Persons living with disabilities in Bomet County have a reason to smile thanks to the National Fund for the Disabled of Kenya (NFDK), which has donated different machines and equipment to empower them through the fund’s social-economic flagship programme. The aim of NFDK’s flagship projects is to aid beneficiaries countrywide with donations to lift them out of poverty. Speaking to KNA in Bomet during the handover of the machines and equipment, Isaac Aliya, Assistant Director of NFDK, said that his organisation, through their flagship projects, aims to aid beneficiaries with devices to support their endeavours. Aliya said NFDK is currently running three projects, all aimed at alleviating PWD’s and also supporting institutions that are caring for their needs across the county. Among the flagship projects currently benefiting individuals are small grants that amount to Sh300,000 to institutions hosting PWDs and the flagship projects of Sh3 million that include the construction of dormitories, dining halls, and physiotherapy centres. Individual donations are those where beneficiaries receive rehabilitative devices and tools of the trade to assist and uplift them economically. ‘We have embarked on a process of supporting PWDs, which is our core mandate. We have been moving around the country, where we have donated different equipment and machines to empower them financially,’ said Aliya. In the two sub-counties of Chepalungu and Bomet Central, NFDK donated sewing machines, hair salon kits, and farming tools to different applicants who had made their requests to the organisation. Aliya said the core mandate of NFDK is to aid by funding and empowering persons with disabilities to realise their potential through socio-economic integration by supporting them with mobility enablers and business gear. He also noted that the fund has completed the construction of a dormitory in Korara Special School in Bomet East to the tune of three million shillings as one of their flagship projects, which will be commissioned soon. The fund has also sponsored the construction of a dining hall and assorted kitchen wares worth Sh2.7 million at St. Kizito Girls Special School. Addressing the beneficiaries, Bomet Central Deputy County Commissioner Victor Kisachi urged them to use the tools of trade to transform their lives and cautioned them against selling them. ‘The government continues to address the concerns of people living with disabilities, and that is the reason why officials from NFDK are here today with assorted equipment to give out to you. The items issued to you are meant to transform your lives by using them as economic means where you will be making a living out of them,’ said the DCC.
Source: Kenya News Agency