Urgent Aid for Kenya-- Food, Supplies, and Support

Thanks to continued support and donations from the GlobalGiving community, we were able to make emergency grants to six of our partners in Kenya during the month of February. While the recent peace agreements in Kenya seem to have brought some calm to the country, the work continues to support Kenyan communities who were affected by almost two months of violence and conflict. Below are updates from the six organizations who received funding in February:

GEMINI A huge sigh of relief is almost audible from all parts of the country after a terrifying post-election period.

As usual, GG supporters came in their droves to support us in this trying moment. At a time when all the shops were closed, streets deserted and mayhem reigning, GEMINI volunteers were moving from camp to camp, providing much needed assistance.

"I had no idea that a packet of sugar could come in handy!!" exclaims Mwikali, an internally displaced person at the showground, where over 4,000 people are still stranded.

"Its during a time like this that we appreciate the value of friends. What GEMINI has done cannot be quantified!" she adds.

She was among the 320 persons that benefited from GlobalGiving donations.

Besides providing basic commodities like sanitary towels, beans, sugar and drugs, we were able to provide psychosocial support to affected families. We also organized outreach activities, including sports, Fashion show, board games and a lot of entertainment.

We received reports of women and girls being sexually abused by enraged men. Hundreds of survivors stumbled to health centers for emergency medication. Using our networks, we were able to reach over 245 abused women with Emergency Contraceptives, STD Prophylaxis, pregnancy tests, Urinalysis and HIV testing.

We also recruited more counselors to provide emotional and trauma counseling. With tears flowing and nursing battered spirits, most of the survivors said they had forgiven their assailants.

We will continue to provide Continous Medical Assessment and examination as well as provide psychosocial support and spiritual healing.

We are planning to initiate peace-building activities in the affected communities in the next few weeks.

Thanks so much for all your support!! Full updates from GEMINI are here: http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1700/proj1643a.html#progressReports and http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1700/proj1644a.html#progressReports

Trans-nzoia Youth Sports Association (TYSA)

TYSA has mobilized to assist victims of rape and sexual violence. Immediate Response by TYSA included --Organized for post exposure prophylaxis treatment --Offered alternative safe accommodation for the victims and their children --Offering food and clothing --Basic counseling

TYSA has also organized sports and soccer events for affected youth from the internally displaced persons camps. 22 children from the IDP camp at Kachibora had a rare treat from TYSA courtesy of your donations. The under 14 years old children were out playing soccer with their local age mates of Sinyereri soccer Team. They enjoyed themselves out the whole day.

"It was nice being out of the usual tent houses at the camp" --Wafula Eric

Click here to read the updates from TYSA: https://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2011d.html#2 and https://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2011d.html#1

CHF International The people staying in the camp where we are working say they fled becuase mobs would come to their homes and threaten death.

We started the construction of a shelter project in Kenya’s western province. We will begin constructing today based on the design we have finalized for the prototype. We hope we will be finishing 12 by the end of the day, we will see.

There are huge needs for the displaced families. They do not have an adequate supply of clean water and latrines. In addition, their children are not attending school because their parents fear they will be attacked if they attend. In addition, the IDPs are experiencing serious food shortage.

You can watch a video about CHF relief efforts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAlijM6OCYo

SACRENA

SACRENA’s work focuses on youth and children (particularly orphans) in Kenya. The support we got from the GlobalGiving we spent it for the specific purpose of orphan support.

SACRENA used the GlobalGiving funds for the following activities:

Purchasing uniforms and soccer balls to support 50 orphans playing sports Construction of a toilet for orphans to use Shelter for one family that is caring for orphans Purchasing food for 100 orphans including maize flour and beans.

Full update from SACRENA is here: http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1800/proj1713d.html#3

Sadili Oval Sadili Oval received, through GlobalGiving, some limited funds towards the emergency effort. These funds served to assist in critical areas of the programme.

Huruma and Mathare areas were adversely affected, with more than 500 families in one particular village having all their property and homes razed to the ground. Families found refuge in camps, mainly the local police station and the chief, camp. The situation has since 10th February, has changed somewhat, with the IDPs getting evicted from the police station for security reasons. At Soul Winning Church, the number of families living in tents had reduced considerably, as they were receiving support to get housing and rent. However, they continue to arrive during the day to get fed and receive some non-food items such as blankets. At Dmolly centre and Myoto Junior Academy (schools), many of the displaced children are received, taught and cared for. We have distributed food (sugar, unimix, maize flour) and blankets to these areas. A number of NGOs and international organisations are now actively involved in Mathare, and this has assisted those within the Chief’s camp. From reports that we receive from Dandora Deaf, there are IDPs who are staying with friends, or hiding amongst neighbours, straining the already poor resources. We are continuing to seek them through various groups and provide basic support, as the numbers in the caps reduce. In addition, we have assisted Reality Tested in setting up a feeding centre at their office in Huruma, which will take care of displaced children in the community. We hope to maintain this centre for another two months or until the situation on the ground stabilises.

Kibera was the worst hit area in Nairobi, with a large majority of business premises, homes in Olympic and Laini Saba, a petrol station, and the Toi Market razed to the ground. Many people, largely Kikuyu, Kibera continues to be the centre of turmoil in the city, and sporadic battles are fought between the police and protesting youth, and between gangs. Night-time (8 pm and 4am) in Kibera is fraught with security problems, with women and children raped and people in homes robbed of their property becoming a constant story. A number of IDPs are now returning back slowly to Kibera, but are faced with the challenge of shelter, food, water and how to get their lives back to normalcy. There has been a lot of pressure on the available meagre resources in the villages that remained intact, as many homes now provide shelter for those who were affected. This means that food, medicines, sanitation and water are a major requirement. Schools have also opened and remain the only safe and secure place for many children. As a result of the problems, many families lack the funds to take their children to school, and in the case of those who are in sponsored schools, the children lack the stationary that they need to begin school. This has meant that many schools have not been able to function well. Through this partnership, we have been able to provide some food to some of the functioning schools in our network to ensure that those children who go there will be able to get a good nutrition, at least until the WFP feeding program kicks in again later this year.

Since the first week of January 2008, Sadili set up a medical camp in a fire-gutted (former) bar in Kibera, opposite the Sarangombe Police Station and welcomed any medical staff and public spirited citizen to offer volunteer services to the sick and injured. This unique camp continues to run every Sunday from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. and sees between 400 and 700 people (depending on the skirmishes). The type of illnesses seen have changed from mainly injury-related cases to those linked to over-crowding and poor sanitation.

You can read the full update (along with photos) from Sadili Oval here: http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1700/proj1665a.html#progressReports

Best Buddies BBK FALLS VICTIM In Nairobi where Best Buddies Kenya operates, some of its stronghold programs were not spared either. Two of our Best Buddies High school chapters,Ngei High school and St. Genesis High school which fall under the mathare area where hundreds of lives have been lost, houses torched and properties looted were also affected. Both peer buddies and buddies of these chapters who live within mathare have been directly and indirectly affected with the aftermath. Some of these students’ houses have been torched, looted and even some lost their loved ones in the skirmishes which were mostly generated by a fight between the two communities.

EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT Due to this tough situation, it has been hard for these students to cope up again with their normal life which includes reporting back to school for their new term. School necessities have been a big shortage and a major obstacle to them. As a result of this, Best Buddies Kenya is planning to donate school supplies, exercise books, text books and pens to support their educational endeavours through the Global Giving Kenya Relief Funds.