Poland in Kenya

Furaha Centre is located in Meru County in Kenya. It has been established in April 2016 on the initiative of Mr. Marek Krakus, a Polish national. The Centre's mission is to help children with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and autism. It strives to offer them health and development support, including daily physiotherapy, special education opportunities and psychotherapy. The facility is equipped with special therapeutic room, occupational therapy section, counselling and psychotherapy rooms, school classes and dining hall. It takes care of the children with disabilities during the day when their parents are at work and gives the whole family a possibility to work together and develop stronger bonds during the evening therapy. All of its services are free of charge. Right now it offers help to over 300 children from Meru and Isiolo Counties in two branches located in Meru and Mikinduri.

However, due to high demand, the Centre urgently needs further expansion. It has recently acquired a new piece of land and its idea is to build there a permanent centre for children with disabilities with space for technical skills' training, including carpentry, tailoring, knitting, poultry keeping, bee keeping and cultivating vegetable gardens. As some of the Centre's charges approach teen age, these new activities will allow to prepare them for independence. The new, expanded Furaha Centre will have capabilities to welcome children not only from Central Kenya, but also from other parts of the country as well as from the other East African countries for open rehabilitation holidays.

Mr. Zbigniew Ciszek from Pruszków, Poland, has decided to take an active role in helping Furaha Centre Meru. In October 2020 he launched a fundraising campaign online in order to raise money for the Centre's expansion. The so-called "Water for Furaha" project aims at raising funds for drilling a borehole on the newly purchased property and placing there a water tank. Subsequently, Furaha will develop there a modern rehabilitation centre. So far, nearly 65% of the funds have been collected. The initiative will be officially ended during a charity bicycle ride from Nairobi through Sagana, Kiganjo and Nanyuki to Meru in mid-Ferbruary 2021. Mr. Ciszek will be joined there by Mr. Andrzej Strządała and Ms. Bogumiła Skupin, also Polish nationals involved in helping the Centre. The bicycle ride will last 4 days and the daredevils will cover the distance of almost 250 km.

The group of cyclists will be formally welcomed in Kenya and the charity ride will be started by Mr. Jacek Bazański, Ambassador of Poland in Nairobi on February 15, 2021.

Attached to this article you can find a document with background information about the Furaha Centre in Meru, its mission, vision and objectives as well as some photos documenting its current activities.

For more information, consult the website www.helpfuraha.org or contact the Embassy of Poland directly.