KENYA – They’re only children but Farayan and his small niece Neewo have known hunger pains that few of us can even imagine. When severe drought struck Kenya, their family lost everything— including the animals they depended on to survive. Theirs was one of many Kenyan families who were facing the cold reality of hunger. Food was scarce. Hope faded more with every passing day.
Farayan’s mother—who is also Neewo’s grandmother, Nagisai—did what she could to provide for her family, but when the drought struck, she had nothing left. Every day, this matriarch of her multi-generational family spent hours walking from village to village, searching for work—anything that would allow her to put just a little food on the table. All too often, she came back empty-handed.
“It would break my heart when I tried so hard and got nothing,” she said. “So, I went out again and again, trying to look for food. If I didn’t find anything in one village, I would walk to the next and on to the next.” But everyone was suffering. For miles around, no one had any food left.
When she did find a little morsel of food, she gave it to her children or the grandchildren she also thought of as her own kids. “I would tell them, ‘I know it’s not enough, but be patient. This is all we have for now.’ Then I would go back out again and beg for more food. … I thought the drought would kill my children.”
Help For Kenyan Families
They needed someone to reach out and change their circumstances. Thankfully, across the world, friends like you heard Nagisai’s cries. You came to her rescue with a most precious gift—food for her family and the 780 other Kenyan families in her surrounding community! For Farayan, Neewo, and Nagisai, you also provided something else— something more precious than food. When you sent your love around the world, you brought hope that tomorrow could be better.
The severe drought in Kenya affected villages like theirs all across the Marsabit region. And your support not only helped with food, it also gave families access to clean water and helped with long-term initiatives aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty. Through a local sack garden program, our teams trained community members to grow their own produce—right there in the parched landscape—so parents could provide for their children for years to come.
These initiatives gave families like Nagisai’s the tools that they needed to cultivate food and generate ongoing income that would help them build a brighter future for the next generation! Over and over again, your love is making the difference for those in greatest need.
