My Trip to Kibera in Kenya

KIBERA

‘There are approx 2.5 million slum dwellers in about 200 settlements in Nairobi representing 60% of the Nairobi population, occupying just 6% of the land. Kibera houses almost 1 Million of these people. Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa and one of the biggest in the world.

The average size of shack in this area is 12ft x 12ft built with mud walls, screened with concrete, a corrugated tin roof, dirt or concrete floor. The cost is about Ksh 700 per Month (£6). These shacks often house up to 8 or more, many sleeping on the floor.

Until recently Kibera had no water and it had to be collected from the Nairobi dam. The dam water is not clean and causes typhoid and cholera. Now there are two mains water pipes into Kibera, one from the municipal council and one from the World Bank. Residents collect water at Ksh 3 per 20 litres.

In most of Kibera there are no toilet facilities. One latrine (hole in the ground) is shared by up to 50 shacks. Once full, young boys are employed to empty – they take the contents to the river. UN-Habitat and a few other agencies are trying to help and improve this situation but it is painfully slow.In Kibera there are no government clinics or hospitals. The providers are the charitable organisations: They do a great job. All people are encouraged to have a free HIV test and if positive to take free generic ARV medicine.

Kibera is near the industrial area of Nairobi where up to 50% of the available workforces are employed (usually in fairly unskilled jobs). However, there is still an unemployment rate of 50%. This is why the training and teaching of skills is very important.’ 

(Facts from kibera.org.uk)

In amongst the squalor, garbage strewn alleyways tin clad shacks there is a pearl that shines out in the form of a Church run School called Soweto Academy, run by Pastor Chris & JoAnne Okumu, providing a feeding program through its 3 schools to over 1500 children, and providing an education which is now acknowledged as one of the top schools in Nairobi, a huge achievement, which Feed the Hungry is proud to support with a feeding program in conjunction with Stop Hunger now, to provide nutritional meals every day for the children and teachers.

Having just got back from visiting The Academy you can only admire the hard work and dedication that the team put into providing a stable environment, giving hope where there were none. The contrast of people living in such a hopeless environment to the work at the Soweto Academy was immense. The contrast in health for those who attend the school is huge, and it was a privilege to be able to spend some time to be part of the lives of those children through helping to serve food at the schools, which was a very humbling experience. 

Though reality struck home when Pastor Chris made us aware that a lot of the children will store half of their food to take how as this was the only means of food their families would have.

The school has provided some really stories of hope for the children from the achievements of those already having graduated from the school, to become nurses teachers and even one of the students now being one of the chief software engineers for Microsoft in Kenya.

Pastor Chris Okumu is not one for holding back, or being totally dependent on aid or state support, and has developed a medical clinic for the local population, and drilled 600 ft to provide a clean supply of water for the school and which they provide free to the surrounding community.

Through the dedication prayer and financial help of our partners and supporters of Feed the Hungry is what makes all this possible to bring hope where there is none, life where there is despair, and a future out of a dark place.

Continued help for the flood victims

From Pastor Salik John

Before I left Pakistan I took our medical team to the flood affected areas again and we did medical camps in four different areas. Our medical team treated about 1500 flood victims that had cholera, malaria and skin diseases. In all of these four places we shared the Love of Christ and prayed in the name of Christ with the flood victims before we started the medical camps...............


I am again leaving for Pakistan next Sunday to do more relief work; We will be installing water purification systems (which will be donated to us by Feed The Hungry, Germany). And we will also be distributing tents and winter beddings. We will continue to do the medical camps as well. Please pray that the Lord may provide more finances and resources to continue with the relief work.  Thank you!

Thank you from Sudan

Thanks to your support, over 700 children in South Sudan have not had to worry if they’d get to eat each day. They've been able to know each day of the year that they had a good, hot meal waiting for them at school or at the local church.

£4 will feed a child for an entire month, and one gift of  £45 will provide a daily meal to a child for a whole year!  We have 723 children in our Every Child Every Day program in south Sudan right now, and 3,000 more urgently waiting to be included.

Your generous gift today will help us rush much needed food staples to Sudan for the year ahead. We won’t give up on our commitment to these children. We will not let them go hungry. Thank you for considering this great need and acting today.

May God richly bless you!

Niger report

 Over the coming weeks I will have the privilege of listening and reading the testimonies of those people on the ground benefiting form your generosity and look forward to sharing them with you on this Blog. Below you will see photos and some extracts from there report from Ong Vie Abondante who partner with us in Niger which is going through a very long period of drought.

COUNTRY:  Niger      City: Niamey / Maradi / surrounding villages

Organization Name:  ONG Vie Abondante

Director(s) Name(s):  Rev. Neal Childs

School / Orphanage/ Location Name(s):  

The majority of food this year has been given out to families through 30 church  locations

Number of Children fed daily:  approximately 1400 children & 500 adults

 TESTIMONIES

From Pastor Hasimu, Eglise Vie Abondante – Maradi.

We give thanks to God that through His grace he has provided this rice which is like the manna from heaven that children of Israel received.  It is a big help supporting us and especially the children of Niger.  This food has really strengthened the children's bodies.  They are always desiring this food and it has been like a medicine to their hunger.  We testify about these kids that many of them had emaciated bodies, even close to death, but when the rice came it helped them to put weight on and they changed a lot.  They were strengthened greatly.  Even now they are able to run and play games.  Now they are happy especially when they see the rice being cooked. 

So we the parents thank you and request that you continue to send the rice.  We thank God for you and pray that He blesses you.  Thanks for your giving heart to the children of Niger.

From Pastor Moctar, Eglise Vie Abondante – Niamey

1. This is about a man that received the Manna Pack rice from our church.

The man and his wife with their 3 children are passing a very difficult situation in their Ramadan period.  We doubt there is any food in the house at all. This was first time to receive this rice, and they were very grateful to the church for helping to survive in the hard times.  They said, “Our children are really enjoying the food.”

2. A family man with 1 wife 8 children and no work or source of income.  He was very surprise to the pastor bringing a carton of rice for him at the right time of need in his family.  Now the man is very close to the pastor, and his giving a good testimony about the church.

3. A widow with 5 children and have stay at home to fulfill the Islamic religion/tradition.  When she receive the 2 cartons of the manna pack she was very happy and surprise to see a gift from the church. The pastor wife has a good relationship with the family now.

Trip to Feed The Hungry South Bend

Trip to South Bend

When I was invited to join the Team of International Directors at Feed the Hungry Head Office & distribution centre at South Bend, Indiana, the feelings I had were of excitement and of entering into the unknown, turning into an experience that starts to bring reality into the pages of newsletters, appeals and web sites.

As the myriads of stories told and passions shared broke out from the experience of a dedicated team, meeting the needs in the far flung corners of the world of orphans, families and villages suffering under the struggles that go beyond what we can comprehend, my heart melted.

Melting with thanksgiving for the people who partner in prayer and giving, to allow compassion to flow through to the teams of people busily working their socks off, from the mail room and admin staff, to fork lift drivers and truckers, to coordinators and book keepers, to logistic managers and project staff and those preparing the teams to go out into the field.

Reality struck home of the poignant need when I placed my hands on sacks of rice and beans destined for places as far apart as Romania, Nicaragua and Sudan.  Food placed into the hands of mission teams, churches and dedicated individuals working on the ground, determined to change despair into lasting hope.

The stories of generosity from people around the world was heartwarming, from a few stamps in the post, to the supply of enough flour to make bread for 400 orphans in the far outreaches of North Korea, to the dedication of team from Germany driving an Ambulance across Europe and Asia to Pakistan, and to those responsible for feeding 8,000 children in one centre alone in Africa.

I am looking forward to working with Peter Sumrall and the project teams. My first field assignment being to work with a team distributing food to orphanages and a leprosy hospital in eastern Romania in late October, hopefully before the first snow caps the mountains. I also look forward to sharing further with you, what is happening on the ground, as over 20 shipments are currently being loaded or in transit across the globe.

If you would like to hear more about the work in the form of a newsletter about the different projects, or would like to get more involved in Feed the Hungry please email me at gwilliams@feedthehungry.com

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