Caregivers have called on men who father children with disabilities to be involved in their upbringing.
Led by KwaWanjiku Special School manager Beta Nyaga, the caregivers have appealed to men not to abandon their families because of the children, saying they were like any other child in a family.
While calling on well-wishers to help the school’s children, who suffer from cerebral palsy conditions, Ms Nyaga disclosed that most men took off as soon as the child with disability was born.
Speaking at the school over the weekend when she received food and other essential stuff from athletes based in Nyahururu, the tutor said the donations would go a long way in easing the burden shouldered by female-headed families that most children came from.
“Currently parents are supposed to provide the diapers but most of them cannot afford, that is why when we get good Samaritans like you we feel relieved,” she said.
The school located at Kwa-Wanjiku trading centre in Laikipia West Constituency Laikipia County caters for children with cerebral palsy conditions.
The runners gave the school maize and wheat flour, rice, detergents and diapers among other provisions worth over Sh150, 000. The money was contributed by the runners in Nyahururu and their colleagues who are currently in America, Brazil and Japan.
Among the top runners who visited the school was Mary Wacera who was third in Boston Marathon in April this year, former athlete Joel Kimaru, Emmanuel Kiprop 6th in the World 10k Bengaluru, Michael Githae who won Japan’s Fukuoka International marathon in December, Stanley Waithaka, a silver winner in World Junior 5000 metres and Ian Kahinga Wambui who won gold in 1500 metres in the recent Deaflympics held in Barzil.
The school is understaffed and has only three teachers and two subordinate staff who take care of the 26 children, most of them confined to wheelchairs.
In addition to relying on well-wishers, the school depends on annual grants from the government to pay its subordinate staff and buy food for the children.
