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Happy Home Kenya Trust (HHKT) has been supporting Happy Home in Kenya since 2003. HHKT raises funds from UK donors and through events, which are sent to Trustees of Happy Home in Kenya, to provide for the education and welfare of children associated with Happy Home in Kenya.

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Happy Home was originally established in 1975, by the late Rev. Dr. Johana Mruka Mgoye, to serve the needs of orphaned children in the Muhoroni District of Kenya, as well as providing a centre for support of the local community. Following Johana’s death, the organisation moved to a new purpose-built site just outside Kopere in 2008, where it continued to operate as a registered orphanage.

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In November 2022, the Kenyan government announced that it would phase out children’s homes and orphanages, with the goal of having children back in families and under community-based care.  The government announced that this would be done over a 10-year period under the Care Reform Strategy.

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The trustees of Happy Home in Kenya have responded to this announcement by establishing the Happy Home Child Care Community Based Organisation. In Kenya, community-based organizations (CBOs) play a vital role in addressing local needs, empowering communities, and driving positive change. Through the Child Care Community Based Organisation, the Trustees of Happy Home maintain contact with children who now reside with their guardian families. Through this contact, we are able to continue to support the education and welfare needs of children whom the Kenya Social care services identify as needing support.

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As a result of these changes, the buildings on the Kopere site are no longer needed to provide accommodation for the children and so the Trustees in Kenya have been able to repurpose them to allow them to establish a primary school on the site. Some of the dormitory accommodation has been remodelled to provide accommodation for visitors. The school is self-funding on a day-to-day basis, although HHKT have agreed to offer help with some aspects of capital projects. This is done separately from the key focus of the fund raising, which is to support the welfare and education needs of the children. You can find details of how the support provided by donors has impacted the children in the news section of the website. There you will also find details about the progress being made in the primary school.

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This is a time of transition to a new way of working in Kenya and this will no doubt evolve and improve over time.