Vibrant Virtual Club Outing to Meru Kenya

The photos in the presentation included images that showed us what a fantastic place KACH is for the kids to live.

Schools have been closed in Kenya since March due to COVID-19 and not due to reopen until January 2021 which means that all the 63 kids are living at KACH instead of school. Karambu said at the start of the crisis they were focused on school stuff but when they realised the kids were not going back to school for such a long time the focus became less academic and more practical because feeding the kids became the priority.

Some of the images in the presentation are of the Tiriji Eco project where food and herbs are grown and animals raised to feed people at KACH and for selling. The centre has facilities for guests to stay and learn about sustainability, including solar panels providing electricity to pump water from their bore hole. While Tiriji can’t have visitors at the moment, the farm and the centre have enabled KACH to be more self-sufficient on food – essential because the price of food in Kenya has sky-rocketed with the pandemic. They have still been able to sell fish from their pond and the moringa superfood.

Fundraising for KACH has been limited since COVID-19 and the priority is simply to feed everyone and keep them healthy.

After the presentation we were treated to the kids dancing energetically for us to music – they must have rehearsed for ages – they were brilliant!

We also heard from four of the kids who told us how much they had benefited from the support of KACH and IPI – one of the girls Betty had some years of her education paid for by the St Albans Soroptimists, who are very proud of her. Most of the kids call Karambu “Mum” – she is an amazing mother to all of them and an inspiration to us all.

Comments and questions from those on the call:

It looks incredible. The fruit looks amazing…..it is all so green! It looks so green and beautiful. Fabulous dancing and music. That was brilliant. The kids are wonderful! Fantastic to see the kids and to hear how confident they are in themselves and grateful for their opportunities.  Fantastic opportunity to see the work you are doing, thank you. Happy 11th birthday KACH. What sort of things have the kids been doing? Are you teaching the children during the school closure? Thank you for a very interesting session! It’s been so inspiring and it’s been great to have the opportunity to ‘visit’ virtually. Please thank the children for their brilliant dance performance and talks.

From Karambu: “Thank you all for the kind comments. It is a beautiful space. Thank you everyone!”