I Could Not Find What I Was Looking For. So I Started Building It.

The story of how Gifted Gems began.
By Caroline N. Wathigi | Founder and Executive Director, Gifted Gems | September 2026

Before Gifted Gems, there was a different version of my life.
I was working in the governance and advocacy space. Teaching civic education. Matters of the constitution, voter participation, elections. I travelled to different parts of the country for this work. It was purposeful work and I loved it. I had clear goals. I knew where I was going. Everything was starting to fall into place and I was excited about what the future would bring.
Then everything changed.

The Day the Path Shifted

We were blessed with children. My first born son was developing normally. Every milestone on track. We were happy. We were a young family figuring out life together and it was good.
When he turned two, he began to regress.
It was my siblings who first noticed. We were first-time parents and we did not see it. But they encouraged us gently to take him for a check-up. Just to be sure. And as a mother, you pray everything is okay. You want it to be okay. Until it is not.
The diagnosis was autism. And I will be honest with you. We did not even know what autism was. We had never seen it in our family. We had no frame of reference. We had no idea where to start, where to go, who to turn to, or who to talk to. It was a tough, tough time.
You have all these dreams for your child. And suddenly you do not know where to begin anymore.

Searching in the Dark

We started researching. We found a hospital in Nairobi that was at least seeing children with autism. That was something. We went. It was expensive and our son would cry from the moment we arrived to the moment we left.
When we went for speech therapy, we were told to wait outside. The therapist would work with our son for 45 minutes. Then he would come back out and we would go home. That was it. No explanation. No guidance. No way for me to understand what was happening in that room or what I was supposed to do when we got home.
I asked if I could go in and observe. I was told it was policy. Parents were not allowed inside. Even if the child was crying, the child was still learning.
Something did not sit right with me about that. If a child is upset and distressed, how much is that child actually absorbing? But more than anything, I kept asking myself: what do I do at home? I am with this child every day. And I have no idea what to do.
We kept researching. We looked at what families were doing locally and internationally. Information was not forthcoming from the professionals we met. It was more research on our own, late nights, reading, trying to piece things together. The changes we were seeing were slow. The costs were high. And I could sense that other parents around us in that waiting room were carrying the same weight.

A Decision That Changed Everything

An autism diagnosis changes your schedule entirely. Especially in the early stages. Life is no longer your schedule. It becomes your child’s schedule. Therapies. Doctor’s appointments. When you are employed, this is a huge challenge.
I had to sit with a difficult decision. I looked at what was in the best interest of my child. The answer was clear. As long as I was employed elsewhere, I would not be efficient. I would not have the time he needed. The foundation I would leave for him would not be as strong as it could be.
So I stopped working. My husband and I discussed it together. It was a decision that changed the dynamics of our family. But we agreed it was the right path for our child.
I came home. I started learning. I started learning about autism, about how to support him, about what he needed and as I did, something began to grow in me.

What I Saw in the Waiting Room

As our son began his therapy journey, I started spending more time around other families. Other parents in waiting rooms. Other caregivers doing the same thing we were doing. Searching. Hoping. Trying.
And I realized something. The same dark alley I was in, so many of them were in too.
One day I went to the therapy facility and noticed that a caregiver who had been a regular was no longer there. I asked one of the others where she was. They looked at me and said she had given up. She had chosen unconventional ways.
I understood that caregiver. Desperation is real. When you want to see your child progress and the progress is slow and the costs are high and you feel alone in it, desperation can take you to places you never imagined. I did not judge her. I asked myself what had happened before she reached that point.
Then I asked myself a bigger question: How many more parents were going in that direction? If only they had more information. If they were more empowered. If they knew where to go when something was not working. If they knew who to call. What would change for their children?

Why Gifted Gems

I look at my son and I see a gem. He may have autism but he is a gem. He is gifted. And he deserves an environment where he can thrive. Every child with autism deserves that.
I realized there are more gems out there. Children who are gifted and brilliant and full of potential. And if we can empower their parents, if we can give those caregivers the information and support and community they need to make good decisions for their children, our children can go far.
Somebody needed to fill this gap.
That is where Gifted Gems came from. Registered in May 2021. Beginning operations in September of the same year. A small beginning. A big belief.

Five Years Later

Five years down the line, I am grateful.

Watching caregivers move from a place of denial to a place of acceptance, from a place of limited knowledge to a place quality enlightenment. That, for me, is a reward I cannot put a price on.

When a caregiver walks in looking lost, and then comes back and says, I now know what to do, and I can see the progress in their child, something in me lights up. That is why I am still here. That is why I keep showing up.

At Gifted Gems, we concentrate on the caregiver. Once the caregiver is taken care of, once they are informed, once they feel supported, they are in the right place to make good decisions for their child. And those decisions change the trajectory of that child’s life.

That is why we are passionate about caregivers. That is why we built In It Together; -a whatsapp caregiver support group, an evergreen repository of information through our Youtube page; Gifted Gems. That is why we do consultations, counselling, offer mediation services, run webinars ,community forums ,outreach events and a school inclusion programme. That is why, this September, we are opening a therapy centre right here at our offices in collaboration with Lotus Therapy Centre for speech, occupational and nutrition therapies and EDS Therapies Africa for Applied Behavior Analysis therapy (ABA). Because the gap between knowing what a child needs and being able to access it is still too wide. And we intend to help close it.

To Every Caregiver Reading This

If you have just received a diagnosis for your child and you do not know where to start, I want you to know something. We did not know either. We were in the same dark alley and we found a way through.

You do not have to figure this out alone.

Gifted Gems exists because of that moment in a hospital waiting room when I saw another caregiver give up. I do not want that to happen to you. I want you to have information. I want you to have community. I want you to know that your child is a gem. And they deserve every chance.

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Caroline N. Wathigi is the Founder and Executive Director of Gifted Gems. This September, Gifted Gems marks five years of giving hope and building lives. Visit www.giftedgems.org to learn more, join the community or support the work.

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