Keep at-risk children dancing and fed in Kenya

A swinging hello from ChezaCheza! 

During the pandemic, we were left with so many questions. How do you prepare kids for school again during a pandemic? How do you make sure they also thrive outside the school environment? How do you guide them in making the right decisions in a stressful time?

Last 4 months we focused on providing safe learning spaces where children could dance, have a warm meal and get counselling services while schools were closed. Of course, we worked with our Social-Emotional Learning curriculum to equip children with essential life skills to navigate their challenging environment. We focused on breathwork, mindfulness, self-esteem, conflict negotiation and collaboration - just to name a few. 

Unfortunately, schools are still closed and the uncertainty and challenges arising from school closure persist. The children face ongoing challenges, such as domestic violence, increased levels of stress, forced labour and drug abuse. In this time, guidance, support and consistency were the main focus of ChezaCheza. We will continue to provide daily classes to make sure our kids keep motivated to learn, avoid misguided decisions such as drug abuse, violent behaviour and return mentally and physically healthy to school in January. Making sure we set them up for success in school, at home and at life! 

Your donation made this possible from July to October!

2210 warm meals

520 food packages 

204 dance classes

12 group therapy sessions

A warm hello from the ChezaCheza team!

We have started our dance classes again, together with a special feeding program. Your generous donation has made it possible to provide dance & life skill classes and a warm meal to 130 children every week. After 2 weeks we are proud to have provided 260 warm meals to our children, 40 warm meals for our trainers, 260 food packages and 24 energetic dance and life skill classes. We are happy that during the closure of schools, ChezaCheza is able to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our children through this initiative. 

Here is a story of one of our ChezaCheza kids and his experience: 

Vincent tells his ChezaCheza teacher Collins that he is happy to dance again. His mother is under a lot of stress because there is no work. He has to take care of his siblings when his mum is out looking for work. Many evenings he goes to bed hungry and he feels like he has nothing to do. Some of his friends have been forced to work and some have been stealing or taking drugs. He explains that many kids are just sitting around and have nothing to do, which makes them bored and looking for trouble. Now that ChezaCheza has opened its classes, many friends of his look forward to dancing, having fun and learning life skills again. 

This time has been very difficult for children and has put a lot of pressure on their emotional well-being. There is a lot of stress within the households which has led to increased stress and anxiety. Children have few activities to escape from household stress and focus on something positive. With the re-opening of our classes, the ChezaCheza kids have been able to connect with their friends in class and get emotional support from their teacher. The classes are about dancing to release stress in a safe and creative way and also to take some time to talk about what is happening in everyone's life. With all the challenges at the moment, it's important to create some space for listening, talking, expressing and connecting with each other. 

Thank you for making this happen <3