Sidai

I never properly introduced you to my internship.

For the past two months I’ve been working here…

Most of the kids living at Sidai are orphans. However, not all. Some children come from abusive homes, or homes where there parents were simply not able to care for them. A few children came to Sidai in 2007 as they uprooted from their homes in the post election violence.

Sidai houses about 30 children full time. Some of these children receive sponsorship to go to school. The rest attend school at Sidai and are joined daily by children from the Slum

During my first week at Sidai I spent a morning reading all the child files and their stories are heart breaking. I remember just crying that afternoon.

It just doesn’t seem fair. These children are no less important or special than those I care take of in the states. Yet these children were born into poverty and a system of injustice in which they remain. They had no control over where they were born or what families they were born to. They are innocent. Why is it that the most vulnerable must suffer the most?
Despite all these children have been through they are amazing. They are beautiful, their smiles and playful nature light up my life.

I have a theory about African children, that are some of the strongest most resilient children in the world for all they must endure.

Sidai doesn’t have a consistent source of donations so they struggle month to month and most months they don’t make their budget. Compared to the other childrens homes in the area, Sidai has a long way to go in their development. Currently affording food each month is a struggle.

During my time at Sidai I’ve taught baby class. (I still smile when I hear the phase "baby class" because these kids are like 3).

I’ve also been working on the compute stuff quite a bit. Trying to update child files and the computer database. I’m also hoping to go on home visit’s the next two weeks to get information for the kids that are not currently living at Sidai.

Basically I have fallen in love with the kids here. They are great, but Sidai really struggles. Not only with money, but with management and development in general. They are currently working on develop projects that would enable them to become more self sufficient, but they have a lot of work ahead of them.

Check out the website: www.sidaichildren.org

Be sure to look at the newly created newsletter and brochure :)