 Vision
A society where children rights are protected
and community empowered.
Organization Mission
We exist as a symbol of hope for orphans and vulnerable children through community
participation and empowerment, rehabilitation, provision of basic needs and promotion
of children rights in Kenya with an emphasis on Kajiado District and its surroundings.
Broad Objectives
- To shelter, feed, clothe, educate and provide recreation counseling and healthcare
services for the children in the centre.
- To rehabilitate the children with the aim of building self-esteem and self-reliance.
- To influence policy including advocacy on children's rights and children's issues
in general.
- To facilitate re-integration with responsible, financially secure relatives.
- To provide long-term opportunities for vocational skills and training services to
local communities.
- To initiate and facilitate income-generating activities for self-reliance at the
institutional and community level.
Our Values
- Promotion of children rights as promotion of human dignity.
- Every child's right to parental care and responsibility.
- Every child's right to a secure environment that facilitates growth and development.
- Every community's potential to address its basic needs.
- Accountability and transparency as essentials for better resource management.
- Good governance as a right to every citizen.
- Gender equity (elimination of gender disparities).
- Community participation and involvement in solving their development problems.
- Justice as a right to every citizen.
Administration
The centre is run by a volunteer board of directors who are responsible for policy
issues of administration and strategic goals. They are also responsible for
the accounting of the centre's funds. The Executive Director and Home Manager,
assisted by support staff, are responsible for the day to day running of the centre.
Organizational Background
Shelter Children Rehabilitation Centre is a childcare
programme started by the local Non-governmental Organization Shelter Women of Kenya
in 1997. It is a realization of a dream by the late Florence Wanjiku.
A devout Christian, Florence was distressed by the plight of slum children, many
of whom lived in appalling conditions. Together with a group of women from
her local church, Florence began helping mothers and caring for and feeding slum
children. Today the Shelter Children Rehabilitation Centre is modeled on the
work of Florence and her group and continues to address the plight of orphaned,
destitute, abused and abandoned children.
About Our Director
 Mary W. Muiruri is familiar with a life of poverty, having grown up in difficult circumstances herself.
Her parents separated soon after she was born. She is the second-last child in a family of nine, and her mother struggled to make ends meet. Despite their poor living conditions, her mother was adamant that all her children would get a proper education as she firmly believed that education was their key to a better life. Mary grew to develop a conviction that poverty is not a limitation and that with the right support, anyone can become self-sustaining.
Mary was educated to diploma level and worked at the University of Nairobi as an accountant. She was attracted to community work by the influence of her grandmother, the late Florence Wanjiku, and she looked at it as a way she could give back to society. After equipping herself with the necessary skills by attending short courses in management, social work, fund-raising and other areas, she founded the Shelter Children Rehabilitation Centre in 1997.
Aside from her work with the Shelter Centre, Mary also participates in efforts to empower women. She has trained women on empowerment, peace-building and micro-entrepreneurship through various agencies such as the Catholic church, Caritas and Kenya Episcopal Confines. She has helped incorporate many women groups and assisted community projects to raise funds and start businesses. Her work has brought her all over Kenya as well as Zambia and Uganda.
Today, Mary is a married woman with a family. Her husband is also involved with Shelter; he plays a fatherly role in the same way as Mary stands in as mother. Mary is deeply grateful to her husband and children for moral and financial support. She also derives much encouragement from seeing the children at Shelter succeed and grow into responsible and capable young adults.
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