changing communities through sport for 500 kids

There are not enough words to express our heartfelt thanks for the love and support. You have continued to show love through continued donations to our feeding program and beyond. New monies came in and we were able to pay for school fees. We are grateful for the sacrifices our friends and partners are making. This has enabled us to have a bit of food variety. Sugar beans have been added to the menu. Our program has never been the same since the deadly pandemic but with your help we have managed to make it simple but significant, impacting change in the daily life of our beneficiaries. We are glad that lockdown restrictions had been lightened allowing children to have a taste of games, sport, and splendid learning opportunities. However, we did not ignore that we are not yet out of the pandemic era hence conducting all activities in a monitored Covid free environment.

Our lockdown measures were relaxed in March and this allowed us to hold activities during the weekends. We got a chance to play soccer games, have learning times, and educational plays during the weekends. The slight lift on bans allowed the children to indulge in sport and a mini party aftermath. We had 2 soccer matches and a whole lot of other activities during the day. The children had a bit of chance to mix and mingle as well as play against neighboring junior teams before the ban on gatherings was reinstated end of May. Therefore, we have resorted to the previous safety strategies we had put in place during the tense lockdown.

However, our feeding strategies did not change. Our children have increased in number and our meals have improved in terms of variety as well as quality and quantity, all thanks to you. We have maintained takeaway meals and children are required to bring containers for their food. Queues are monitored to maintain social distancing while waiting for service. Thanks to your unwavering support, we have managed to maintain the feeding schedule of 4 days per week despite the increase in the number of children. Our aim is still to cover the spaces and feed these children daily with a target of supplying 500 children a day with a healthy nutritious and balanced diet meal.

We are glad that our Laundry Thursday’s program has managed to sustain as well as run successfully in the last quarter. We could not have achieved this goal without your help. This program covers children who do not have or cannot afford to have washing soap or bathing soap. Laundry Thursdays seek to maintain and teach children good hygiene, which is crucial for good health. Our volunteers have managed to set up a workspace to do laundry for the children as well as give them a proper bath with enough resources including distribution of toothbrushes and provision of toothpaste for good dental care. We need to raise new funds to start allocating pieces of soap to households, as numbers are now excessively many.

We have managed to secure tutors who take care of fundamental child learning for infants. The best we can do for everyone now is to assist in studies, homework, and assignments since we are still sourcing the funding. We still aim to have a separate funding process to enable us to contribute significantly towards school fees support. A big thank you to our friends who are showing a willingness to support the kids' fees scheme. Twenty-one children have been added to our Educational Benefit Fund. We still aim to incorporate and include every child in our educational assistance program. There’s a need to increase tutors around the area as there is a significant deficit with a proportion of 1:40 which is not ideal for effective learning.

We have spaced gatherings to teach children the dangers of the Coronavirus and continue to remind them of the need to stay safe. We then seize this opportunity for life lessons and cultural cultivation concerning societal influence on child marriages and drug abuse. We try as much as we can to raise awareness and assist children educationally that being intellectually and socially. Once again, we say, Thank you!