Through GlobalEyes

At long last I have news about the organizations in Kisumu, Kenya you so generously donated to at the June fundraiser.

I spent two weekends at Obede Primary School, Children Rescue Mission Kenya Orphanage and Tropical Focus for Rural Development NGO and write to you with updates:

The children of Obede Primary School sang and recited poetry for us – please check the website at www.throughglobaleyes.org for video clips coming soon of their fantastic performances. Principal Caren Jakoyo, recounted how pleased the children were about the initial purchases she made – a dish set for each child, cooking supplies for the school’s feeding program and a new water tank – with money from the fundraiser.

The orphans of Children Rescue Mission Kenya were great fun to visit and play around with (video clips also coming soon to the website). Caren (who is also a director of Tropical Focus) and Tobias (another director of Tropical Focus) discussed ambitious plans for the orphanage which include building another facility to accommodate at minimum 30 orphans, tilling the rocky soil along the periphery of the property to plant more subsistence crops to feed the children and eventually starting a school for the orphans on the compound.

Caren told me she’d like to retire as principal of Obede in a few years and dedicate her time to running the children’s home and building the school, which would be the fulfillment of her lifelong dream. Funding from the charity event will purchase an indoor stove (cooking is presently done outdoors) and two sets of bunk beds. Money will also be reserved for the future plans of Children Rescue Mission Kenya.

Children Rescue Mission Kenya has extraordinary employees who work for meager salaries or volunteer. George is a caretaker, security guard and teacher for the orphans, and also tends the farm and chicken coop. George has a family – a wife and 2 children in southwest Kenya, about 6 hours by bus from Kisumu – but spends all of his time at the children’s home with the orphans, whom he also calls his children. Jeanette is a cook, caretaker and teacher for the orphans and lives at the orphanage with her infant son.

Lucas is a young man who was orphaned by HIV/AIDS several years ago. Lucas has been buying would-be destroyed, week old broiler chickens for 8/= ($0.11), raising them for 2 months using simple heat sources such as lamps and hot water bottles, and reselling them for 150/= ($2.08) while keeping a few for food. Lucas volunteers at the children’s home by implementing his idea as a small income generating activity for the orphans.

Tropical Focus for Rural Development (the NGO that supports Obede Primary School and Children Rescue Mission Kenya) initiates many community based projects. HIV/AIDS remains highly stigmatized in this part of Kenya, and communities – even those ravaged by the disease – are often unreceptive to the education about prevention and treatment that can save and improve their lives. Scholastica, the program coordinator for Tropical Focus, organizes community forums in which members have the opportunity to learn about and discuss HIV/AIDS. Your contributions will pay for transportation and material costs for these vital community HIV/AIDS interventions. Tropical Focus has done a great job in mobilizing youth volunteers to assist in these bi-weekly outreach programs and is formulating an internship program for university students interested in development studies.

The fortification and expansion of the existing outreach feeding program that Tropical Focus initiated is essential to development in these communities; a food and livestock community exchange network will be integrated into the program to decrease dependency and ensure sustainability. In order to receive food and livestock, able community members will be required to produce a certain amount of food stuffs and livestock for trade. Funds from the charity event will be used to purchase a motorbike, which George will be trained to use to deliver food daily.

One of the most exciting initiatives for Tropical Focus is uniform making by HIV/AIDS widows. Tropical Focus has identified and targeted the most vulnerable widows in the area and offered them the opportunity to participate in the program to produce uniforms to be sold on the local market. 30 widows have committed to take part in the three month training at the Tropical Focus office. Trained widows will then be offered the opportunity for ongoing employment with Tropical Focus. Electricity is being installed at the Tropical Focus office – partially funded by your contributions – so that both electric and pedal sewing machines may be utilized for training and uniform production. The option of solar power is also being explored.

Finally, I must apologize to any of you who offered your contribution in checks. I am facing many challenges in communicating between the IRS and the bank to register the bank account as that of a nonprofit corporation, which has been difficult to manage from here in Kenya. I do not want to deposit checks until the account is verified as that of a 501©(3) charity, to ensure there is no question that the donations are tax deductible when it comes time to file taxes. I truly apologize for any inconvenience and please do not hesitate contact me if this is a problem. I should be able to deposit your checks once I return late this month.

With sincere thanks for your continued support,

Veronica