Develop self-sustaining projects for young Kenyans

Project Report | Apr 24, 2013
Back in Business!

By Kirsty | Project Leader

Baker in Training

The bakery at Kandara Children's Home has been idle for a number of years. It had been a thriving business with cakes being sold in neighbouring shopping centres to provide income to the home. However, this stopped when the baker unfortunately passed away.

Thanks to donations via Global Giving, the bakery has been given a new lease of life. The oven and baking tins were all scrubbed and cleaned and the fire was set to get things started. When we visited the home, one of the young men who recently finished his secondary school studies was being trained how to make cakes.The small cakes are already being sold locally with the plan to repair a disused motorbike so that they can reach new markets which are not as well supplied as the main shopping centres.

The children at Kandara Children's Home were treated to the first test batch and were then bought a cake each for breakfast to celebrate the birthday of one of our supporters. This is a great way for us to treat the children while the home gets the second benefit of the additional income.

We are happy to report that Nyamwanga Primary School in western Kenya has planted for a second season. They started farming last year thanks to donations through Global Giving. This was so successful that they are keen to see what this season can produce. As the rainy season is here, planting has been done and we look forward to a good harvest later in the year.

Thanks to everyone who has helped these projects on the path to sustainability. We really do appreciate your support!

The oven

Permalink

Jan 15, 2013
Launching New Projects for Sustainability

By Kirsty McLullich | Project Leader

Farm at Nyamwanga Primary School

Sustainability was a key focus of Vision Africa in 2012 and will continue to be in 2013.

Thanks to donations through Global Giving, we have seen some of our projects taken steps towards sustainability over the last few months.

Kandara Children’s Home has started a pig-rearing project to raise funds. A pregnant sow was purchased by the home using funds donated through Global Giving. Within a few weeks, she had given birth and there are eight healthy little piglets which are growing well. We were delighted that one of our Global Giving donors was able to visit the home and see for herself what her donation had done!

The children at Kandara Children’s now know to put all scraps of food in to a bucket in the kitchen which is used to collect food for the mother while her young are still suckling. Once the piglets have grown to a decent size, they will be sold to generate income. This is one of several farming activities at Kandara Children’s Home which also has dairy cows and chickens.

Nyamwanga Primary School in Western Kenya has also started farming. The school provides lunch for over 600 students on a daily basis. To help with their feeding programme, some of the funds donated through Global Giving were used to buy tools and seeds so that a portion of land could be cultivated. The rains have been favourable this season and we were delighted to get word that the school had harvested 400kg of maize and 60kg of beans. This will really help the school provide lunch for the students which in turn will help them study and encourage them to attend school.

These are just two examples of the work our projects have been able to do thanks to your support. We look forward to bringing you more success stories in the coming months.

Thank you for making a difference! We wish you all the very best for 2013.

Pig Rearing At Kandara Children's Home

Permalink

Sep 28, 2012
Preparing for Improved Sustainability

By Kirsty McLullich | Project Leader

Sharing Skills

Vision Africa has set a challenge to all its partner projects – by December 2013 30% of the funds they currently receive through our organisation should be raised through their own income generating activities (IGAs). This will empower the projects and also increase the involvement of local communities in the various projects.

A number of activities have already been set up including animal rearing, bakeries, sale of products made by graduates from our vocational and enterprise training centres, mobile phone charging and bureau services. Each project has been looking to meet the needs of the local community.

Thanks to the support of GlobalGiving donors, some of our projects will be able to expand their current activities or set up new enterprises to raise funds to support their work. In anticipation of the funds arriving, our team has been working hard to do some of the ground work to ensure the IGAs will be successful.

Ruth has been employed to work with our project leaders and support them in developing their IGAs. She is also responsible for collecting monthly reports which will allow us to evaluate each activity. In order to help the project leaders, Ruth has been preparing manuals packed with advice which will help them increase the productivity of their IGAs for example the best conditions for keeping certain animals, the feeds they should be given and the veterinary care required to maximise breeding potential.

We also like to share skills amongst our projects as far as possible. With this in mind, the head teacher of our Nairobi Seed of Hope centre travelled to Mbeere Children’s Home recently. The home has set up a dressmaking project producing school uniforms and tailor made clothing for members of the local community. Part of Florence’s role at Seed of Hope is to mentor her graduates as they set up small businesses after training in dressmaking and the production of marketable crafts. We thought it would be great if Florence could share her knowledge and skills with the team at Mbeere Children’s Home so that they can improve their business and hopefully generate more income to support the sixty children living at the home.

Now that we have received the funds from GlobalGiving, we are now in the process of allocating them to the various projects earmarked for investment. We look forward to bringing you updates from these projects in our next report.

Thank you for choosing to invest in our work and help develop self-sustainability at our partner projects.

Permalink

‹ 1 2

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.