giving Hope to the deaf children who were staying at home with no hope of formal education and and without sign language for communication. They have established a community of friends with common language and teachers who understand them. The parents and their relatives are happy now to have have their children in the school because they did not know what to do with them because of the language barrier. The school is also a great opportunity for outreach to the deaf community for the church as they give the deaf children hope of eternal life where there will be no more deafness. The local government authorities are very appreciative of the school and they assisting in recruitment on the deaf children.
