Give Hope to Kisumu's Underprivileged Children

Dear Donor,

Thank YOU so much for your continued support to our project! In our last report we shared with you two key updates: that we were fully transitioning from COVID-Relief efforts to our regular programs and incorporating new elements from what we learnt during the pandemic, specifically meal kits for families.

Meals Program

Since April 2022, we have served nearly 94,000 meals through the School Meals Program and Meal Kits for families. This has been our main focus amidst rising food and fuel prices in Kenya and through the prolonged election period a couple of months ago. Many parents have reported that it has been really challenging to feed their families within budget with many resorting to skipping meals to make ends meet.

Through your generous support, our team has continued to prioritize this program to help students and their families with this basic need. Students continue to receive two hot meals while at school on a daily basis while families continue to receive meal kits with a variety of food items that will last them nearly two weeks.

One story that captures the importance of this program came from Joyce:

Joyce’s Story

Joyce has been a beneficiary of the meal kits since the program was launched in her child’s school in 2020. This is what she shared with us: 

“I have 3 children who are all school-going. I used to have a job before but now I am self-employed, I sell charcoal but sometimes have to look for jobs that can pay me a wage because the income from selling isn’t always enough. Since I started receiving meal kits, it has helped me save costs and I don’t have to hustle to buy a lot of things except vegetables for the meals when cooking.”

Her daughter graduated from Valley Academy earlier this year and she says, “the meals program helped parents like me; in case there was no food at home, I was sure that she would receive breakfast and lunch at school.”

Upcoming KCPE

On 28th November, candidates from Grade 3 & 6 will sit for the pioneer CBC (Competency Based Curriculum) exams in Kenya while students from Grade 8 and Form 4 will sit for their KCPE and KCSE exams respectively. This is the first since the pandemic that examinations in Kenya are taking place in November and December in the hope of going back to a typical January-to-December academic year in 2023.

Team RKF will be supporting many vulnerable candidates with important stationery for them to be able to do their exams. We wish all the candidates nothing but the best as they reach this key milestone in their academic journeys.

Great Nonprofits

Team RKF is delighted to share that we have been a Top Rated Non-Profit for the SIXTH year in a row!

The Great Nonprofits badge is one of the most trusted rating seals for donors and we are grateful for everyone who shared their stories that helped us in getting this badge.

Giving Tuesday

Mark your calendars! There are only 2 weeks left until Giving Tuesday!

With 1.2 MILLION USD in Incentive Funds available from GlobalGiving, YOU can make a BIG impact by donating to support the work RKF does in marginalized communities within Kisumu County. Get ready to #MoveAMillion.

Links:

• Become a Patron: Make a monthly donation and get matched by 100%
• Our latest report from our Climate Action Project

Dear Donor,

Thank YOU so much for your continued support to our project!

Since our last report, a few major events have taken place, of which we want to highlight two key events: students graduating from completing their first full academic year since the pandemic in March of 2020 and how RKF is transitioning back into regular programming and growing from the lessons learnt during the pandemic to support families amidst rising inflation in Kenya.

Graduation Time!

The joyous photograph at the top of this report is from the graduation of the students of PP2 at Elimu De Ark School in March. The day was as cheerful and as colorful as the picture looks. Team RKF was invited to be a part of this wonderful celebration to congratulate these bright students on completing this milestone. And we couldn’t be happier or prouder to watch them graduate and get ready for Primary School. And we wanted to share with you what your donations to our programs helps accomplish: students reaching key milestones in their academic journeys!

Later on the same day as Elimu’s graduation, our team was also able to witness the students of Valley Academy in Nyalenda graduate from PP2 into Primary School. During the graduation, we met with Linda, a parent whose daughter recently graduated from PP2. Team RKF was present during her graduation to cheer her on as she received her certificate. 

In conversation with us about the food relief kits she received throughout the pandemic, Linda shared: "The Meal Kits have helped so much. With 3 school-going children and other rising costs, sometimes even 100 shillings isn't available to buy a packet of unga (flour) but with the meal kits, there's always something to eat. Mafikirio zimeisha kabisa… (my worries have ended)”.

Transitioning from COVID Relief Efforts

As we wrap up our COVID relief efforts and resume our regular programming with schools having re-opened for a new academic year, we wanted to share an important brief on what we have been able to offer in the past few months and summarize the COVID relief efforts we (you and Team RKF) have carried out over the past two years.

In honour of International Women’s Day in March we were able to support 73 at-risk teenage girls with sanitary kits that will last them a full year. This was coupled with training and empowerment for them and their mums/guardians on how best to care for themselves and stay on their academic journeys. This brought the total number of re-usable kits distributed during the pandemic to 480 (equivalent of 96,000 disposable pads).

We have now served over 275,000 meals by making more than 1,476 food packs available to families in different communities in Kisumu County.

RKF’s Education Packs were initially started to support students during the lockdowns to help them continue their studies while schools were closed. However, as schools reopened students faced different sets of challenges like lack of stationery and reading materials for their new classes. And so, we kept going… So far, 4,046 education packs have been provided by RKF to students across different schools in Kisumu!

“Graduating” from the pandemic: what have we learnt and how can we grow?

In the past few months, prices of food items have risen significantly forcing parents to make difficult choices to provide for their family. While talking to several beneficiaries, we learnt that some can only afford one meal in a day. Our school meals program ensures that students receive uji (porridge) for breakfast and rice & beans/green grams for lunch while they are in school. Joyce, a parent whose child is a beneficiary of the school meals shared this:

“It really helps parents like me because in case there is no food at home, I am sure that my child will be eating breakfast and lunch in school.”- Joyce

However, what we realized is that what we offer in school needs to be supplemented at home. As we transition back to our programs, it has become abundantly clear from community feedback, that what we learnt from the pandemic can be carried into our regular programming.

A version of the relief food packs are now being made available to parents in the form of subsidized meal kits. These continue to help parents keep putting meals on the table amid rising food prices in Kenya, while participating in their own growth. This is a solution that many parents have appreciated and continue to actively participate in. One such parent, Rose, shared her story with us:

Rose’s Story

Rose is the sole provider for her family. She earns -Kshs.1,000 (~US$9) per week.

Her 6 children are all school-going and when she gets paid, she pays rent, school fees and other utilities. Rose has been a beneficiary of the food packs for the past 2 years during the pandemic. "I am a part of a Chamma (kitty) where many women come together and contribute a small amount of money on given days. When it’s your turn to receive the money, you get to decide what you want to do with it, I usually cost-share for the meal kits. The program helps me and my children so much."

She added, "Even when I have nothing at all, this (food) pack takes my family through one week. We have chai (tea) in the mornings, I cook rice and green grams for lunch or sometimes substitute it with ugali, chapati and vegetables."

Check out our Climate Action Project Report

From learning how to care for the environment, to exciting garden visits and boat rides by the lake, read about our work in the Climate Action Space in school here.

Links:

• Become a Monthly Donor and get matched by 100%
• Read our latest report from our Climate Action Project!
• For regular updates, follow us on Facebook!