Emergency Family Relief Food and Nutrition Support

An estimated 56 percent of Kenya’s urban population lives in informal settlements which are very dense with families often sharing a single room. Residents rely on daily earnings. They often have highly inadequate access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and other vital services. The economic recession is hitting hard to families, with the increase of children running into the streets and roadside bagging every day. Providing food aid to vulnerable families and feeding the children has been our remedy for the situation currently. All residents of informal settlements need to pay rent and buy water, medicines, and other essential goods; additional support is urgently required for sure. Adequate supplies of affordable piped water are currently a big challenge. In order to alleviate one of the worst effects of poverty on children, expanding access to education is one of our primary goals to minimize generational poverty in informal settlements. With children in school for almost two months now, Ngao has been steadfast in providing food to 670 children every Saturday and Sunday. This intervention has reduced cases of children roaming in the streets, and child abuse as most of them are absorbed in different activities at the Centre. During this period, Children enjoyed harvesting what they had planted, and for most of them, it was their first time getting involved in the farming process. Parents/guardians enjoyed the proceeds of what their children took to them. During this period also we have continued to support women in providing tailoring and other business skills to ensure that they bring something to the table for their children. Mentorship sessions have also been put in place to ensure that these children can become better in the community and have a better future.

The school opening has provided much needed relief for parents and guardians but also matched by anxiety over the financial strain caused by the pandemic. We had known that the longer children are out of school, the greater the risk that the poorest among them will never return. They face increased risks of violence, child labor and child marriage, and to their mental wellbeing. Schools are a vital safety net for the most vulnerable children, protecting them from these risks.

With children in school for almost two months now, Ngao has been steadfast in providing food to 447 children every Saturday and Sunday. This intervention has reduced cases of children roaming in the streets, and child abuse as most of them are absorbed in different activities at the Centre. This period, Children enjoyed harvesting what they had planted, and for most of them it was their first time getting involved in the farming process all through. Parents/guardians enjoyed the proceeds of what their children took to them.

With school resuming. 46-day school children are engaged on rotational basis to learning farming skills, urban gardening and diverse agricultural activities on weekends while they are not attending school. After their first harvest, they are now motivated and have planned different kinds of vegetables, crops and herb that supplement the food we cook for them. The knowledge gained is shared with the children families where 23 families have already set up vertical gardening in front of their houses. With the start of long rains, we expect good harvest for these families. The Government officers visited to provide technical support to the families involved which was a big boost.

We have supported 123 families with dry food on weekly basis up from 28 families previously. This brings to 984 families supported with dry food in two months period. These are mostly single headed families that have a mother as the bread winner. Within the same period, 107 families have come together and registered for different skills to help them generate income after their source income was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. The skills they are learning are: making soap (41), Mat (28), Table clothes (10), tailoring (10), poultry keeping (13) and beadwork (5). We are helping 127 women locate a land for a greenhouse which has proved to be a good prospect.

48 girls received sanitary towels. Currently four social work and two counselor university students are on attachment at our facility. They have been providing needed psychosocial support to children to 319 children for the past two months. 52 children not coming regularly at the Centre have been visited and their situation followed up, assisted and concluded.