The Brydges Centre

“The Lord protects the strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.”
Psalm 146:9 (NASB)

– Bob & Nancy Brydges

– Mrs. Rosemary Eve Wafula

Kenyan civil society in the 1990’s was unable to deal with an increasing flood of children forced to live as orphans and street children in the slums of Nairobi. Our founder, Rosemary Eve Wafula, was greatly touched by this need and began gathering children in a tiny, one-room facility in the Dandora slum. Using her own limited resources, Rosemary provided love, food, simple necessities, and teaching from the Bible to these precious street children. She saw their infinite value and launched a mission to rescue them from the rampant abuse, crime, prostitution, murder, and violence that preyed on the orphans of the slums. Rosemary’s work and reputation grew, and more needy children, teens, and young adults came to receive food, basic education, and love.

Bob and Nancy Brydges retired from corporate career work in Minnesota and began serving missionaries and missions organizations as volunteers in Nairobi. After hearing about Rosemary’s work and seeing the needs of street children in throughout Nairobi, Bob and Nancy asked to visit her small, but growing center. They were deeply impacted by what they saw and returned home to Minnesota, wondering what to do next. When a local church gave a $500 gift for Rosemary to Bob and Nancy after hearing about Rosemary’s work, they knew their mission was to come alongside her as encouragers and supporters. Upon receiving the gift and other help the Bob and Nancy offered, Rosemary chose to name the organization “The Brydges Centre” in their honor.

The Brydges Centre quickly outgrew its urban site and was moved to a dusty, five-acre parcel outside Nairobi with no water source and one prickly tree. Rosemary and the Brydges knew God would provide as He had before. Through the generosity of an increasing number of supporters, construction began on basic tin-sided buildings and other facilities.

Today, the Brydges Centre campus includes nursery, primary, and grade school facilities, a baby nursery building, boys and girls dormitories, an industrial kitchen, a large, multi-use dining hall, a deep well and water tower, dual solar systems that provide dependable power, three large vegetable greenhouses, a number of fruit-bearing and ornamental trees, beautiful flower gardens to bless the children and visitors, a small, income-producing restaurant that serves community workers, and even a collection of farm animals. In addition to being functional and beautiful, the campus provides opportunity for the kids to learn and to be a part of caring for their “family home.”