Category: Success Stories

Dear beloved friends and supporters:  first and foremost is to thank you all for warm welcome when I was in your country last spring/early summer.  Our time together was a blessed time.  Secondly, please allow me to share this pictorial memorable event of our July 7 En-Gedi facility dedication.  You were all well represented by 17 guests from the US and Canada who attended the event.
Dedication Speech given by Ms.Margaret Njuguna on July 7, 2018.

• Is it true: – that if you have a child with disability some people will stare at you?
• Is it true that some people will look away from you?
• Is it true that some people will think there is a curse or a bad omen in your family?
• Is it true that some people will think you are bewitched?
• Is it true that you will lose some of your friends?
• Is it true that some marriages will break? Is it true that no one will want to babysit your child?
• Is it true that some family members will ostracize you?
• Is it true that you will be ashamed of that child?
• Is it true that you will not want other people to know about it and that you will keep that child away from the public?

These are some of the challenges faced by parents with children with disabilities – and they are real challenges! I know that God calls people to special jobs – because he called me.  From a high profile job to a much higher profile job.   For 27 years, my work with the Christian Reformed Church of North America was working with people.  I worked with people on 2 levels.   Level 1 was with people who were Christian leaders, teaching them to be Shepherds for all, and not just to those who came to Church on Sundays. Level 2 was with people who were economically and socially poor – helping them improve their economic and social status. During these years, my eyes caught the attention of some special people who were completely left out in both levels of my work.  These were disabled people who lived in the streets – begging.    My heart went out to them and I started befriending them – to know them and hear their stories.   After many years of wondering what I needed to do to change the sad stories, I made a decision to quit my job, return home in Kenya and start a ministry that would help address some of the challenges faced by those closely affected by disability.  I started En-Gedi in mid 2014 with a mission to provide a special home that would offer children with disabilities a healthy and safe environment where they would grow, learn, thrive and develop to their fullest potential.  And in so doing, be a help to parents of such kids. I started by renting a small 3 bedroom house in Muigai Estate which filled up with 12 kids in just about one year. As a normal practise with me, I asked God what next and He led me to planning for buying land and building a bigger home for His children.  In about 2 and half years, He provided resources to purchase this land and to build up this beautiful facility.  God indeed has been our Ebenezer! En-Gedi Home provides a calm and a comfortable setting in which children are surrounded by caring and dedicated staff who encourage and nurture the children every moment of the day.  I belief the author who said “that in every society, disabled children have the same social needs as other children. They need to be loved and appreciated; they need to play and explore their world with other children and adults; they need opportunities to develop and use their bodies and minds to their fullest ability, whatever that may be; they need to feel welcome and appreciated by their family and in the community”. End of quote. One thing that is common to all of us – regardless of our physical or mental abilities is the breath of life that only God gives.  Sometimes I have wondered why a young surgeon who saves lives in a most reputable hospital drops dead while an En-Gedi child whose brain is 90% damaged and totally useless to itself keeps alive. The breath of life indeed belongs not to us, but to our creator.  Our Mission states that En-Gedi Children’s Home enriches the lives of children with special needs through collaborating with families, government departments, like- minded agencies, faith-based organizations, and corporations, to build a continuum of compassionate care.   I am grateful to God that he has touched many of you here today to be part of this life transforming ministry and I pray that the relationship we have started with you will grow and deepen so that we are able to help many more children with special needs. It’s my plan to liaise with county and national government offices dealing with special needs people so that together we can train the community people to appreciate and care for children with disabilities as well as mentor those willing to start a ministry like En-Gedi.   It’s also my plan to deepen our relationship with these 2 levels of government so that En-Gedi can be one of the beneficiaries of resources allocated for disability.  I would like to appreciate all of you here – who have in one way or other contributed to the success of En-Gedi Children’s Home. I will not be able to appreciate each one of you, but God knows you by name and knows what you do for these His special children.  Let us continue to love and care for them and in so doing, keep beautifying our eternal crowns up in glory.  My appeal to you all:

• Please keep supporting us in whatever way you are able to
• Link us up with people who support community work like this one
• Tell others that we have a guest house and a conference centre that we rent out to raise support for En-Gedi children
• Keep us in prayer for God’s continued blessings of health and improvement of ability for our children

I will end with this prayer: Lord, make me a light of who You are that all may see You and give You glory.  Let not only my heart be set on your worship, but I pray that others would worship You and dance for joy because of the works of love You do through me.  Yes, Lord, I pray that as I love them, caring for their needs and nourishing their hearts, that You would replenish their souls that they should have a heart of joy to worship You as you have given me.  I pray that You would make me the image of your love and that I would worship You not only with my mouth but with all I do.  Amen.

In 2016 Margaret Njuguna was awarded the prestigious “Distinguished Alumni Award” for her accomplishments in founding En-gedi Home for Disabled Children on the outskirts of Nairobi Kenya. En-gedi Children’s Home, now four years old, is a place for children with severe disabilities. “These are children that a lot of people don’t like, including their own parents,”Ms. Njuguna said. “We run a rescue ministry to help children escape from confinement and neglect and to save children who have been left in the jungle to be eaten by hyenas. It is a call God gave me.”

Under her wings, these children have freedom, love and care.  After Ms. Margaret Njuguna spent the previous 27 years in the employ of World Renew, the global relief ministry of the Christian Reformed Church. She had the desire to do something more. Thus began the inspiration of En-gedi. Njuguna was trained as a finance and administrative manager—doing office work—in World Renew’s Kenya and Uganda offices. She wanted to do something more.“I learned that all people, regardless of their backgrounds, are made by God,” she said. “Every human being is made in the image of Christ.”

After graduation, Njuguna went back to Africa for World Renew, this time in Tanzania, to continue developing communities. In time, however, the call to advocate for the disabled led her to a new ministry. “I wanted to find out why people would hide children with disabilities, why they would want to sacrifice them, why they would want to neglect such children to death,” she said. In Kenyan culture, many people believe that having a child with disabilities is a curse or related to witchcraft—the children have been bewitched. It is her challenge to diminish the hold that superstition has on families who have disabled children, to see the image of God in them rather than an evil spirit. “It is a dark world,” she said. “When I got started I told God that I want to be a channel through which he can shine his light into the world of darkness.” This is difficult work—both the daily caring for special-needs children and the quest to alter long-held beliefs and perceptions. Njuguna thinks the light is starting to penetrate. “Slowly, slowly parents who did not want to even look at their children who are disabled, are now visiting and they can even hold their children,” she said. En-Gedi is not an adoption agency. Every child Njuguna takes in will either be cared for indefinitely or—her great hope—parents and relatives will eventually want to take their children back after accepting them and after they have learned how to care for them well.

She knows this is a project for the long haul. Njuguna believes it will take generations to fully overcome current prejudices. But she is preparing for that future, expanding her own facility to take more children and creating the climate for other homes across Kenya to be established.