In the rural community of Kangai, located in Kenya’s Kirinyaga County, eight-year-old Evelyn Wambui stands with a radiant smile at the edge of the garden. Her mother, Rose, is busy harvesting tomatoes.
This is a typical day for women in this village. Women are charged with the responsibility of taking care of the homestead, children and doing casual jobs to feed their children. The lucky few get husbands who help but most of them are either single mothers or they have incompetent husbands who cannot provide.
Each morning, many women will flock the rice farms and tomato farms to get casual jobs. And to earn an extra buck, they will take their older children with them.
The task is no mean feat; it exposes them to threats like influenza from the rice water, blisters, and cuts. Aside from the fatigue they endure while farming all day, many women live in fear of being physically and sexually abused. The daily minimum wage also robs the women of the time and opportunity to take good care of their children and engage in other income generating activities.
Despite these hurdles, tides are slowly but surely changing in most of the affected families. Protect A Girls Image has come up with a project that funds the sustenance of these families.
“As a parent myself, it breaks my heart to stare into the seemingly lifeless eyes of children emaciated by poverty who are too weak to play, learn and engage in daily life activities.” Says our CEO Margaret Wangui.
“I empathise with the pain that their parents are going through, as it is not easy to watch your child suffer yet remain helpless and unable to end the suffering. I had to do something!” She Adds
This project is helping 43 needy families to cope effectively with the poverty through access to clean water, food, clothing and education training.
It has not been easy. As corona virus continues to wreak havoc on the economy, reliance on random donations to sustain these families is no longer sustainable. Decrease in donor funding opportunities for our organization has forced us to embrace new funding models.
The project begun in 2020 by laying the foundation. The biggest problem that we have faced is a constant rise in project costs. This is practically due to the rise in prices of steel and oil, caused by the weakening of local currency against the dollar. We have had to pause the project in between months to give time for raising more funds.
As we continue to work with our short-term external donors, we will also be going further in our local resource mobilization efforts, so as to raise finances or get in-kind support that will help finish this project. Therefore, we are praying that the residential building project will be is worthwhile. With a stable income stream, families can buy food and afford other basic needs for their children and families irrespective of the economic patterns. We will also be able to build a modern safe house for children who run away from hostile family environment.
It will be good to see that women and children are enjoying lives as a result of improved nutrition, increased access to safe water, food security and education. We sincerely thank our CEO Margaret Wangui for her continuous commitment to transform lives through this project. Moreover, We appreciate the trust we have for our team and other stakeholders.
If you wish to help finish the project, Please click HERE. No organization can do it alone. As the African proverb aptly says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together”. Therefore, if we are to go further together, we all need to join hands and advocate strongly for the improved well-being of our children.
READ MORE:
The Story Of The Woman Who Founded Protect A Girls’ Image.
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