Keeping Kenyan Kids in School!

Dear Global Giving Donors,

Hello from Nairobi. My name is Anthony and I am Global Roots country manager and transparency officer for Kenya and all of Africa.

I am pleased to lead all Global Roots efforts over here, especially our successful food security program in Mtito Andei, one of our struggling country’s poorest areas.

The Matulani Children’s Garden is now feeding 250 children for .16 US cents a day per child! The reason the price is so low is because we started the project in 2010 and all of the initial capital costs, including 5K USD for a greenhouse kit, irrigation system, building supplies for a hen house and rabbit hatch, were paid a long time ago. Our food program at Matulani will be self-sustaining in two more years!

Proven Success

In 2016 two students from Matulani Primary, the community-supported school at the Kenyan transit town of Mtito Andei; were accepted for admission into top performing high schools, the first time in the poverty stricken school’s history. In addition three of the at risk Maasai high school students qualified for admission to college, marking their entry into the small select club of girls from their community to gain a post secondary education. These new milestones come on the back of the remarkable success story of Global Roots charity work in Kenya. The Green House centered school feeding program at Matulani Primary has seen a rapid improvement in overall academic performance, elevating the school’s position from the bottom 3 to the top 5 of the 22 schools in the district.

As the Global Roots Kenya Coordinator, I have personally witnessed the effect of Global Roots’ actions in a most direct manner and the success of Global Roots fund raising efforts is absolutely essential to keep these impactful programs running.

Our Executive Director Rick's genuine passion to assist these young and vulnerable Kenyans is obvious to anyone who has personally interacted with him. Indeed many of the beneficiaries consider him as a father figure, having directly experienced his genuine concern and engagement with their challenges. It is extremely touching to observe the mutual affection expressed between Rick and the beneficiaries of his efforts.

Future Global Roots commitments will include ensuring that eligible students are able to continue with a college education and extending the Green House project to other needy schools, all of which will in turn require considerable additional funding.

Matulani honored by County Senator (see photo)

Last month Matulani was honoured by a visit from the County Senator Honourable Mutula Kilonzo Junior. He has heard of the impressive academic progress at the school and came to see for himself. He handed out some prizes to the students and also donated some sports equipment. The Senator is the second most senior politician in the region so the visit will be considered as quite an endorsement for the work being done at the school.

We need to purchase new young hens by October

The current condition of our 100 hens at Matulani is not good. Their advanced age has reduced their productivity.

The Management Committee has proposed selling the old chickens so as to earn the money to buy new chicks to restock the hen house. I suggested that they set a few chicken aside so that the school children can have a chicken meat treat and then sell the balance of the chicken to raise the necessary funds. I also instructed them to put the proposal into writing so that we are kept informed of developments. It would also dispel any rumors from the rest of the school community about the sale of the chicken. 

The proposal will have a break down on how much cash the old chickens will bring in and how many chicks they could expect to buy.

Fortunately, our rabbit hutch as prosperous as we expected it would be! See the children eating rabbit meat below. I know that some Americans don't like the idea of eating meat. Matulani children all love meat because it makes them feel full and helps them to study and have stronger bodies. The eggs they get from our hen house and the rabbit meat is their only source of protein.

In our next update I will share the story of a young girls who came to Matulani malnourished and illiterate. Mary's story is heart breaking. Today little Mary is reading, performing well on tests and her body is already strong!

Thanks again to Global Giving for helping us!

• Budget for matulani (DOCX)

Dear Global Roots supporters! 

Well, the great news is that our Kenyan school children are still doing well and thriving! As our earlier report indicated, our scores, attendance and matriculation rates are up across the board. We love seeing healthier and happier faces. 

Attached you find a letter from one of the many young children who benefit from this program. When we planted our greenhouse many years ago, we had no idea that a vibrant school lunch program -- sourced with vegetables from our garden and eggs from our hen house -- would turn one of the poorest performing schools in one of Kenya's poorest regions into the region's top performing public school. Well, duh! Food makes children think better and it inspires their parents to send them to school. Absenteeism was reduced from 90% to 7% after we launched our school lunch program at Matulani Elementary!

Let's take a second to focus on one student. Her name is Juliana and this is what she wrote this HERSELF. See her attached photo and letter.

Juliana N. 

My name is Juliana N. I am eleven years old and I go to Matulani Primary School.  I am in class 6. At our school I like 6 subjects; English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and Christian Religious Education. Among these, my favorites are English and Science.

In school we have co-curricular activities like clubs and games. In the case of games I participate in Netball in which I am one of the team members. In athletics I do the walking race and the 3,000 meters. Last games are proceeded up to the Sub-County level.

I come from a single parent family. My mother works as a casual laborer sometimes. Sometimes she does not get it (casual work.) We depend on her for our upkeep in and out of school. I have two sisters. Cecilia in class 7 and Mary Shantal in class 3.

I really enjoy the feeding program in the school. This has always kept me strong and healthy. It has helped improve in school attendance and performance. Last year I was position 1 with 414 marks (out of a maximum 500 marks.) I look forward to achieve a higher mark.

I thank god for the great support Global Roots is offering to us. May the good lord bless you abundantly.

Editor's note: Juliana is why we do what we do and we hope you will continue to support her and the other 256 children at Matulani who are doing everything they can to make the most of the resources in front of them.

Drought hits Kenya

Unfortunately, Kenya is experiencing a very bad year for rainfall. Drought conditions exist across the country and some areas are already experiencing drought related famine. 

This situation has begun to affect our schools in Mtito Andei. The report from our local Kenya director indicates that water sources in Mtito Andei are drying up. This means that it is increasingly difficult to get water for our greenhouse projects. 

These greenhouses are essential! Now that we have our kids attending and excelling at school and experiencing better health in general, we want to keep it that way. So it is vital that we keep our greenhouses functioning.

Planting begins this month on the new season's crops. Our local director has advised that planting will go ahead as scheduled and construction on a new planned greenhouse will still commence as well. However, he has decided to divert the funds for the planned rabbit hutch and hen house to pay additional fees for scarce water. 

Your continued support will help us keep our crops watered and our kids fed through this drought! The children appreciate it so much. 

Global Roots appreciates the work of lead gardener, Grace, in helping keep our programs running! She has been retained over the summer holidays to care for our crops and small livestock. Thanks Grace! 

Links:

• Global Roots Main Website