 Emmanuel Center was founded by Daniel Nduati in 2001. Daniel had lived on the streets for four years as a child. He knew what it was like to go hungry, be beaten up, thrown in jail and addicted to drugs. So when he got the chance to change his life, quit drugs and go to college, he decided he had to make sure other street children had the same opportunity.
Emmanuel Center started as a small drop-in center in Daniel’s home. Children came for meals and counselling. Daniel asked local people to help buy school uniforms for the kids and sent them to school. However, he knew that as long as the children were living on the streets they wouldn’t be able to benifit from an education or stay healthy.
In 2002, Daniel and a small staff opened the Emmanuel Rescue Center, which provides a home to 40 former street children, as well as education, drug rehabilitation, healthcare and much more. The team at Emmanuel Center grew to include a voluntary governance board, supporters around the world, and many volunteers.
Even though Emmanuel Center only had room for 40 children, it continued to provide outreach services to hundreds more that remained on the streets. In 2007, the center scaled-up its activities by opening the Emmanuel Youth Empowerment Center (EYE-C). This youth drop-in center provides computer training, a community library, counselling and much more.
Emmanuel Center dreams of being self-supporting, owning its own facilities and helping hundreds of more street children. It’s a big dream, but we believe that Every Street Kid Deserves a Chance, and we are going to try and offer it.
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