The Start

One day in 1997, a priest of Nyahururu parish was asked to bless a home in a rural village. While blessing the house with its people, animals and properties, the priest bumped into Thomas, a man with mental and physical disabilities, who was sitting on the dirty floor behind the door. This encounter became an impressive and far reaching one: how was it possible, the priest asked himself, that I was requested to bless everything in this home, but not this very needy human being, who seemed to have been neglected and forgotten; not even considered of any importance in the house. Had the Church overlooked one of its core duties of social involvement?

In response to these questions, a group of volunteer parishioners was mobilised to start a Community Programme for People with Disabilities. Thomas himself would never benefit from the initiative. He died a few weeks after the meeting with the priest. However, Thomas did not die before accomplishing his mission: to inspire this group of Christians to dedicate themselves to the people with disabilities in the community.

A growing movement

This was the beginning of St. Martin-CSA. After establishment of a Community Programme for People with Disabilities, other volunteers started different programmes and slowly the organisation started to get roots in the community. Hundreds of volunteers got involved in very many different ways, making St. Martin-CSA more a movement than an ordinary organisation.