Help Natalia Hear & Speak
Natalia is a 4 year old girl living in Makuyu, Kenya. She goes to a pre-school, the Makuyu Education Initiative, for underprivileged children.
Unfortunately, Natalia cannot hear due to a condition she was born with. Because she cannot hear her own voice, she also does not talk.
Natalia puts on a brave face every day. She joins kids in play time and does her lessons, but a world without sound, without music, without being able to speak is a difficult world to live in.
Fortunately, there is a solution: the cochlear implant. However, her parents cannot afford the cost and the surgery is costly. The hospital estimates at least $35,000.
Donations as of December 23rd, 2025:
GoFundMe: $5,618
Paypal: $200
Facebook: $211
MoCo Children's Business Fair: $300
We believe no one, let alone a 4 year old girl, should live a life without sound or speaking if it can be fixed. Please help us raise enough funds to change her life for the better.
Meet Natalia's Family
If we can raise the amount, we hope to film her hearing for the first time and share the experiences with you. Please join us on this remarkable journey of hope.
MoCo Children's Business Fair Fundraiser
Updates
Sept 22, 2025: PM Shah Hospital has agreed to subside the surgery significantly. Assuming everything goes well, the implant operation itself may cost approximately $2,300, although we'd still need to pay for testing, including CAT scan (below), MRI (hopefully soon), vaccinations, and other unexpected expenses (transportation costs, food, etc.). You can help us raise funds here: https://gofund.me/11d99a982
Photos of Natalia (with hair extensions) from volunteers Nathalie & Eliza!
October 15th, 2025: Youtuber @BenEsherick was kind enough to do a video about Natalia and her condition (big thank you to Matthew for reaching out to him!). The video has raised some much needed funds for the operation and is now nearing a million views! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2jv9JmGM8TI
Lastly but perhaps most importantly, the hospital called today and scheduled the operation for Tuesday, October 21st! Natalia will spend a few days in the hospital after that. If all goes well, the cochlear implant will be activated in November and that's when she'll hear her first sounds! However, please keep in mind that the first moments might be very confusing and frightening for Natalia. There is also a good chance she does not understand language yet because she never had an opportunity to hear it be spoken.
Nov 9th Update: Unfortunately, right before her operation was scheduled to take place, a long time political leader Raila Odinga passed away and a national week of mourning was declared. As a result, the hospital is rescheduling operations. We are still waiting for the hospital PM Shah to call to give us a new date for the surgery. Hopefully, we'll hear from them soon!
May 11th 2026 Update: Unfortunately, after months of MP Shah Hospital "ghosting" us and the needlessly getting our hopes up, they've failed to deliver on their promise to provide an operation for Natalia. Not only has the hospital failed to even offer to reimburse us for the expenses incurred, including MRI and CT expenses, but, more importantly, about 8 months have been wasted as we worked to find an alternative provider.
With that being said, thankfully, with the help of the Dr. Serah of the Cochlear Implant Group of Kenya and Julie Cooper of Baker's Institute for Children with Hearing Loss, an operation has been tentatively scheduled at Nairobi Hospital on May 10th! While the operation is substantially more expensive ($26,000, which is the sum we've changed out fundraising goal to), Natalia cannot afford to wait any longer. The window of opportunity for the implant to have a meaningful impact, specifically in respect to language development, is closing quickly. With that being said, any and all donations are welcome as we look to make a last ditch fundraising effort to offset some of the costs. Hope to have a favorable update soon!
Thanks so much for your support!
