Give Hope to Kisumu's Underprivileged Children

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the entire team at The Rahul Kotak Foundation, we wish you a very Happy New Year. With you by our side, we continued to nourish communities, strengthen resilience, and build pathways toward brighter futures. Your support made a meaningful impact possible: on the ground and in the lives of those we serve.

Over the past term, our programmes continued to support hundreds of children and families across Kisumu through daily school meals, scholarships, and community-led engagement. For a deeper look into specific projects, you can also explore our recent reports:Impact in Action: Our Climate Story and This Christmas, Kindness is the Main Course.

This report highlights key moments from the past term, including reflections from our Cooks and Interns Roundtable (Term 3), insights from our Scholars’ End-of-Year Workshop, and an update on what lies ahead as we continue strengthening our projects together.

Cooks & Interns Roundtable

While our previous reports have shared encouraging reach and impact figures, behind every meal served is a committed team working consistently on the ground. Driving the daily delivery of the RKF Meals Program are our cooks and field team, women who not only implement the project each day, but also actively help manage it.

Recruited directly from the communities we serve, these women bring local knowledge, trusted relationships, and a continuous feedback loop that allows the programme to adapt and respond in real time. Beyond meal preparation and distribution, we invest intentionally in their training, upskilling, and reflection, ensuring the people behind the project grow alongside it.

Each academic term, cooks and interns come together for structured roundtables, spaces designed for learning, accountability, and well-deserved rest. In the past term, the Cooks’ Roundtable focused on accountability and responsibility, addressing operational challenges, reinforcing ethical practices, and renewing pride in delivering nutritious meals with care. The Field Interns Roundtable, in parallel, strengthened on-ground monitoring, communication, and reporting systems to ensure beneficiaries are served consistently and with dignity.

To balance learning with well-being, the roundtables also included a thoughtful team outing. Cooks visited Impala Park, while field interns spent time at a local museum, engaging in group activities and sharing a meal, many experiencing such spaces for the first time. These moments of pause and recognition are vital: they build trust, deepen team bonds, restore energy, and affirm the value of the women whose daily commitment sustains the Meals Program long beyond the numbers.

Scholars’ End-of-Year Workshop (November 2025) - What happened, and why it mattered

Over four days, 38 scholars were asked to look closely at themselves, not just their marks, but their habits, choices, and readiness for what lies ahead. Through guided reflection and activities like Letter to My Future Self, many spoke clearly about how they had grown; others admitted where consistency, effort, or focus had fallen short. That level of honesty is essential. As one facilitator put it, “You can’t change what you refuse to see.”

Career sessions reinforced this message. Professionals from different fields spoke openly about failure, delayed progress, and the discipline required to keep going. The message landed: success is built less on raw talent and more on communication, reliability, and showing up, especially on difficult days.

These ideas were tested in practice during the Cook-Out Challenge, where scholars took full responsibility for planning and execution. Disagreements surfaced quickly, leadership was contested, and confusion set in before collaboration followed. By the end, teams had learned to listen, compromise, and move forward together, skills no exam can assess but every workplace demands.

Debate sessions further pushed scholars out of their comfort zones. Arguments on careers, soft skills, and entrepreneurship were sharp and often humorous, revealing growing confidence among many participants, while also highlighting those still learning to speak up and defend their views.

The workshop closed with parents joining their children for open conversations about expectations and academic focus. Recognition was given not only to top performers, but also to scholars who showed clear improvement - reinforcing that progress, when sustained, matters.

20 Scholars in 2026

We are excited to share that we have launched a microproject to further support 20 bright, deserving students in 2026. Many talented students in rural Kisumu cannot transition to high school because their families cannot afford fees, uniforms, or learning materials, and even high-performing pupils are forced to drop out. 

Insights from our Scholars Workshop highlighted that access alone isn’t enough; students also need guidance, academic follow-up, and support when challenges arise.

Your support makes this possible, covering fees and mentorship while helping students stay in school, build strong habits, and complete their education, laying the foundation for long-term success and brighter futures.

Check this out for more information: Their Future Starts Here: 20 Scholars in 2026

Links:

• $50 = 400 Meals
• 20 Scholars in 2026
• More Stories of Change

Dear GlobalGiving Family,

As we step into the final week of the year, we do so with full hearts and deep gratitude. Christmas is a season rooted in warmth, generosity, and care and because of you, these values are being felt daily by children and families across Kisumu.

Your support throughout the year has ensured that children are fed, girls are empowered, and young students are learning to care for the world around them. In communities where uncertainty is a daily reality, your generosity is turning survival into stability, and hope into action.

Meals Program Update

Since our last report, we have served an additional 20,000 meals, bringing the total to 273,417 meals served since January 2025. This year, those meals have reached communities facing repeated disruption and loss.

Much of our work has been alongside families affected by climate-related disasters, particularly floods that have displaced households, damaged homes, and left many without a stable place to live. In these conditions, access to food is difficult, and hunger is often a daily reality.

Through the School Meals Program, regular meals have become a dependable source of nourishment for many children from vulnerable families. And beyond schools, our Meal Kits continue to support households directly, helping ensure that children keep eating even as families navigate ongoing uncertainties.

Naomi, a widowed mother of five, is one such parent. After floods destroyed her home, she survives on irregular work cleaning omena by the lake, earning about 50 Kenyan shillings (USD 0.35) on some days—and nothing on others.

She shared, “Sometimes, if I don’t earn anything, we all sleep on empty stomachs.” This holiday season, because of your giving, her children will not.

“God bless you. My children will be so happy today.”, she shared after receiving a Meal Kit. These kits do more than fill stomachs, they bring relief to parents carrying the weight of circumstances beyond their control, and moments of joy to families who rarely get to pause and feel it.

This is the power of your giving.

Girls Empowerment Project 

Alongside nourishing students and their families, your support is helping girls remain in school and grow in confidence.

In 2025, our Girls’ Empowerment Program reached 773 girls and their mothers across five communities in Kisumu County, creating safe spaces for learning, trust, and open conversation.

Through culturally grounded workshops, mothers and daughters came together to talk openly about menstrual & sexual reproductive health, safety, confidence. For many attending the workshop, this was the first time they could ask questions and share their stories and feel heard.

Each attending girl received a Sanitary Kit inclusive of 5 re-usable pads (lasting 12–18 months) 2 panties, soap and a Girl Talk Booklet, helping her attend school consistently and easing the daily financial pressure on households led largely by single mothers. 

More importantly, girls left with renewed confidence knowing their bodies are not barriers to education. By strengthening the bond between mothers and daughters, this program helps girls stay in school, believe in themselves, and continue learning with confidence and hope.

Climate Action Project 

The Climate Action project reached 280 students through 18 workshops on sustainability and environmental stewardship. Each student received a seedling, a living reminder of their responsibility toward the planet.

For students facing the realities of flooding, crop loss, and extreme weather, climate education is vital. Their reflections, shared through songs and poems, captured this urgency, with one student reminding us: “We don’t have a Planet B.”

At Korwana Primary School, 120 trees were planted with students, teachers, and community members, building a lasting sense of care and ownership. A community-inspired mural at Central Primary School now brings life to the surrounding, blending creativity, identity, and environmental action.

Through these activities, students are developing environmental awareness, repsonsibility and pride in protecting the communities they call home.

ASANTE ASANTE ASANTE!

Thank you for standing with our community this year and for making this impact possible.

Links:

• Donate Now: Invest in community futures in 2026
• Art for Climate and Community