Food Security Kenya Project #32744

Help Feed 250 Hungry Children in Kenya

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Aug 26, 2020
Adapting to Overcome Difficult Circumstances

By Brian | Program Manager

Dear Supporters,

To begin with, I would like to commend the sponsorship in this school project. It is really a tough time at the moment and we are grateful that we are able to get the basic human needs as well as covering the inevitable school bills.

Since all the children and staff members are at home in an unavoidable break due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the school in an excellent support by some individual donors, most of them being the former volunteers, is working closely with the children, their parents and staff members on various areas.

As it is our tradition to feed our children, we still feed them from home together with their parents and the staff members. It has been a continued exercise since the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Considering that most of the people here live from hand to mouth as the state of our economy dictates, it would be very difficult for most of us to survive on our own because almost everyone has lost their livelihoods. Through this individual sponsorship, we are able to supply some foodstuffs to the children, their parents and the staff members. This is done through monthly donations by the donors depending on who is in a position to. We are so grateful for this as we engage the children from time to time as they come in and out to pick their shares of the foodstuffs.

We also provide some homework to the children. Since we can not afford online learning, we usually have the teachers at school thrice a week to manually prepare some homework, photocopy and distribute it to the children based on their classes. With this we have to keep the printer ready all the time which is sometimes a bit expensive as we have to photocopy a large volume of papers every day to match the number of the children. This is so much important as we have to keep the kids relevant to learning, and too it is official that learning in Kenya officially resume in January next year giving such a long break from school.

With the children away from school, we have decided to use the compound for chicken farming. The chicken farming project is mainly to supplement the feeding programme. Besides supplying foodstuffs to the children, their parents and the staff members, we too prepare some food at school for some of the children and chicken and eggs are part of the meal the children take. Alongside the chicken farming, we have a small garden with some vegetables and bananas, all to supplement the feeding programme and it is really doing well.

In an effort to handle the Covid-19 pandemic situation, we have supplied water and detergents to every corner of the school compound and a tap of running water at the gate. Through sponsorship, we also supply facemasks to the children, their parents and the staff members and the exercise is really bearing fruits.

As our school project operates on a rented land, we have of late had some issues with the landlord where he would like to get back his land and develop it for other uses. After some discussion, we agreed that we stay until the end of 2022 then relocate to a different place. With how difficult it is to relocate an institution, we therefore need to plan it early enough and that's what we are doing and if possible we request for GVI Trust support where possible. It shall be another rent land or a permanent plot depending on the availability of funds.

On the same note, we would like to appreciate the support offered to us by GVI Trust, the funding has made a great positive impact on the general progress of the school and we are therefore so much grateful. We however, request for more funding so we could meet all the school project goals and ensure that the children get the best care and education they would, and also to deal with the day to day challenges in the school project. Thank you.

With Gratitude,

Kenya Education

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May 1, 2020
Grateful for Sponsorship

By Brian | Program Manager

Dear Supporters,

Our first quarter of the new year, 2020, officially began on 6th January. The first day turn up of the children and the workers was a pleasing one with all the workers making 100% reporting on day one and almost all the children reporting on day one as well, and the remaining lot appearing within that first week. In the course of the quarter term we too received some more new learners where at the end, an ending that came earlier than expected due to the outbreak of the Covid-19, we had 270 learners all together.

Feeding programme being one of our main undertakings in the school project, picked up on the very first day under the sponsorship of one of our individual donors and proceeded throughout in turns with the other sponsors. We too continued providing school uniforms to the most needy kids under sponsorship of yet another of our individual donors.

Due to the extension of our sponsorship to cover secondary schools, colleges and universities, we are happy to report that we received secondary school sponsorship for four of our 19 students who graduated from class eight in 2019 here. These four comprise of two boys and two girls of which all joined boarding schools and they really like their schools, studies and also the new environment.

At the start of February, we received sponsorship of desks and chairs for all the children in the school. This was a sponsorship from a group of our Swiss donors. The desks and the chairs were all made within the school compound and we expect the children to have something to smile about upon their return from the Covid-19 pandemic break, because the whole work was completed after the closure of schools in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.

After drilling our own water borehole in December last year, in February this year we also got a donation of a water desalination plant. Some of our borehole water which is all salty, is now being desalted by the desalination plant and we have enough fresh water. The children and everyone else in the school project are well supplied with enough freshwater and no more long walks of going to search for fresh water. The company involved in the installation of the water desalination unit also offered to upgrade all the washrooms, which they did and the school is now more child friendly, thanks to the sponsorship.

Within this period, several classes were also taken out for excursions. Classes 2,3,4,5 and 8 were the lucky ones. They all on different days walked down to the beach, had some running, football, swimming and volleyball competitions, delicious lunch break meals at Reef International hotel and then back to school. All these being covered by one of our individual donors.

We too received some local learner's sponsorship where five of the most needy children within our population have their school fees now fully covered. Their parents and guardians are a little bit relieved of their financial loads.

Due to the outbreak and spread of the Corona virus, all schools closed down countrywide. However we continue to feed the children while still at home as it would be at school. This is through giving of the foodstuffs to the families so they can cook from home. This exercise is funded by several of our sponsors. Through the sponsorship, we are also providing facemasks to the children and their parents for prevention of the virus spread as we still hope things will get back to normal soon.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the GVI Trust and all the other sponsors of Nyota Ing'arayo School for remaining with us all through. A lot has been achieved through sponsorship and many projects completed which we are so much thankful for.

However, as with any other project, we also have challenges and our main challenge is funding of the school project. We are still struggling with our bills and I would request for more fund allocations for a smooth running of the school project and timely completion of the project's activities for the benefit of the unfortunate children in our societies.

Thank you!

With Gratitude,

Kenya Education

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Jan 6, 2020
Season of Change

By Brian | Program Manager

Dear Supporters,

Beginning of our third and last school term of the year marked the start of the final quarter of the year as well.

School opened at the end of August all through to early November. Turn up for both the pupils and the staff members at the start of the term was an excellent one. The normal activities began immediately with the start of the new term. Learning being the main purpose of the school project, besides other basic human requirements as feeding programme and the children's welfare, was conducted in the right way. Pupils ready to learn, teachers ready to deliver, cooks prepared to get delicious meals to the children and staff members with the other normal businesses taking place accordingly.

The children had their midterm exams and the performance was slightly better as compared to the previous quarter results. Being the last bit of the school calendar, everyone was well occupied with something constructive.

October began with a more serious working as we had to prepare the outgoing students for their final national exams which are usually scheduled to begin late October.

At the end of October the children had their final exams and the schools closed for the December holidays, however, the outgoing students remained at school to finalise their exams.

It all went well with the examination and the candidates performed pretty well. Through our sponsorship program, we managed to get four children fully covered for their secondary school education. These children are from very disadvantaged backgrounds and this was the right way to reward them for their hard work in school. After the examination, we too treated the outgoing students through an excursion where we took them to one of the biggest restaurants here in Mombasa and they had fun. To the restaurant was a great walk through the slums of Shauri Yako down to the ocean then along the ocean shores to the restaurant. The children had a wonderful day swimming, having ball games and social chats with new friends.

During the holidays, feeding programme went on as usual under one of our private sponsors. Also the same donor funded drilling of a borehole within the school compound and therefore we no longer pay for salty water from outside. We are only left with purchase of freshwater from outside which we are also looking forward to finding a permanent solution as it has been done on the salty water.

Over the December holidays, we also brought down the greenhouse structure which stood at the school grounds for many years. In place of it, we constructed three classes under the sponsorship of several of our donors. The construction is already done and ready to serve the children in the new term which starts on Monday 6th January 2020. The decision to bring down the greenhouse was a wise one as we wanted to relieve some classes of a high population.

During the holidays also, renovation of the old structures took place where we brought down six classes and rebuilt them afresh. The school now looks better and new, ready to receive the children in the new term.

Our football team was very successful throughout the year. We participated in Rehma Christmas Tournament during the Christmas holidays and went all through to the finals. Unfortunately, we lost in the finals against FC Black Madrid. This was a great performance as it was our first attempt in the tournament, congratulations to the team.

Despite the many achievements, we are still faced with challenges and the main one being inadequate funds to cover the school bills more especially the recurrent ones. We are also faced with the challenges of the needy children who purely depend on the school on the main thing like feeding, clothing, school fees and their stationery as learners.

Generally, the quarter has been a successful one and hope to have better future ones.

We are extremely greatful for all of the support shown and we're looking forward to a wonderful year ahead.

With Gratitude,

Kenya Education

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