Supporting UNITED KENYA RISING IN KAKAMEGA, KENYA

APRIL 2021 NEWSLETTER

Executive Director's intro, FKR board, Kenyan schools reopened, COVID-19 update, how new families join our programs, and photos of the month.

I first organized a fundraiser for our organization in 2002, and traveled to Kakamega in 2003 as a junior in high school. The calling that my mother, Sukie Rice, felt to start Friends of Kakamega and that Alison Hyde felt to start Crossroads Springs Africa must have rubbed off on me. Over the next decade, through undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University and building a life in California, I kept returning to western Kenya every year or two. With each visit my attachment to our organization grew stronger and my friendships in Kenya grew deeper. 

Hoping to both build my career and find a job in Kenya, where I wanted to be, in 2014 I moved to Minneapolis to join a graduate program at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. During that time I also joined the Friends of Kakamega Board of Directors and successfully applied for several grants on behalf of the organization. I graduated in 2016 with a Master of Development Practice in International Development (MDP), with Minors in Public Policy and in Natural Resources Science and Management.  In 2017, I started work as a contractor for what is now FKR, helping us go digital and planning for the future with our partners in Kenya. Today I find myself as Executive Director at the helm of a small but highly impactful organization, working hand-in-hand with the leadership in Kenya and volunteers in America as we develop what is now a rapidly-growing pair of organizations in both Kenya and the US. 

Much of my life is in Kenya, including many of my closest friends and my soon-to-be-wife, Mary.  There are staff members in Kakamega whom I’ve known for more than ten years, and two dozen more whom I’ve enjoyed getting to know more recently. I can now converse in Swahili and enjoy doing so, even though I’m far from fluent. Every day, with passion, I learn more about the country, particularly western Kenya, and its geography, cultures, politics, and systems. Every day, with even more passion, I think about how to make our organizations stronger.

I’ve been with what has become FKR since the start, and I look forward to helping build an organization that has an ever-widening impact. I'm proud to be with FKR as we steer into exciting but uncharted waters, and I look forward to helping guide our vision and growth as we evolve and scale our impact assisting students and families rising out of poverty. 

In this newsletter I am pleased to share with you the names and faces of the FKR Board of Directors. The Board is made up of people from both Friends of Kakamega and Crossroads Springs Africa, and you can click the small pictures below to learn more about each of them. Also in this newsletter, you can read more about the reopening of Kenyan schools, the COVID-19 situation in Kenya, and the process of how new families join our programs. 

I am always here to answer your questions and share more about our progress. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] 

Warm regards,

John Chisholm, Executive Director

The Friends of Kenya Rising board is made up of volunteers from both of our legacy organizations, Friends of Kakamega and Crossroads Springs Africa.

Most board members have been to see our programs in western Kenya, and all of them are passionate supporters of our partner's work.  Our volunteer board members bring skills in areas like finance, web design, international development, children's rights, nonprofit management, education, and public health.  

CLICK HERE​ TO READ MORE ABOUT OUR BOARD MEMBERS

After nearly nine months away, all Kenyan students returned to classes on January 4th. Our staff in Kenya were busy handling fee structures and following up on special cases, helping ensure nearly 180 high schoolers and 50 college students were at school attending classes.

Meanwhile, parents and guardians of the families we support sent over 500 kids back to primary schools, assisted in part by a stipend from the Family Care program. 

The delayed 2020 school year will now finish in early July, and, after a short break, the 2021 school year will start at the end of July. There will be four school terms this year and next, one more than usual, and all of them shorter than before the pandemic. The Kenyan school calendar returns to "normal" with three terms starting January 2023.

The nationwide reopening of Kenyan schools has not been without challenges. In a Covid-ravaged economy, many parents are finding the expenses more difficult to manage than usual. And although authorities have mandated masks and handwashing stations, the generally overcrowded nature of schools makes social distancing in class all but impossible. Many classes now take place outdoors, but downpours of rain often put a stop to them. Despite these setbacks, we are proud of all the students who are back in school and of our staff members, Kenya's teachers, and the parents & guardians who made it possible. We wish all students a safe and enlightening school year ahead.  

On March 26th last week, to address a rising third wave of COVID-19, the Kenyan government announced new measures including restrictions on intercity travel and the temporary closure of schools affecting colleges and vocational institutions. Exam candidates finishing Class 8 and Form 4 are now sitting for their big tests, and they will be exempt from rules on travel when it’s time to go home. All other students were already at home, having just started a 7-week break after finishing their first in-person term since the pandemic started. It remains unclear whether the new, 30-day emergency orders will be extended and disrupt the school calendar once again. Everyone is hoping that the new third wave of coronavirus is contained and schools will be able to re-open as planned after the scheduled term break that ends in mid-May. 

The coronavirus caseload and death toll in Kenya have remained quite low compared to the US, and a second wave was quashed. Unfortunately, a third wave is now hitting hard and test positivity rates are suddenly back near 20 percent from just a few percent a month ago. 

On April 7th, 2021, there were 394 new cases detected and 14 new Covid-related deaths. Total positive cases recorded in Kenya stood at 139,842 and deaths at 2,258.

Kenya has a mask mandate as well as social distancing and hygiene rules. There are also restrictions on group functions and a night curfew. Late last week, due to a rising third wave, the government announced a raft of additional protection measures including a 30-day ban on movement into or out of the worst-hit counties, effectively sealing off badly-hit Nairobi and its environs from the rest of the country. 

Kenya received its first shipment of one million Covid-19 vaccines on March 2nd. The country's first phase of vaccination is focused on healthcare workers, teachers 58 or older, and certain uniformed forces and other essential workers. Additional phases will roll out over this year and next, but vaccine deliveries have been slow to arrive and limited supplies makes procurement difficult.

Our process for family-intake is purely need-based, with primary considerations of need being evaluated by living conditions, barriers to accessing education, health status, agricultural production gaps, and challenges to earning income.​ 

Community leaders from the rural regions, our Regional Coordinators, nominate needy families for support, and other cases are forwarded by school principals, village chiefs, and the like. Our social workers visit and screen those families to determine where the need is greatest, and they then get together to score and compare each application and decide which families to recommend for support. Our goal is to assist the neediest families as they rise out of poverty through programs in our five "guiding star" areas, namely education, basic needs, health, agriculture, and livelihoods. 

Families selected to join our programs are uplifted through gifts like solar lights and a water tank, or materials to build a latrine and replace a leaky roof. They are assisted in stabilizing their lives with support such as high school scholarships, help buying farm fertilizer, and education in areas like nutrition and hygiene. They then build momentum toward a better future with activities that include higher-value farm production, small business support, tree planting, and vocational or university education for youth. Our program model is an unusually comprehensive and holistic effort to work alongside families as they build a better future not just for children today, but for future generations as well. 

If you are able to support a family in great need through sponsorship, please reach out to our Donor and Sponsor Coordinator, Carra McFadden, at [email protected]

Our board has been voting on the best photos taken by staff in Kenya, and we're excited to share some of the results. You can view the top ten pictures from each month on our website, just click here for January, here for December, and here​​ for November. 

Many of us will receive a stimulus check from our government in the next few weeks, and we ask you to please consider making a donation to benefit our Healthy Homes program and other important programming. We have already addressed 40 homes with a new latrine and washroom, a new roof, or a renewed kitchen, and we have over 100 more families on the waiting list. Thank you for considering us for your charitable giving at this time.

www.friendsofkenyarising.org