We're so excited to share this report!!
Every year, GlobalGiving awards up to 6 badges to organizations on the plafrom for the work they do, their engagement and effectiveness. RKF is one of the select few organizations to have been awarded all six badges in 2020 and we are so thrilled to share these awesome badges with you.
What do these badges mean:
Effective: GlobalGiving recognizes RKF for their efforts to learn, improve and grow their impact
Vetted: RKF has been vetted by GlobalGiving's rigorous due dilligence process
Top-Ranked: RKF has demonstrated a high level of engagement with the GlobalGiving community and a commitment to effectiveness via GG Rewards
Site-Visit Verified: One of GlobalGiving's field travelers, staff members, or ambassadors has visited this organization and verified the work they're doing.
Staff Favorite: GlobalGiving Staff works with, supports and visits thousands of organizations every year. RKF is one of their favorites.
Project of the Month: A project of RKF's was featured as a GlobalGiving Project of the Month.
We feel so honoured and encouraged by these badges and we know it wouldn't have been possible without the incredible support of all our donors, volunteers, interns and schools!! Thank You!!
We have a speical report coming up about Team RKF's visits to Evacuation Camps in Ahero... keep an eye out for it. More details coming soon.
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Every year, Team RKF spends the Christmas Holidays with the children spending it at Obama Children's Hospital in Kisumu. 2019 was especially challenging due to the doctors' strike, however, like we do every year, we packed some toys, gifts, Santa hats, food and lots of cheer and made our way to the hospital.
We spent the day decorating the hospital, setting up a small Christmas tree and getting in some fancy car rides before enjoying lunch and finishing it off with some fruit and cake. This is a day that fills our heart with strength and joy as we get to interact with children who show such incredible hope and resilience. Team RKF is always inspired and we couldn't think of a better way to wrap up the year... until the next one :)
We would like to give a special shout out to the nursing staff at Obama Children's Hospital, and a local baker, Arpita Patel, for baking a lovely cake for all the children and parents who were at the hospital. This would obviously not have been possible without the incredible RKF Volunteers and Interns: Roda, Muskan, Zanela, Rodney and Chelsea. And of course you! We have such deep gratitude for the incredible support we get from both local and interantional communities for the work we do.
Photo Credits: Saj Chotai
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Valley Makeover
We remember walking in to Valley Academy for the first time in 2016 quite vividly for two reasons: the first being the incredible energy and enthusiasm of the students and the second being the fact that it barely looked like a school. Over 80 students sat in an open Church hall on benches and on mats while teachers from different corners of the hall tried to keep the attention of their students.
Over the past three years, a lot has changed at Valley Academy… they have movable classrooms, colourful desks and chairs, art work and charts among many other things. However, one aspect of the school has remain unchanged: the interior and exterior of the Church hall has never been painted and as a result the school was always a dull grey which hasn’t been the most conducive learning environment for the children. Not anymore!
On Tuesday, November 5th 2019, The Rahul Kotak Foundation partnered with Kansai Plascon to host one of their CSR activities, a Painters’ Training Program at Valley Academy. Over 100 painters, 20 church youth and 15 volunteers attended this event to give the school a beautiful makeover. The newly painted hall will provide a conducive learning environment that will make a huge impact in the lives of the children that attend school in some of the most challenging circumstances.
We would like to give a special shout out to Kansai Plascon, especially Mr. Karim Velji and Miss Josephine Bittah, for partnering with us, to make this incredible makeover possible.
End of 2019 Academic Year
As the academic year in Kenya has come to an end, we have had a chance to reflect on some of the achievements and milestones we have reached with your incredible support. As Giving Tuesday is only a week away (3rd December 2019 – Save the Date!) we wanted to share some of our goals for the upcoming 2020 academic year.
Does this sound like something you would like to support? Giving Tuesday is one of the biggest days to support non-profits. This year, GlobalGiving is matching funds using an Incentive Fund of US$500,000. Save the date and support our projects on Tuesday, 3rd December 2019.
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GlobalGiving July Workshop Reports
Since 2017, RKF has been implementing volunteer-run workshops every year that are aimed at introducing extra-curricular activities at the various schools we work with in a fun and engaging way. In 2019, we carried out our biggest yet set of workshops with the help of over 25 incredible volunteers.
We were able to visit five schools in different localities of Kisumu County over three weeks to carry out some old and some brand new workshops that included: Fun Sports, Taekwondo, Arts & Crafts, Hygiene, Environmental Awareness, Menstrual Hygiene, Field Trips, Movies and Reading & Storytelling. We were also able to have our very first RKF Talent Show and we wrapped up the workshops with a day of jumping on a Bouncy Castle!
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing detailed reports of the several workshops we carried out in July. In this report, we’ll be highlighting the Arts & Crafts, Hygiene and Reading & Storytelling Workshops.
Arts & Crafts
This is an old favourite that we conducted for the third straight year. One of the aims of this workshop is to encourage children to use their creativity and innovation to use whatever is available and make it into art. Each class had a different activity assigned to them that ranged from finger painting to making cards using scraps and making caterpillars out of used egg trays. Class 1 and 2 exercised their home science by weaving papers cut out in shapes. Watching the children’s excitement as they showed off their crafts made the visits so enjoyable and totally worth the long, bumpy bus rides!
Hygiene
After its popularity last year, we took the hygiene workshop to some of our newer schools this year. The children spent a whole morning learning about oral hygiene, brushing their teeth, washing their hands all while learning a song that would help them remember how to do it. Brush, brush, brush your teeth… wash, wash, wash your hands! Sing them with the melody of row, row, row your boat... At the end of the workshops all the students got brand new tooth brushes and a tube of tooth paste to take home and keep practicing what they learnt from the workshops. They also learnt how to tie their shoe laces and tuck in their shirts properly.
Reading & Storytelling
As part of our Kitabu Changu Haki Yangu program, we carried out our second Reading and Storytelling Workshop at St Vitalis Nang’a Primary School. This workshop introduced the students to their new library and the rules of how to use it. During this workshop, approximately 420 students listened, read and created stories with our volunteers. One class had a very unique way of approaching the activity; the volunteers encouraged the children to create a story entirely from their imagination.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing details of some of the other amazing workshops we carried out. We’ve also shared a link to our Girls Project: Empower & Educate the Girls of Rural Kisumu where we recently posted about the Menstrual Hygiene workshop and the screening of Queen of Katwe.
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Earlier this May, we had the opportunity to welcome one of GlobalGiving's field travelers, Isabelle Hall, to our projects in various localities in Kisumu including Dunga, Kondele and Nyalenda. We had a great time showing her some of the work we have been able to achieve as a result of the incredible support we have received from all our donors on GlobalGiving, not to forget the amazing support we have had from the GlobalGiving team. Isabelle also helped us put some final touches to our recently completed library; we can’t wait to share an update with you in June.
This was a great opportunity for us to connect with GlobalGiving and receive feedback on our projects. As a result, RKF is now a Site Visit Verified Organization; another esteemed badge we are honored to hold.
We also attended the GlobalGiviing Partner Workshop held by Isabelle that allowed us to learn more about GlobalGiving and network with peers from Kisumu that are already on the platform.
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Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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