The Faith Ventures Inc led by Bill Johnson, the McNairy Family, and the Saint Michael Anglican church continue to transform the lives of people groups in Northern Kenya. Their support towards the Samburu County NKALUP Vision (SCNV) has been for years now helping to reach the unreached and least-reached people groups through meeting their felt needs and building church structures that also serve as nursery schools. Some of the felt needs include relief foods offered to villages and schools in the six divisions in Samburu County. The six divisions include Kirisia, Wamba, Waso, South Horr, Ng’iro, and Lorroki.
The Northern region has been experiencing a huge drought lasting for nearly three years. This has affected the livelihood of people who rely mostly on their livestock for food and income. The SCNV has been working towards providing food to the affected people, especially women and children. The food has also been distributed to some schools within the region; this helps to ensure that the children do not fail to attend classes due to hunger. It also serves as a motivating factor for parents to enroll their children in the schools. In 2023, learning has been smooth and enrollment has been high because food in schools sustains the high numbers in enrollment.
.jpeg/:/rs=w:1280 "Children in Soitongiron ECDE receive their share of the SCNV relief food")
The County Government of Samburu distributed some food to the schools in February but the food was not enough to last till the end of the term. Only twelve of the seventeen SCNV-sponsored pre-schools received food from the county government. Among the twelve schools, the food distributed to eight schools was only enough to last more than a month hence more had to be purchased in March: the remaining four schools received enough food for the term. The remaining five schools out of the total seventeen SCNV-sponsored schools never received food from the County Government.
The provision of food in schools has led to an increase in enrollment in schools. In Kirisia and Lorroki Divisions, enrollment has been more due to the insecurity in those areas. The number of children in the 17 NKALUP pre-schools has increased to more than 1, 200 but the average number of children to be fed is 960. The money allocated for food every month is Kshs. 222,000. This amount is enough to feed 528 children for a month.
In the third week of April, schools in Kenya were closed for the April holiday. The children will resume classes on 9th May. This will help to combine some funds for the April and May feeding programs to buy enough food once the schools reopen. These funds will be helpful if the County Government fails to distribute enough food to the schools. This means that there will be no surplus funds in the SCNV accounts since all the funds will be used for the feeding program.
We are grateful to God for the rains we are receiving after a long drought. However, the situation is yet to change since most of the livestock had died or been stolen in the cattle rustling attacks in Samburu by the Pokot tribe. Families are still struggling to get meals to get them through the day. The food distributed in schools is well stored in safe and clean stores.
We are grateful to our partners, Bill Johnson of Faith Ventures Inc, the McNairy Family, and the St Michael’s Anglican Church, for supporting the 11 rounds of relief food distribution in Samburu. The 11 rounds have cost Kshs. 26, 540, 548 having fed more than 28, 995 people for 868, 649 meals. We thank you for the grants that are transforming lives!
God bless you our friends and partners in the Lord’s vineyard.
