"You cannot turn such children away."

A first-of-its-kind school administered by Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur recently opened in Kenya's Rift Valley.

The Bishop Korir Memorial Secondary School for Differently Abled serves vulnerable adolescents who may otherwise face uncertain futures. Many are hearing-impaired. Sister Margaret Inziani, SNDdeN, is one of nine teachers who implore parents not to isolate their children with disabilities.

The future, she tells them, can include vocational skills for self-support, academic skills for enlightenment, and even entrance to a university. "Bring them," says Sister Margaret. "Don't give up on them." Earlier in 2023, school buildings were quiet and unoccupied. Now, 50 to 60 children sleep in dormitories, study in classrooms, and frolic outdoors. Some families are able to afford the school tuition, boarding fees, uniforms, and books.

But a good many cannot. This is an area of great property, an area where most people live hardscrabble lives of tenant farming. The School of Differently Abled needs an audiology room and audiometer to measure the children's hearing. It needs uniforms because "the children come and you have to clothe them completely," says Sister Margaret. And as all schools who serve children from families who are poor, it needs help with tuition.

Published for 2023 Fall Appeal