Sustainable Food Project for Children in Kenya

I would like to introduce you to Penny.  She has been HIV+ for 10 years and is caring for her 5 children.  Before this project, Penny was not able to afford the basic needs for her family, especially food and school fees.  Her little ones were not able to attend school frequently as required and therefore were not performing well in classes. She remembers vividly times when the children and herself would share meals do to the lack of a job to enable her to put food on her table. Hope seemed lost. 

If they would have continued on that path, Penny is not sure they would be alive today.  She is now watching her children moving on well in life because she can now take care of herself and her kids.  The project has brought about more smiles and hope in her life!  The whole family now looks healthy and the children are not sent home because of the lack of school fees.  They no longer see days when they lack something to put on there bellies!

This project is so life changing for many women like Penny.  The team here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS thanks you for supporting this project and the work we do for the children in Africa.  As you start to make decisions regarding your end of year giving, please keep us in mind so we can continue our good work into 2019 and beyond.  We wish you a new year full of many blessings and as much hope as you have shared with us.  If you would like to learn even more about what we do or how you can meet some of the children you have helped, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

Some days in the office, we get caught up in paperwork and phone calls.  They are necessary to keep things running smoothly.  However, it's a blessed day when you receive an update in your email inbox from a partner.  Today was one of those days! 

"These are kids we are taking care of at the orphanage, they are 13 in number and they are affected with HIV/AIDS.  We have a garden for them where they are growing food.  We have kale, tomatoess and cabbage in their farms.  We are raising them up and teaching them how to be self-sustainable through the produce from the farm.  Normally they set up time in the evening to tend to their garden, weeding them and watering them. Through their garden, they are able to get food that they are eating, and they are growing up to be responsible kids knowing that soil is the source of food.  

We adopted another approach of doing the gardening last month and it is getting along pretty well  Each child has his or her own garden bed with a different kind of food, they love this and it is super cool!!!"

Super cool, indeed!  Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa. thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

What a difference six months can make!  Earlier this year, Maria and her family didn't know if they would make it through another day.  They were exhausted, sick and hungry.  Hopeless. 

Then something wonderful happened. Opportunity arrived in Miwani through the American Foundation for Children with AIDS in the form of a sisal project. Sisal fiber has a wide variety of applications that can generate income including hand-made sisal rope, twin rope, string and yarn which can also be woven into carpets, mats and various crafts.  Maria started working in the project and her family has benefitted greatly.  With fair pay, she is able to take care of her two grandchildren, afford daily meals, pay for their school fees and afford their medication.  Maria has become self-sufficient through her decent paying job!

Maria's grandchildren, Penny and Theo, are part of a happy family and are no longer hungry since she can afford food for herself and her children.  The sisal project is also solving the hunger epidermic and poverty in families within the Miwani region. AFCA continues to support and work side by side with our partner to ensure that this project is a success, giving hope and smiles to women and children.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa. thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

Our small food garden project has been so successful!  Children have their hands in caring for the gardens and are helpful in preparing the crops for the kitchen.  There are several varieties of vegetables planted in this garden.

We continue to fight agaist hunger and have plowed land to prepare for more gardens.  The gardens will produce much needed food for the orphanage, kids at the school and HIV+ women.  Some of the crops will be sold to cover the additional costs in some of our other projects. 

The last harvest provided some money for porridge for the HIV+ children at the school.  Some of the children were not active in class due to hunger.  Childen were collapsing in class and could not concentrate well.  The porridge was introduced so they can be attentive in class.  The porridge also helps the medication work better.  Our parnter is sure that the food from the garden will sustain the porridge progam.

Our teams here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS and our partners in Africa thank you for supporting this project and the work we do for the children in in our programs.  If you would like to learn even more about what we do or how you can meet some of the children you have helped, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

AFCA supporters recently completed an educational challenge “PassMyPlate” promoting awareness of how extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank at $1.90 or less a day, has resulted in a hunger epidemic affecting millions around the world.  Living in a nation of tremendous affluence, we tend to forget that countless numbers of people around the globe do not have the choices we take for granted every day. Trying to sustain on $1.90 or less per day might mean living on one meal a day without a choice of what that meal is—and without knowing if there will be a meal tomorrow.

In coordination with “PassMyPlate”, we have taken a stand with our partner in Kenya to address and find a solution to eradicate poverty to more orphaned and widowed households who are either affected or infected by AIDS.  Their sisal project addresses this epidemic and now most women in this project can comfortably take care of their children, pay school fees, and become self-sufficient.  Sisal fiber has a wide variety of applications that can generate income including hand-made sisal rope, twin rope, string and yarn which can also be woven into carpets, mats and various crafts.  We are blessed to be able to support the sisal project!

The team here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS thanks you for supporting this project and the work we do for the children in Africa.  As you start to make decisions regarding your end of year giving, please keep us in mind so we can continue our good work into 2018 and beyond.  We wish you a new year full of many blessings and as much hope as you have shared with us.  If you would like to learn even more about what we do or how you can meet some of the children you have helped, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org.