By Margaret Kenyi | Founder and executive Director, SSLC.
INTRODUCTION: This report will summarize the highlights and main achievements of SSLC in 2026 with emphasis on the period from January to June 2026 vis-a-vis our Vision, Mission, and Goals. The main focus of this year is to consolidate the programs by persuing the vision to attain sustainability, thus securing long term security for SSLC. With the Adult Centre in full use, the goal is to gradually double SSLC's capacity by enrolling another 20 young students in the Junior Program and 10 in the Adult Program. Hopefully most of the new students will be paying or sponsored. This period saw enrolment of three new students.
MISSION STATEMENT
SSLC’s mission is to promote the physical, intellectual, psychological, and social development of each child through a holistic educational provision in an inclusive, empathetic, respectful, positive, and stimulating environment so that special needs students and their families feel safe, accepted and loved. Staff use child-centered training and learning methods to encourage all children, including those having severe disabilities, to reach their maximum potential.
VISION STATEMENT
SSLC aims to grow its capacity to provide a safe and stimulating learning and working environment for mentally and severely physically challenged students for as long as they need such support to progressively improve and learn appropriate Life and Employment skills in order to achieve a degree of independence and dignity.
MAIN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
1. Forty young students (age 6 to 17) with mental and physical challenges will access appropriate education, life skills training and appropriate therapy.
2. Twenty young adults (over 18) with mental and physical challenges will get training in Job skills and thereafter employment, income, self-esteem, confidence and emotional empowerment.
3. Six Income Generating Projects (IGPs) will receive enough input to become viable, sustainable and a significant contribution to SSLC’s income and employment and livelihood for the young adults.
4. Fourteen Staff will receive support to provide compassionate, high quality holistic teaching, training and therapy to SSLC students.
5. The East African region will look to SSLC as a model of care, quality Education and exemplary mentor.
6. Drawing an Individual Learning Program (ILP) for each student with input from his/her parents or guardians, then setting goals for each student.
7. Conducting one on one, hand-over-hand, experiential teaching and training the young students in basic functional literacy and life skills
8. Providing professional therapies (Physiotherapy, Reflexology, Occupational Therapy and Speech Training plus Music, Dance, Art and Crafts.
9. Training and mentoring young adults on the job in the Income Generating Projects (IGPs): jewelry making from beads; gardening and Livestock keeping of cows, sheep, chicken and bees.
10. Expanding the IGPs and professionalizing the job skills to make the projects financially viable and sustainable.
11. Providing administrative and support services to the program.
12. Collaborating with parents, community leaders and other similar programs in order to advocate for the rights of the disabled and sell the SSLC model.
13. Participating in advocacy activities like International Autism, Downs Syndrome. Cerebral Palsy and Disability days.
14. Raising funds from various sources to keep SSLC running.
MAIN ACTIVITIES
For this period, the main activities centred around the set programs for both the young and adult students with special attention paid to assessing, drawing Individual Learning Programs (ILPs) for new students and making sure they settle into SSLC routine as quickly as possible.
STAKEHOLDERS: SSLC impact increased with enrolment of new students to a total number of 380 stakeholders. These were active project participants and beneficiaries (208 females and 172 males). They included students, staff, parents, guardians, caregivers, local and international partner organizations. A further unknown number of people were impacted by word of mouth around SSLC's local community. Internationally through social media Facebook and LinkedIn, the reach has increased to over 6,560 followers.
JUNIOR CORE PROGRAM (AGES 3 TO 17)
The Junior Program maintained full capacity with 21 students. They had varying degrees of physical and mental challenges: 10 with autism, 6 cerebral palsy, 2 Downs syndrome, 1 Hydrocephalus, 1 epileptic and 1 slow learner. Attendance remained steady and good except for three students who had to be followed home to find out what challenges they were facing. Over 80% of the students were able to attend school 80% and above. Some of the students attended over 90 percent.
SSLC OUTREACH SERVICES (S.O.S)
A professional therapy room was ready for use in the Adult Program Centre (APC) during this period. We are now set and ready to start offering paid for service for non SSLC children as soon as a full time Volunteer therapist arrives. SSLC students will get more intense therapy as well.
ADULT PROGRAM (AGES 18 AND ABOVE)
The spacious and airy workshop in the APC continued to be in full use. We put together more catering equipment and were able to serve tea and coffee to a mission team earning the adult students and SSLC some income. A more formal training in Catering following a basic and practical curriculum was officially added to our IGPs.
Two new adult students, one slow learner and the other with Down's Syndrome were enrolled to the adult program. The adults also now wear a distint black and white uniform to set them apart as grown ups, no longer in the Junior program!
ADVOCACY AND COMMUNITY IMPACT
This year, SSLC continues to have a good reach in advocacy and impact as detailed under stakeholders above.
INFRASTRUCTURE
We were able to plant grass on the guadrangle and add an additional 10,000 litre tank to the rain water harvesting system totalling now 20,000litres! This is a big achievement and will ease water shortage during the dry season.
SOCIAL MEDIA
SSLC increased its over five thousand combined social media contacts, friends and followers mainly on Facebook and LinkedIn to now 6,560 followers. These were valuable links for garnering support and selling our vision, mission, goals, activities and projects.
DONORS
We continued to be truly grateful to all our donors, sponsors, friends and supporters of SSLC. We were delighted to meet and serve the mission team and others who took time to visit and experience SSLC.
PARTNERS
We were blessed to maintain our formal Global Hope Partnership with Accessible Hope International (AHI) - our much needed Fiscal Sponsor and ambassador to the International world. GlobalGiving remained our reliable platform for fundraising and getting noticed by an international audience. Support from the local and regional community has improved a little bit.
SUSTAINABILITY
We continued to pursue the bold move we took from January 2024 to launch SSLC’s Vision 2024: a Road map to Sustainability. A major component to it was the APC which was largely in use this year. The other major component, pending funding, is a Model Inclusive School (MIS). We are trusting God to make it happen in due course.
Links:
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