By Anthony Kikondu | Global Roots country manager, Kenya
Dear Global Giving Donors,
Hello from Nairobi. My name is Anthony and I am Global Roots country manager and transparency officer for Kenya and all of Africa.
I am pleased to lead all Global Roots efforts over here, especially our successful food security program in Mtito Andei, one of our struggling country’s poorest areas.
The Matulani Children’s Garden is now feeding 250 children for .16 US cents a day per child! The reason the price is so low is because we started the project in 2010 and all of the initial capital costs, including 5K USD for a greenhouse kit, irrigation system, building supplies for a hen house and rabbit hatch, were paid a long time ago. Our food program at Matulani will be self-sustaining in two more years!
Proven Success
In 2016 two students from Matulani Primary, the community-supported school at the Kenyan transit town of Mtito Andei; were accepted for admission into top performing high schools, the first time in the poverty stricken school’s history. In addition three of the at risk Maasai high school students qualified for admission to college, marking their entry into the small select club of girls from their community to gain a post secondary education. These new milestones come on the back of the remarkable success story of Global Roots charity work in Kenya. The Green House centered school feeding program at Matulani Primary has seen a rapid improvement in overall academic performance, elevating the school’s position from the bottom 3 to the top 5 of the 22 schools in the district.
As the Global Roots Kenya Coordinator, I have personally witnessed the effect of Global Roots’ actions in a most direct manner and the success of Global Roots fund raising efforts is absolutely essential to keep these impactful programs running.
Our Executive Director Rick's genuine passion to assist these young and vulnerable Kenyans is obvious to anyone who has personally interacted with him. Indeed many of the beneficiaries consider him as a father figure, having directly experienced his genuine concern and engagement with their challenges. It is extremely touching to observe the mutual affection expressed between Rick and the beneficiaries of his efforts.
Future Global Roots commitments will include ensuring that eligible students are able to continue with a college education and extending the Green House project to other needy schools, all of which will in turn require considerable additional funding.
Matulani honored by County Senator (see photo)
Last month Matulani was honoured by a visit from the County Senator Honourable Mutula Kilonzo Junior. He has heard of the impressive academic progress at the school and came to see for himself. He handed out some prizes to the students and also donated some sports equipment. The Senator is the second most senior politician in the region so the visit will be considered as quite an endorsement for the work being done at the school.
We need to purchase new young hens by October
The current condition of our 100 hens at Matulani is not good. Their advanced age has reduced their productivity.
The Management Committee has proposed selling the old chickens so as to earn the money to buy new chicks to restock the hen house. I suggested that they set a few chicken aside so that the school children can have a chicken meat treat and then sell the balance of the chicken to raise the necessary funds. I also instructed them to put the proposal into writing so that we are kept informed of developments. It would also dispel any rumors from the rest of the school community about the sale of the chicken.
The proposal will have a break down on how much cash the old chickens will bring in and how many chicks they could expect to buy.
Fortunately, our rabbit hutch as prosperous as we expected it would be! See the children eating rabbit meat below. I know that some Americans don't like the idea of eating meat. Matulani children all love meat because it makes them feel full and helps them to study and have stronger bodies. The eggs they get from our hen house and the rabbit meat is their only source of protein.
In our next update I will share the story of a young girls who came to Matulani malnourished and illiterate. Mary's story is heart breaking. Today little Mary is reading, performing well on tests and her body is already strong!
Thanks again to Global Giving for helping us!
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