My names are Constance Eddah Mwadali, but many know/call me Connie. I’m a Taita by tribe in Kenya and I speak three languages fluently: Taita, Kiswahili and English. I’m a catholic and I love my faith. In our family we are 6 children 3 girls and 3 boys and I’m the lastborn in our family. I’m a bit shy in a crowd of people, but I’m social to people I know and I do joke with few. I’m a lady of few words who is focused in her life, at home and at work. I love being myself and stay positive to my life. I do react harsh when I feel bad, but I know how to control my tempers to people. I do respect everyone decisions. I do charity work to help the needy. I like watching TV, movies and football when I’m at home and I love going to church to pray and praise God. I love eating natural foods and am always observing my diet, I do exercises to keep myself fit and healthy. 

I studied Community Development & Project Management and information technology. I’m a social worker and I Joined Stichting Why Not as a volunteer in the year 2011. I was looking for a job and then I came across Stichting Why Not, introduced by a parent who was a guardian to a child whom Why Not was sponsoring. The Parent was a friend to my elder sister. After she told me about the foundation, I was interested to work with children with disability and learn more about different disabilities and interact with children. I’m dedicated to my work when it comes to my responsibilities. I plan myself what to do during the week. I’m a hardworking lady and love to see that the organisation is growing and to focus on the future of the organisation to support more children. 

My work responsibilities at Stichting Why Not: 

• Planning children’s school packages to ensure the children are getting what is needed to school enable them to go to school to learn.
• I organise every month clinic for children who are taking epilepsy Medicine, cooperate with the Doctor who give them medication and writing every child report how they are taking the dose and how they are progressing at home. 
• Planning home visits, to visit children at their homes to know how they are progressing at home and write a report. 
• planning for school visits to visit children at their schools to know how they are doing in class and advise them to work hard.  

Stichting Why Not helped me grow and develop and I’m proud of myself. 

I (Matilda Mbodze) am 50 years old and mother of two. 

My passion for working with people with special needs started in 2005. I had been taking care of my elder sister who is physically handicapped, she suffered from arthritis at the age of 13 years and our last born who is epileptic and on medication update. It was not easy in the beginning but eventually I got used to it. 

In 2005 I heard of an organization called VSO, which worked closely with Utange primary school. I developed a passion for extending my hand to reach out to other people with disabilities. I started to volunteer in the community of Utange in creating awareness to the community through the help of a non-governmental organization known as VSO (Voluntary Services Organization) and EARC. I was responsible for talking to parents with children living with disabilities and who had not accepted them and hiding them. During this time children with disabilities were associated with witchcraft, myths and superstitions. It was not easy to be accepted in the houses of these children, but eventually we were to secure some children to join Utange special unit and other schools. 

Since I come from the community and am familiar with Kiswahili and was sometimes forced to use vernacular language to convince the parents to open up. Some of the mothers had been divorced due to having a child with disabilities which made them inferior and had developed low self-esteem. My role was to identify and refer clients to EARC and APDK. This time I became familiar with the two institutions. 

Since I come from the community and am familiar with Kiswahili and was sometimes forced to use vernacular language to convince the parents to open up. Some of the mothers had been divorced due to having a child with disabilities which made them inferior and had developed low self-esteem. My role was to identify and refer clients to EARC and APDK. This time I became familiar with the two institutions. Mijn rol was het identificeren en doorverwijzen van klanten naar EARC en APDK. Zo maakte ik kennis met deze twee instellingen. 

When Kim and Marloes came to Kenya in 2010, they visited these two institutions and here they were referred to me. I met them and started working together. We started working under a mango tree with Mr Peter as a village elder. During this time I was working as a volunteer in APDK in the daycare. I talked to my boss who was such a nice person and  allowed me to work for Why Not on Thursdays at Utange and the rest of the days I was at APDK. So we started meeting the parents on Thursdays where I was an interpreter for the Dutch ladies.

In 2012 the daycare closed and informed Marloes about it. She felt sorry but assured me of a place in Why Not and since that time I have enjoyed working for Why Not as a field manager. My tasks are as follows: 

• In charge of counselling
• In charge of Fysiotherapie
• In Charge of the transition / home program
• In charge of the accessories project which is on hold for now. 
• and also overseeing the other 6 projects when the project director is absent.

 I am happy and feel humbled working for children with special needs and more specifically the Holland team for making many children join school and lifting up the livelihoods of the families in Kenya and my dream become true. 

My name is Catherine Karimi Murithi. I’m a 37 years old principled lady raised in a Christian family, married and a mother of 2 beautiful ❤ girls. ❤ meisjes. 

I’m the first born in a family of 6 children.  My last sibling was born with a physical disability. One day my mother came home with a new born baby. When she invited us to see him for the first time, I noticed he was different but I never understood why this was so. Despite this we all loved him and tried our best to make him comfortable. I always carried him around whenever I went out because I considered him to be very handsome and everybody was always fighting to hold him. 

I have a Diploma in Community Development & Counseling from the Technical University of Mombasa and Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies from Mount Kenya University. Growing up I always had a passion for helping others. Whenever someone was in need in high school, I was always the first to lend a helping hand. Sometimes I could even go out of my way to offer my shopping to help out a needy student. Some even took advantage of me due to my kind nature. When I finished high school, I didn't know what profession to pursue. My mother was the one who guided me in choosing a course in Community Development and Counseling. She knew exactly what profession would suit me more based on my character. As the mothers know best, hahaha! 

In my college years I was always attached to a charitable organization volunteering my time & service to help improve the lives of the less fortunate in the society. The dream to start Stichting why not? started in 2008 when I first met Francis, Marloes and Annemiek while volunteering at the chief’s office as his personal secretary. During that time, I assisted them in mobilizing the parents in order to bring out their children (with special needs) at utange school for some activities that had been organized by my 3 Dutch friends. At that time, I assisted them in carrying out some activities with the children and also acted as an interpreter since my Dutch friends didn't understand our native language “Kiswahili”. I remember that I and chief Victor (assistance chief) walked from Mwembelegeza to utange by foot inviting parents to bring out their children with special needs at Bamako for registration. It was an eye opener for me, because I got to interact with the villagers and a lot of parents brought their children for the registration. This also gave the parents a lot of hope. 

When the 3 Dutch friends went back to Holland, they contacted me requesting for support to register why not in Holland which I agreed to. After the registration was successful in Holland Kim, Marloes and Annemieke visited Kenyan with the hope to start a foundation in 2010. When I learnt about their desire to register the foundation here in Kenya, I told myself I was not going to be left behind in this beautiful story. Due to the good relationship, we had with them I was appointed as the Kenyan representative who would act as a link between the foundation, the NGO coordination board & our Dutch founders. Registering Stichting why not? with the NGO coordination board was not an easy task. By the grace of God Stichting why not was registered as a nongovernmental organization in 2012 under the NGO coordination board. By this time the organization had established itself near Utange primary school where we rented an office to carry out our activities. It has been a great and an inspiring journey working hand in hand with our founders to build the organization to where it is today. 

Registering Stichting why not? with the NGO coordination board was not an easy task. By the grace of God Stichting why not was registered as a nongovernmental organization in 2012 under the NGO coordination board. By this time the organization had established itself near Utange primary school where we rented an office to carry out our activities. It has been a great and an inspiring journey working hand in hand with our founders to build the organization to where it is today. 

Today I am happy to report that under my supervision and that of our founders and able team of volunteers we have an active board, we have 6 active projects that play a big role in empowering children with special needs and their families in Mombasa County. Stichting why not has spread its wings far & wide and boasts of partnering with institutions like APDK, NCPWD, EARC, Mombasa Goldencare Clinic among others so as to improve our service delivery. The establishment of Stichting why not in Mombasa County has helped to reduce stigma among the indigenous communities and its environs. It has also encouraged and increased acceptance of children with disabilities in the families and communities they come from. Parents no longer hide their children. Instead they carry them with pride whenever we invite them to our office for activities, parties and joint functions with our partners that aim to create awareness. 

My plans going forward is to:  

1) help improve the partnership we already have with our partners;  

2) find other ways to raise funds locally so as to increase sustainability; 

3) organize more training to equip our parents with knowledge & information to help change their minds set; 

4) encourage more parents to join support group's so as to give them economic independence;  

5) improve the infrastructure of the local special units we work with, so as to improve the quality of education.