Educate, Feed & Protect Children in Kibera, Kenya

Could you support your family on $4 per day?

This is how much the typical parent of a St. Vincent’s Nursery School child earns --- and this is when times are good. Considering that work in Kibera is inconsistent, many parents go days without being able to work. This is compounded by the fact that most children from St. Vincent’s Nursery School come from households with sick parents who cannot do heavy tasks due to poor health status, thus leaving the entire burden of income generation to one parent.

With this amount of money, St. Vincent’s parents are unable to provide adequately for their children. These children do not get proper health check-ups or receive medical attention when they are sick. At home, skipping breakfast and dinner is highly prevalent among children. When food is available, it is of low nutritious value. Moreover, children fail to get proper exercise in the cramped slum of Kibera. Without intervention, all of these factors negatively affect children’s physical development, but also their education starting from their early years. Children are unable to concentrate or carry out normal activities and are often absent from school due to illness and fatigue.

St. Vincent’s comprehensive program provides two quality and nutritious meals to each of our 85 children daily. Each morning, our teachers check in with children to get the ‘morning news’. Any child who comes from home without having breakfast, complaining of stomach ache or how they had nothing to eat the previous night are always given a cup of porridge before they start the normal daily school activities.  Each afternoon, the children receive a hearty lunch that comprises fruits, vegetables, grains and meat throughout the week prepared by our cook, Doris. This meal must often last children until the next morning when they come to school. In addition, St. Vincent’s sends any child with medical issues to a local clinic and covers all of the associated costs. These health and nutrition activities keep St. Vincent’s children healthy and ready to learn and grow. They are essential to the overall development of the child at a time when children are at their most important development stage.