Give A Child Life

Saddened By This Grave Incident

I just received this from Josephine, who runs Stara School in Nairobi's Kibera slum...

 

"Early Monday morning I received a call from the school by the guard informing me of a fire outbreak. Their cry for help and my phone calls to the fire department could not assist much for the fire had quickly engulfed all of the three classrooms on the old structure including the administration offices. The cause of the fire is yet to be established. We have so far lost four of our classes and the office. A few books were salvaged but we almost lost everything within the administration block. The entire school fraternity has been saddened by this grave incident. Right now, we are in a state of confusion trying to sort out what's left of the debris but will inform you of all progress."

 

I had called Josephine right after I heard about the fire. GCL has been talking to her about starting a feeding program for the 40 children in her nursery. The nursery, thank heaven, didn't burn. The children will be back after Easter break at the beginning of May. We're working on raising $230 a month to feed the children porridge.

Fires often break out in urban slums. Josephine told me she thought this one started from faulty wiring.

 

Debbie

 

 

 

Small Actions Make Huge Differences!

When I was in Kiandutu a few weeks ago, I didn't think Cecilia would make it. She looked so pale and thin. You could hardly tell she was pregnant--even though she was due to deliver any minute. A few days later, she had a lovely baby girl. Look at her smiling! One reason is because GCL provides child care for her two children under age 5.

The same day I saw Cecilia, the village elders asked me to fix the house of another GCL member, Beth. It needed only a few simple repairs to prop up the walls and fill the holes.

Often it's not the big actions that make the most difference. It's the small ones. $3 a month for child care; $3 to buy small bags of flour and beans for dinner; $45 to shore up a house, etc. What matters is that GCL is on the spot when children have a need. Working with Kiandutu's village elders, GCL helps within the hour. Isn't it nice to be a part of it?

Debbie    

 

Just Arrived in Nairobi, Kenya!

What a great way to start the New Year! I just arrived in Nairobi from Los Angeles. This afternoon Charity, Carol and I met with the village elders in Kiandutu, as we do on each of my trips. They were so grateful for what we are doing for their young children. The highlight of the afternoon were remarks by the government's Assistant Chief for Kiandutu--George Muniu. He said, "Your organization has been a great help. Before children would go for days without food. Today if a child is spending a night without a meal, it's only because the parent has not asked for help."

We are making a difference for the little ones here--thanks to caring people like you.

Debbie 

She Worries Constantly About Caring for Her Children.

Rose Nungari has four children: three under six and one nine-year-old who is deaf. Since she and her husband separated in 2010, she has not been able to provide even the most basic necessities. They have all stopped attending school because she can't afford the fees. Her three-year-old daughter is weak and malnourished. Her youngest, a two week old baby, has no clothes. Both girls have bug bites covering their bodies, but she cannot afford mosquito nets. She lives in a one room house that her neighbors are letting her use, but they have no furniture, bedding or cooking supplies.

She worries constantly about caring for her children, but she maintains hope. Once her youngest is about a month old, Rose will be able to carry her on her back while she looks for work. Until then, each day is a struggle to provide food for the children. Right now, she does not even have sufficient breast milk to nurse the baby.

GCL has provided emergency food for the family and is working on a long term plan to help them.

 

No Child Has Missed a Day.

This holiday season, our program coordinator in El Zaite is far more concerned about children’s hunger than providing presents and a celebration. The floods several weeks ago destroyed many families’ small garden plots, making food insecurity a greater issue than ever.

While the preschool was in session, the 40 children received a nutritious meal each day. However, while the center is closed from mid-November until early January, many children go hungry.

On a recent trip, Debbie noticed how thin some of the children were. In response, we're giving the 15 neediest boys and girls a warm daily lunch rich in protein, vitamins and minerals while the Center is closed. Since we started on November 17^th, no child has missed a day.

Food baskets can help families through hard times. But feeding programs can target specific children and make a lifesaving difference. Enjoy your holiday feasts knowing that others are cared for, because of your compassion. 

Just Returned from El Salvador.

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to El Salvador. Here are a few updates:

1. The flooding did not leave hugely visible scars, but it did wipe out the crops, particularly the corn and beans. Many of the families at the Center have small plots a few miles away where they grow food to supplement what they can buy. This food was destroyed. Hunger will be a problem until they can grow new crops. Right now, they are worried about getting the funds to buy more seeds.

I became concerned after seeing some of the children. One girl in particular had lost a lot of weight. She had amoebic dysentery.  The flooding created additional water contamination because of the run-off. I asked Carlos to set up a five week program giving a healthy lunch with meat to the 12 sickest and hungriest children while the Center closed for the holidays.  

2. Water in general continues to be a serious concern. The government has started putting in a system in a nearby neighborhood; El Zaite is next on the list. But we can only believe it will happen once it starts. Carlos and I decided to buy 13 water filters sold by Cortaid, a nonprofit organization in El Salvador. We'll give 10 to the families with the children suffering most often from dysentery/diarrhea and put 3 in the Center: 1 in each classroom and 1 in the kitchen. When the children arrive at the Center in the morning, they'll dump the water they bring into the filters and in an hour or so, they'll have clean water to drink. This will help them get used to water filtration. We plan to track whether the children’s health improves.

3. The 900 books we distributed last spring made a huge difference. For the first time, all of the children graduating from the Center are entering kindergarten already reading. Parents described how the books "opened up their children's imaginations". I found the books in the families' homes, usually on low shelves where children could reach them easily. They clearly were much used. On this trip, I brought three huge suitcases filled with books for children starting at the Center in January.

4. The Center is doing an excellent job tracking the children's progress. While there, I picked up the post-development assessments done at the end of the year. I also collected post surveys from parents and older children who received books last spring.

Overall our program seems to be doing very well, and we identified other areas for expansion in the next year. More to news to come soon.

Warmly,

Debbie

 

Mothers can Start or Grow Their Small Businesses...

Last week, our program director in Kenya sent us an important update and proposed we start a new project…

Our monthly meeting in Kiandutu was held last Saturday. We had many parents turn up. We gave a presentation on Family Planning, and it was interesting to see how well the parents participated with questions and contributions. Next topic will be on breastfeeding.

We then discussed the issue of learning simple math for small businesses. We acknowledged the efforts of a few women who have successfully started businesses and kept books and asked if others were interested in doing the same. Parents who wished to open or expand upon small businesses included:

Nancy Adhiambo needs kshs. 1,000/$10 to sell roasted maize after providing day care services.
Amina needs kshs. 2,000/$20 to boost her perfume business.
Zipporah needs kshs. 1500/$15 as she already has a vegetable stall and wishes to sell charcoal also.
Sahara Isaac needs kshs. 2,000/$20 because her snack business went down when she was nursing a sick child.

In total it will cost kshs. 6,500/$65 to have these ladies in business.

After discussion, the ladies suggested that this be given to them as soft loans repayable within the first month after one has made profits, so that others could borrow and benefit.

Do you think we could try this and monitor it? Say create a revolving fund of kshs.10,000/$100 earmarked for small businesses?  

Kindly put forth your thoughts and suggestions.

Carol

We forwarded this email to our supporters and the result was wonderful; we raised enough to start the program, which will lay the groundwork for real, lasting change. Carol will teach these women to add, subtract and calculate a profit. She’ll also go over their books with them on a regular basis so they understand the process. With these lessons and a little seed money, the mothers can start or grow their small business, and perhaps someday will be able to support themselves and their families without our help. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. 

Update from El Salvador.

We just received an update on the hurricanes hitting El Salvador from our program coordinator:

Today we have finished a survey of the people who have lost their crops, and the funds you sent will go to purchase emergency food and medicine for them. More than 65 families are in desperate need.
Each family will receive a bag of food, which costs $12.00, containing 5 pounds of beans, 5 pounds of rice, 5 pounds of sugar and 5 pounds of powdered milk. The remaining funds will pay for medical treatments.

I have received your contribution of $1,500, and we will try to deliver food to families on Thursday. We are waiting a little longer so that we will have minimum problems with the food distributions. I will send you photos of the delivery.

There is still an incredible amount of rain throughout the country. It rained for nine days without stopping. Classes are suspended until further notice under provisions of the Ministry of Education.

Carlos

As of Monday, 32 Salvadorians had been killed by the storm. Forecasts show that the rain will begin again tomorrow and should continue through the rest of the month. It’s hard to say when the children will return to school and the parents to work. But thanks to support from Give A Child Life, at least they will have a little something to eat and those suffering from dengue, bronchial infections and other illnesses will get the treatments they need.   

 

State of Emergency in El Salvador.

Hi Debbie, 

We haven't been about to work with the children for three days. It rains day and night. There is not access from San Salvador to Zaragoza. There are landslides, the electrical system is gone and roads have collapsed. The center may be flooded. We are waiting to see.

The government has declared a state of emergency in seven departments, including Zaragoza.

Our children's families have lost their crops of corn and beans and small animals. We have children with bronchitis, flu, fungus and the growth of dengue due to rains and low temperature.

Carlos

Children's Center, Program Manager

 

Thank you for your contributions...we did it!

This morning Give A Child Life distributed food and supplies to 30 families with young children who had lost everything in the recent Kiandutu fire. Each family received 5 lb. bags of flour, porridge and beans as well as basic kitchen utensils. Originally, we’d planned on providing blankets, but many were donated, so the families needed cooking supplies more.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to provide relief to these fire victims. With $475 in donations, we were able to help all thirty of the families we’d identified. Thanks to your support, they will enjoy a few warm meals and can begin rebuilding what they’ve lost.