Kaburugi is a village situated in the North West of the town of Thika. The majority of the people who live there belong to the Kikuyu tribe and take great pride in cultivating the land.
The population of Kaburugi is 20,000 approx, c. 5,000 of them belong to the Catholic Church. Many religious denominations exist in Kenya, so the majority of the 20,000 inhabitants of Kaburugi claim to be Christian.
The people of Kaburugi are extremely friendly and always have a warm welcoming smile for you. The little that they have they generously share with you when you visit their homes. Within the parish of Kaburugi, there are many local churches as follows: Kaburugi, Kawendo, Kiranga, Mahuti, Manyika, Muruka and N’gararia.
Our sisters, the Little Missionary Sister of Charity came to Kenya in 1979. Having the same founder, Luigi Orione, although independent of each other, on their invitation, the Sons of Divine Providence (us) came later. First, the Fathers from the English Delegation would visit the sisters to give them retreats. This is where the interest in Kenya began for the Sons of Divine Providence. We realised that there were some possible vocations, and the first namely Peter Wambulwa who looks forward to his ordination on November 19th 2005, being the first Kenyan priest within our congregation.
- The parish of Kaburugi
The parish of Kaburugi, St. Peter Catholic Parish, began in the late 13th December 1998 under Fr. José Martins Dos Reis priests of our
congregation from Brazil being the first parish priest and assisted by Fr. Marek Krakus and Fr. Raymond Ahoua, now Bishop of Grand Bassam (Côte d'ivoire). Followed later by Fr. Malcom George Dyer from England.
When they came to Kaburugi, in their pastoral work as Sons of Divine Providence and according to the charism of our family, they looked long and hard at the situation and discovered that the greatest need lay among children with disability. Having already built up two Nursery Schools, they began to focus their attentions on the area of Special needs education. As a result the Don Orione Centre (OCTC) began in February of 2005 with many students seeking assessment, but unfortunately only a mere 15 being able to reach the Centre on foot or on their mother’s backs. The Fathers were concentrating on raising funds to buy a bus and would assist a further 35 Special needs kids to reach the Centre. Thankfully the funds for the bus had been raised and so the Fathers were able to concentrate on the grand plan of building a new Centre that will provide proper facilities for the children, enabling various other projects also like counselling and community development.
When they came to Kaburugi, in their pastoral work as Sons of Divine Providence and according to the charism of our family, they looked long and hard at the situation and discovered that the greatest need lay among children with disability. Having already built up two Nursery Schools, they began to focus their attentions on the area of Special needs education. As a result the Don Orione Centre (OCTC) began in February of 2005 with many students seeking assessment, but unfortunately only a mere 15 being able to reach the Centre on foot or on their mother’s backs. The Fathers were concentrating on raising funds to buy a bus and would assist a further 35 Special needs kids to reach the Centre. Thankfully the funds for the bus had been raised and so the Fathers were able to concentrate on the grand plan of building a new Centre that will provide proper facilities for the children, enabling various other projects also like counselling and community development.
At the same time, the reality of the Parish was not forgotten. Each local church with her reality was carried on.
- The OCTC
The project started in February 2005. Run successively by Fr. Marek, Malcolm and Alejandro Ruiz, the actual director of the OCTC is Fr. Raphael Kailemiah, the second Kenyan Orionine Priest, assisted in his charge by Fr. James Njoroje Waituika, the forth Kenyan Orionine Priest.
The main aims of the Don Orione Centre:
- caring for children with special needs from poor families,
- sensitizing the local community about care for children with special needs,
- educating children with special needs about hygiene, basic arithmetic and daily skills,
- ducating children with special needs in accordance with Catholic faith and moral standards,
- offering assistance to the families in specials needs and critical situation
The Orione Community Training Centre (OCTC) achieves its aims by:
- feeding programme,
- teaching children the basic knowledge of taking care of themselves, having self-responsibility and being responsible for other people and getting accustomed with daily skills,
- organizing sports activities,
- feeding, washing, rehabilitation, and taking care of children with mental disabilities,
- vocational training which includes tailoring and carpentry.
The beginnings of the Centre were very difficult. About 60 children were registered, but due to lack of transport only 15 attended classes. In December 2005, thanks to generosity of sponsors the Centre managed to purchase a Toyota Hiace. The number of children attending the classes automatically increased. The OCTC employs small but very devoted teaching staff lead by Mrs. Beatrice Nyambura.
With the experiences of Fr. Alejandro Ruiz and the help of the Confreres, OCTC today is specialized in three areas:
+ Education Area, with the Special Needs School
+ Rehabilitation Area, with the Physiotherapy and Multisensory Room
+ Occupational Area with the Farming Project.
OCTC have for vocation to help the disable children of our
Community to be accepted by the society.
OCTC emerges as an answer to a group of kids and
youth who need the permanent support of our parish community. And as a
result of the spirit of our religious family who are always trying to improve
the quality of life for these children and work for their rights.
The members of the staff dedicate much of their effort, skills and time to welfare of the children. The success of this project depends on generosity of its sponsors and the help of the Divine Providence. Urgent needs of the Centre are always presents. A lot of needs have to be fulfilled, but we believe that there is a lot of people of good will that would like to support the project. Each donation will contribute to the development of the OCTC and care more about health and dignity of our children.
For your donations Contact:
Orione Community Training Centre (OCTC)
P.o.Box. 2212 - 01000 - Thika - Kenya
Fr. Raphael Kailemiah : +254720999744
raphaelk273@gmail.com
