Every morning, about 15 REPUBLIC OF KENYAJAPANSeeing the natural smiles return to the faces of the children and their families gives Kumon her strength of purpose.GRASSROOTS AMBASSADOR children and their families arrive with smiling faces at a house in a suburb of Nairobi. The place is The Garden of Siloam, a center established in 2015 to provide education and health care for children with disabilities, and there to greet them is its founder, Japanese Individuals Contributing Worldwidepediatrician Kazuko Kumon. Here, children with mental and physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy and autism receive classes and rehabilitation fun-filled environment. Kumon first noticed that children with disabilities in Kenya were not receiving trained care and education when she was visiting the country in 2002 as a member of a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project in an initiative to reduce HIV infection. This absence of support suggests a need for greater societal awareness about people with disabilities in general, and it leaves many families struggling. “The spirit of helping shouldn’t be based on pity for the weak or disadvantaged,” explains Kumon. Believing that everyone is born with the power for living, and that children with disabilities just need a helping hand in bringing A Japanese pediatrician has founded a center of care and learning, to bring smiles to children with special needs in Kenyain a involved such power out, she therefore wants to lend that hand in the Christian spirit as a loving neighbor. Through funding from Japan, Kumon was able to establish the Garden. But when she began searching for staff, she suddenly hit a wall—there are very few people in Kenya who have received specialist training in caring for and educating children with disabilities. Kumon thereupon started training her own personnel from scratch. “In Kenya, people believe pain is gain when it comes to rehabilitation. This widely held belief was also the norm in Japan in the past. But if crying and screaming and exposure to pain and fear is involved, that’s entirely the wrong way to unleash the innate power of these children,” says Kumon. Hiring therapists, teachers, social workers and the like to make up the Garden’s staff, Kumon requested that 24EmpoweringChildren withSpecial Needs
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