In the newsletter of May 2020 we briefly explained the situation here in Kenya regarding Corona. Although life in Belgium is starting to return calmly as before, Kenya remains alert and schools, restaurants and cafes will remain closed so for the time being. You can imagine the impact this will have on the economy and the quality of life of the people here. Large NGOs and companies all over the world are suffering. As an NGO we too have had to reflect on the consequences of the pandemic on our operations. Many sources of income that we had because we are trying to be self-sufficient have disappeared. We try to focus on the sources that are still running well and look for new ones.
In the meantime, we as an NGO have not been idle. As we indicated in the previous newsletter, we were going to distribute food packages to the most vulnerable of our project. And this also happened: we distributed food parcels to 12 families.
One of the first families we distributed food parcels to is John. John is father of three children, two daughters and one son. Both his daughters and two grandchildren live with him (on the far left on the picture is his daughter and the other two are grandchildren).
John works as a janitor at a school nearby. Since a few months he doesn't receive any income from the school anymore, something that unfortunately often happens in this time of Corona. Therefore, since last month he lives on the property of Seed Of Love in a small house that we have available there so he can save on rent and water.
Beatrice is a single mother who tries to give the best life for her only son. Daisy is an orphan which means she has no parents to fall back on. Her aunt always took care of her so she could go to school. The aunt died when Daisy was 17 years old. She has little or no contact with the rest of her family or the father of her son. So she is completely on her own. The fact that the school fees and books are paid by Seed of Love for her son, has already been a huge blessing for her.
The pandemic, just like for many, has caused difficulties. Daisy doesn't have a job, what she does they call 'hustling' here. Daisy is a good baker and that is her passion. Every day she makes mandazi's (a Kenyan doughnut) and tries to sell them on the street or to construction sites. The last two months all the construction sites were abandoned, which made it difficult for her to make money. Rent arrears started to accumulate. Because of the food packages she could at least feed her son. The money she now earns she can give to the rent.
Shosho (grandma in Swahili) is the place to be as you can see. She is 86 years old and has several medical problems. Her son (far left) also lives with her, but also has medical problems. She takes care of two of her grandchildren. These grandchildren are from one of the children who died. Shosho has her own garden in which she grows vegetables, but for the rest of her food and supplies she relies on goodwill from family members, neighbors and so on.
Gradually we try to use the large land we have available for agriculture. Of course we first have to start from scratch. Clean everything, make beds, level the ground and so on. This takes a lot of work and we try to see which vegetables are doing well and which ones a little less. At the moment we are growing eggplant, paprika, onion, pipe onions, tomato, kale and spinach.
TO GIVE IS TO LOVE
Do you want to support us?
You can do that by recommending our activities to your own family, friends and acquaintances.
In addition, you can help us sponsor our projects. This can be done with a deposit on account number BE78779597496186 for VZW Seed Of Love.