Help Us Save Noah’s Ark!
UPDATE APRIL 2023:
The Court of Appeal in Kisumu has ordered a pause on the eviction of the Noah’s Ark Early Childhood Development Centre from its premises (pending the hearing of the appeal against the order) in a judgement given in March, 2023.
The Nasio Trust welcomes the court’s ruling and is grateful that a safe space that is currently the foundation of 200 children’s education and security will remain intact.
We would like to thank everyone who signed our petition and donated towards the cause. We received the strength to face this challenge as a direct result of your support. We would also like to thank our legal team for their hard work.
While the battle is not over, we are optimistic about the outcome of our appeal.
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Noah’s Ark was our very first project… And now it has come under immediate threat.
The first Noah’s Ark building was located in a roadside kiosk in Mumias, Western Kenya and cared for about 16 disadvantaged children. The purpose of the centre was to provide them with basic education, food, clothing and loving care.
The kiosk was close to the main road and scheduled for demolition for road expansion. After extensive fund-raising, a parcel of land was purchased and a new purpose-built centre was constructed at a cost of £30,000.
The new Noah’s Ark Centre was opened on 22 November 2005 and remains an essential part of the local community to this day.
It came to light some time ago that, despite the Nasio Trust having a legal title to the land on which Noah’s Ark sits, local government also assigned title for the same piece of land to a Teacher’s SACCO (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation). To resolve the situation we took legal action in 2017 and, after many hearings over 5 years, the judge decided that this apparent administrational error should be decided in favour of the teachers SACCO. And that despite the weight of the evidence in our favour, that the Nasio Trust should vacate the land by May 2023 and pay the legal costs of all the parties to the case.
Initially stunned by this decision we have now lodged a notice of appeal and are fighting to retain Noah’s Ark for the welfare of the children we support, and the future of a generation in this impoverished area of Kenya. We have had country-wide media coverage in Kenya about the potential loss of Noah’s Ark and have the commitment of many well-wishers to do what they can to save the centre. This includes a lawyer who will support the appeal at no cost to us, an MP for the area and even the County Governor who says the centre must remain to support the children in this community. This support is a fantastic asset but we are not complacent and need to do all we can to retain Noah’s Ark as a vital community project.
This challenge represents the most serious situation ever faced by our charity in over 20 years of service to the communities in and around Mumias.
We plan to fight the decision until the end and we are confident that justice will prevail. The legal costs that we are being ordered to pay alone represent the cost of education for hundreds of children. Winning this fight means the difference between offering an education to these kids, and leaving them to make their own way…
Please help us to fight this injustice and assure a future for the children of Noah’s ark: PLEASE – Consider making a donation to help us continue the fight
We do not know how this situation will end, but we need your support to give us the best chance of helping the children in our care toward a brighter future and raising them up and out of poverty.
Thank you.
