Kupenda for the Children

Kupenda (“love” in Swahili) for the Children equips children with disabilities to achieve their God-given potential through our 3 programs:
- Advocacy
- Education
- Medical Care

In collaboration with local leaders, Kupenda educates families and communities about the rights of children with disabilities and how to support them by advocating for their medical care, education, legal rights, and inclusion in all aspects of society.

We also help children with disabilities access appropriate, high-quality education and medical services including surgeries, medications, and therapy.

Our target population includes children and youth with any long-term disabilities (i.e., physical, cognitive, sensory and emotional health issues) and their families.

Advocacy: When the community leaders understand that children with disabilities deserve the same opportunities as people without disabilities, they provide innovative strategies to ensure these children have access to education, health, and full inclusion in community life. Therefore, Kupenda teaches families and communities about the true causes of disability and what children with disabilities are capable of when given opportunities. We do this through training workshops, large-scale public events, family counseling sessions, and our community resource center.

Education: Consistent access to high-quality education gives children with disabilities life and career opportunities that otherwise would not be available to them. Kupenda supports this goal by providing special education teachers, school supplies, teacher trainings, construction of school facilities, and boarding school fees.

Medical: Many of the families we work with do not have the resources needed to provide medical care for the children with disabilities in their care. In response, Kupenda provides funding, referrals, and transportation to help children access the care they need, such as physical therapy, doctor visits, surgeries, medication, nutritional support, and equipment (wheel chairs, hearing aids, etc.)

Since 1999, Kupenda for the Children and our Kenyan partner organization, Kuhenza for the Children’s Foundation, have improved the lives of thousands of children with disabilities in Kilifi County, Kenya and select regions of Tanzania, Zambia, and Sierra Leone.

Our work to improve social and cultural views related to disability leads to proper implementation of disability legislation and actions that help children with disabilities access the education, health care, and social inclusion they need to reach their greatest potential.

This success is the result of Kupenda and Kuhenza’s work to strategically educate and empower spiritual leaders, as well as families impacted by disability and other stakeholders, as effective disability advocates.

Since 1999, Kupenda has been working with local leaders to help these children access the care and loving inclusion they deserve.

Each year, Kupenda helps more than 10,000 children with disabilities access the care they need and provides disability justice training for more than 400,000 community leaders and residents.