Faith Watari

Occupational Therapist

The Hermitage Garden

"Acheiving starts with believing"

My vision to provide care for people with disabilities began with visits to a home for abandoned children while I was in high school as a ranger. Having been drawn to the children that were dependent on others due to mental and physical disabilities naturally made me decide to pursue a vocation in rehabilitation. My path towards a career as an Occupational Therapist started at the Kenya Medical Training College in 1999 after having studied a Diploma in Occupational Therapy (OT) for 3 years. I thereafter graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Curtin University in Perth, Australia in 2003. My practice as an Occupational Therapist began in 2004 after returning from America where I worked as I pursued my degree in Occupational Therapy through long distance learning. Over the next 7 years I actively practiced Occupational Therapy with a specialization in children and visited my clients in their schools and homes. This period for me provided invaluable insight into the difficulties faced by children with special needs and their parents plus the challenges experienced by the teachers that teach these children. The effort of moving across the Nairobi city and its suburbs sometimes in heavy traffic and through long distances was very strenuous. In addition to this was the incapability of having all the equipment fit into my car. Thus in June 2011 I finally started The Hermitage Therapy Center. A unique therapy program that has been providing clinic-based, home-based and school based OT interventions programs. Subsequent to running The Hermitage Therapy Center for 3 years, I realized that there was disconnect for my clients between the health and education sectors.There’s an immense demand for a more comprehensive program that merges all rehabilitation specialists with a goal to offer intense intervention programs to children with special needs at an early age. The idea of creating such a program developed into another program known as The Hermitage Garden. The Hermitage Garden is an educational and therapy program for children with special needs. My work as a program director at The Hermitage Garden entails running the educational and rehabilitation programs in sync. Kenya is comprised of 42 counties. My vision is to have at least one early intervention program in each county in my country and I desire to have this vision extended to Eastern and Central Africa.