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From Smithers to Africa with loveArticle by Dan Mesec / Smithers INTERIOR NEWS July 29, 2009: The community of Smithers has once again shown their support for an outstanding cause, however this time the result has been felt on the other side of the world creating a better life for a group of special children. In September 2008, Jim Senka set out on a mission to raise money that would build a children’s dormitory in Migwani Kenya, Africa. He needed to raise $20,000 for building supplies that would be used in the construction of the dormitory. So with the help of this wonderful community, almost 10 months later the dormitory is almost complete and a village half a world away will be able to care for these wonderful children. “We began this project after doing a needs assessment in the area, we went to many schools to look at the impact of the free primary education in Kenya and we stumbled on to this special unit of kids that we didn’t even know existed and through further research we realized that these kids don’t even have the right adequate facilities,” said Paul Kenya, National Director for Child Focus Africa in Migwani. Kenya started Child Focus Africa to address the growing concern of social impact on children in East Africa. Recently Kenya visited Smithers to share the experience with those who support it and to educate the community about the Kamba culture and the status of the dormitory project. “After digging into Kamba culture, we found that these kids are put aside, regarded as cursed, as bewitched and a bad omen, so people exclude them in fear of this curse. So we started this project and talked to people in Smithers and they started fundraising.” Once the funds started to come, they began to break ground immediately and after only a couple of months the foundation was built and the building began to take shape. The Migwani community started to look at the project differently too. Even people who don’t have any challenged children in the community have started to help in any way they can because they saw the positive work being done. “Now what this dormitory is doing is its a community effort, so the community came together, they collected the gravel, the sand, they dug the foundation and once we got going it has really changed the attitude and perception toward the children,” said Kenya. Although the hard part is over there is still a lot of work to be done before the kids can move into their new home. However it would never have been possible without the help of Jim Senka and the Smithers community. “My coming to Smithers was to thank the people first and also to give them more information about the Kamba culture and the community, so I did a presentation on their culture, about Kenya and the work of Child Focus Africa in Migwani,” Kenya said. “There were a lot of good questions and people here are really supportive of this program and we expected to give a better understanding of the community.” After the project is complete Kenya hopes that it will show the community that these children do matter. Reintegration is the key element to wiping away any stigmas people may have and once the Migwani community has seen the end result they will think differently about the dormitory and its residents. “It’s been very enriching and we hit our target to build the dormitory,” said Kenya. “Now we are looking at the next phase to have a skills development, vocational training and to have some clinicians and practitioners who can evaluate these children in an on-going process.” Paul deeply enjoyed meeting and thanking many Bulkely Valley residents at the above affair:
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