Feed hungry children in Kenya

They are the unrecognized heroes of Africa. They are millions of grandmothers caring for orphaned children with little money for food and other necessities. Kenya has more than one million orphans. Most of the parents of these children have died from AIDS. On a recent visit to Kenya the local community health workers introduced me to another family that needs the support of our “Feed Hungry Children in Kenya” project. Mary (photo) is a grandmother who provides care for 2 orphans – Dennis, who is 7 years old and Faith, who is 4 years old. Mary’s only income comes from the occasional odd jobs that she can find working for other households in the village. Adequate food, clothing, and school supplies for the children are often out of reach for her. With your generous donation, Mary, Dennis, and Faith will be the 19^th family to receive a monthly food ration and school supplies for the children from Global Health Partnerships. More families like Mary’s can benefit from this project if funds become available.

In addition to feeding the hungry children of the poorest families, your contributions have provided therapeutic feeding (with the supplement Plumpy’nut) to 90 children suffering from malnutrition during the past year . The problem of food
insecurity and hunger is a common problem facing many families in this poverty-stricken region of eastern Kenya. Some are in greater need of assistance than others, such as the heroic grandmothers who care for the many orphans in the villages. The relief from the hunger and malnutrition can be provided by GHP very effectively and efficiently. Over 95% of the donations that are received by GHP go directly into program services!

The poorest children at highest risk for hunger and malnutrition often live in isolated villages far from a clinic or hospital. Finding those who are most in need of treatment can be challenging. Once the malnourished children are found, their growth and response to treatment can be difficult to monitor. The Global Health Partnerships (GHP) project relies on volunteer community health workers (CHWs) trained by GHP to accomplish these tasks. The CHWs live in the villages and know the families well. They coordinate outreach clinics on weekends where the children are weighed and measured to assess their nutritional status, and immunizations are also given. Those meeting the criteria for severe or moderately severe malnutrition are enrolled in the GHP therapeutic feeding program. Severe malnutrition is treated with Plumpy’nut®, a fortified peanut-based paste. Children with less severe malnutrition receive Unimix, a fortified soy-corn flour blend that is made into a porridge. The CHWs help monitor the growth of the children and provide the mothers with a supply of Plumpy’nut® and Unimix every 2 weeks. The high success rate of this therapeutic feeding program can be largely attributed to these dedicated CHWs.