Jacaranda Workshop

Jacaranda Workshop, a nonprofit organization located in Nairobi, Kenya, provides employment, training and other assistance to artisans with mental or physical disabilities. In addition to employment, Jacaranda provides artisans with financial assistance for housing and bus fare, lunch on site, salary supplements for artisans with severe disabilities, and medical assistance to those artisans from very poor backgrounds. Jacaranda encourages artisans to develop savings plans.

Over the years, the workshop has trained more than 70 artisans, some still employed there and many working elsewhere in the community now. Others have left the workshop when their families were relocating due to retirement of parents, change of employment or for other reasons. Jacaranda does not offer boarding, so artisans moved with their families.

Jacaranda Special School was founded in 1982 by its first director, Allan Charles Spybey, a British national who ran the school until 1995. With no formal education, Jacaranda graduates struggled to find training or employment. For those who did, it was difficult to cope with the demands of a manager who did not understand disabilities. This led to the establishment of the Jacaranda Workshop, to provide sheltered training and employment for those who had difficulty finding employment elsewhere. The workshop is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Nairobi, and has exported its jewelry products since 1984.

Ten Thousand Villages purchases beaded jewelry from Jacaranda Workshop.