I am abled different, help me reach my full potential

Butterfly Care Centre Africa (BCCA) is a National, Non-Governmental, non-political and non-profit, human rights organization (NGO) that was registered in 2015 with the core mandate of empowering intellectually and physically challenged persons towards equitable and independent community participation alongside other members of society. BCCA is also registered with the National Council for Persons with Disability (NCPWD), Kenya which is an organization form through an Act of Parliament as a partner organisation working with and for persons with disability.

Butterfly Care Centre Africa was established because there was the need to facilitate acquisition of functional life skills by adolescents and youths with disabilities. There is a very high rate of drop outs of special schools by adolescents and youths living with disability, implying inadequate living skills for many of them. Young adults with special needs face exclusion and stigma when they seek to enroll with “NORMAL” vocational centers or tertiary colleges. Many young people in this group are unable to enter a college, career school, or a full time institution, and stay at home while at their 20’s. Some spend many lonely hours at home with nothing to do. They are often depressed and tend to have no sense of what work might be meaningful for them, or even how to search for employment. On the one hand, they are not able to manage traditional skills training settings; the pace of learning, the testing conditions and the timing of assignments do not meet their needs. On the other hand, they need to be empowered towards setting long term goals of living and working independently, as do their siblings and peers. Hence, BCCA was established to address this gap; the need for a Centre to train young adults with intellectual and physical disabilities to enable them to acquire functional life skills at their own pace in a “least restrictive environment”.

This campaign therefore is to request funds to support vocational training of youth with disabilities.