Community Transformation: Virtues Project in Kenya

Members of the board of the Virtues Project International Association visited our project in Kenya this past February. They are happy to report that Virtues Work 4 People (VW4P) school and community initiatives are expanding with The Virtues Project.

We visited several public and private schools, where we received warm welcomes from the children, visited with administrators and staff, participated in guided classroom tours, and were entertained by children's music, dance, and drama performances. Smiling faces, high-fives, and hugs were shared abundantly by all. Faculty conveyed their appreciation for The Virtues Project. Children showcased their understanding and appreciation of The Virtues Project through virtue picks, virtue acknowledgments, virtue songs, and drama and dance performances. Student Virtues Clubs share their enthusiasm for virtues. 

Several days were spent travelling in Kakamega County to introduce our visitors to the widow groups, where practicing the Five Strategies of The Virtues Project is an integral part of their social and economic development projects, which help them create sustainable livelihoods. Our guests were greeted enthusiastically by women and children, who danced and sang as they made their way to meet us. Then the groups gathered, and their leaders shared their mixed farming projects, gardens where they grow vegetables, with an emphasis on indigenous crops, along with raising animals, i.e., pigs, goats, cows, chickens, rabbits, turkeys, etc., and a variety of other projects, including: beekeeping, sewing, art, bakery, and charcoal, brick, and soap making.

We also visited our teaching farm, where groups come to learn about virtues, farming: crop cultivation, livestock raising, soil management, pest control, irrigation, harvesting, and soapmaking. We were given a soap-making demonstration.

We participated in meetings with our visitors, VW4P BOD, and local Virtues Project Facilitators at the Lutonya Parish Hall, which generously provides VW4P with a meeting room, bathroom, and office.  We met together with church and community leaders, mediators, youth workers, and the local Rotary Club. 

Virtues Project Workshop and Facilitator Trainings are ongoing as resources allow.   Several members of the community are waiting for an opportunity to train.  A training for religious leaders is planned for the end of this month.  Widow groups are expanding.  Virtues Project materials are being translated, and culturally relevant materials are being developed for schools.  Parent mentor groups are forming.  

Your donations make a difference by helping create cultures of caring where children are flourishing in school, widows and orphans are rising out of poverty, and communities are uniting to support virtues in the community.