Local Leaders

Disability Inclusion in Sierra Leone

Casting a Wider Net for Disability Inclusion in Sierra Leone

by Lauren Blair

  • Posted on July 18, 2023

For the past five years, Enable the Children (ETC), a program under World Hope International (WHI), has been utilizing Kupenda’s disability trainings among community leaders in Sierra Leone. These trainings are crucial in many low-income communities where disabilities are believed to be caused by witchcraft or a curse. In these environments, the difference between someone…



Sharon yellow shirt pink pants

Sharon’s Journey to Empowerment: Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Support

by Sanjida Azad

  • Posted on July 13, 2023

In the coastal community of Mijomboni, Kilifi, Kenya, a determined eight-year-old girl named Sharon faces numerous obstacles on her journey towards empowerment. Raised by her elderly grandmother alongside her siblings, Sharon’s life has been marked by adversity and mental health challenges. However, her perseverance, along with the support of Kupenda for the Children, has created…



Kenyan parents at a farming techniques training

Cultivating Self-Sufficient Communities: Kupenda Training Course Offers Important Agricultural Skills to Parents and Youth Affected by Disability

by Rebecca Heidorn

  • Posted on April 27, 2023

For children with disabilities and their parents, agricultural training provides them with more than just access to nutritional food; it also contributes to their empowerment, independence, and resilience. Across the world, individuals affected by disability have lower levels of employment, higher poverty, and less education; so here at Kupenda, we are reversing those trends by…



Community members receiving rice

Join Kupenda in Supporting Kenyan Communities This Giving Tuesday

by Rebecca Heidorn

  • Posted on November 29, 2022

“Karibu” is a Swahili word meaning “welcome.” This was a term I became quite familiar with over the course of my first trip to our innovation center in Kilifi, Kenya, where we have worked to help thousands of children with disabilities access care and support. I didn’t speak the language or fully understand the culture,…



Update on the Health Status of Our Kenyan Director

by Kupenda

As some of you may recall, in 2016, Kupenda’s co-founder and Kenya director, Leonard Mbonani, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma. Although his early years of treatment were successful, he had a severe relapse in late 2021 that kept him out of work for several months. Kupenda’s founder and CEO, Cynthia Bauer, even traveled to Kenya to see him…



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