Kimani and Shiku’s story

Hello, thank you in advance for your time whilst we share an invaluable message from our recent visit to Kenya- “Kimani and Shiku’s story”.

We were recently fortunate enough to visit the Kitendo Children’s Charity Programme, a school situated in an informal settlement in Naivasha, Kenya. KCC was founded in 2009 by a group of volunteers in a ploy to enforce change in a community that was suffering hugely from the harsh effects of extreme poverty. They originally began feeding ‘uji’ (porridge) to around 100 local children in what was an open field at the time and have since flourished as an institution. Thanks to their endless hard work, support from volunteers and internal projects such as their ‘women’s empowerment programme’ they now have 42 pupils spread across 2 classes and employ 4 members of staff.

However, there is still change that urgently needs to take place, and for that we are asking for your help.

Since the global pandemic KCC have struggled to receive the funding that they deserve and require and consequentially there are aspects of the operation that have been limited as a result.

During our time we were made aware of a shocking reality of life within the slum, demonstrating that change desperately needs to be implemented.

In the course of our brief visit to Naivasha we were lucky enough to meet Catherine, Eva and Eunice, three members of staff at the heart of the programme and were also introduced to many of the pupils within the informal settlement.

During this introduction my attention was quickly drawn away from the overwhelming excitement of some of the older children as I noticed a very quiet, very young child who was seen amongst the crowd looking frail and distressed.

As I crouched to speak to the little boy it was clear he was not well, he was extremely weak and desperate to be picked up where he immediately collapsed himself onto me, grasping onto my neck.

We continued to walk on as I held him, before shortly having our attention drawn to another, equally distressed child whom appeared to be of a similar age.

We knew that we could not simply just leave two such young and frail children so Eva began to investigate where they could be taken back to.

The older children were quick to inform us that the children were in fact twins, who we now know as ‘Kimani’ and ‘Shiku’ and their mother was not at home, but at work. Instead at home was their 14-month-old baby sister, Nyambura, who was there by herself.

We proceeded to take the children back to the school where we wiped their faces, fed them and gave them water. Eva went on to investigate further regarding the young baby in the house, it was made clear that these children were being left alone in the day whilst their mother was at work. Kimani and Shiku are not yet three years old.

Whilst we were pleased to provide this care on that day, we knew that it was not enough. Whilst KCC is able to provide an education and welfare to their pupils, they simply do not have the funding to remedy the issue that is; what about those children who are not yet old enough to attend school? This poses a rife struggle throughout the KCC slum for mothers who still need to attend work, especially where there is no father figure present.

We have since been working with Catherine and Eva to propose a KCC Daycare for children such as Kimani, Shiku and Nyambura but for this we need your support.

In order to enable this initiative as a team we hope to raise £3,000 in order to cover start- up costs such as refurbishing the old library into a suitable space and to be able ensure that the project, including its feeding programme and staff wages, can be maintained for a year. Going forward we have plans to guarantee the sustainability of this programme such as greater advertisement for future volunteers to visit and learn about KCC just as we did.

Having spoken to mothers in the community, as well as directly meeting with the mother of these three children, we understand that this is a life changing opportunity for so many families.

The programme will provide:

• A sanitary environment for up to 30 young children and babies from the slum

• A safe place within school grounds that encourages socialisation into the school environment.

• A feeding programme, helping to relieve some of the pressure from mothers struggling to afford food for themselves and their families.

• Jobs opportunities for women within the slum community who will be given the chance to work as staff at the daycare.

• The freedom for mothers to be able to attend work to provide for their families.

• A controlled environment whereby health concerns and nutrition can be monitored.

Finally, an overall better start to life to infiltrate sustainability of positive change throughout the community.

A mother should never have to choose whether to leave her young babies at home by themselves in order to attend work or if to feed them that evening.

This is a decision that you can contribute to eradicate for the mothers of this community; a gift which is infinite in value.

Thank you for your time and in advance for any donations made, for Kimani, Shiku and Nyambura and so many more.

Thank you for your time, with love from Carly, Jocelyn and everyone at KCC.