The Nest, as it is known in short, is a centre for the rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of children in conflict with the law and children of imprisoned mothers. The aim is to socially and economically reintegrate their mothers once they have served their sentence. The centre also runs a safe-house for teenage mothers in witness protection.
Unfortunately the safe-house was at risk of closing down due to urban development around the NEST premises. Buildings were damaged and rendered uninhabitable due to constant vibration and fumes as a result of the construction of an adjacent sewerage plant belonging to a 6 storey hotel and shopping centre. The health risk was untenable for the pregnant girls and infants who were subjected to the noise, cement dust and diesel fumes. The safe-house was no longer a SAFE place! Compensation for damages was never obtained and the NEST members were continuously receiving threats from the developers.
Thankfully with the help of “Sternstunden”, Bayerischen Rundfunk and numerous individual donors, the NEST was able to construct a new safe-house on the plot of the NEST Baby Village. However, this plot is divided into two parts by a river that floods the compound during the rainy seasons. There was no electricity connection to the new safe-house and the cost of getting connected to Kenya Power & Lighting turned out to be as high as a PV system which could guarantee self sufficiency on sustainable energy.
WATOTO WA NEST, a newly registered German support group comprising of young people and former NEST volunteers responded to the Nest’s needs by organizing fund raising activities enabling them to buy the equipment for a PV system which was shipped to Nairobi by BMZ, a German government agency bearing all the container transport costs. The Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Nairobi, which has been assisting the Nest on a regular basis, was honoured to once again support the noble cause of the Nest by ensuring that the above- mentioned shipment was a smooth and seamless process.
