Wednesday, 22 July 2009 16:43

Residents of Kenya struggle with meeting basic, simple needs such as shelter, water, food, and clothing. Abandoned and neglected children spend their lives surviving in poverty, roaming rural areas and urban slums. Some spend their time in the landfills, scrounging for food scraps with animals.

Good Neighbors has been working in Kenya for fourteen years, constructing the Jirani Education Center to provide free education to the children of the urban slums through school programs, vocational training centers, and a daily day care center. By providing children with a substantial education, our hope is to empower the leaders of tomorrow so that the country can prosper.

Good Neighbors has also established a local community health care center to administer to children and the community as a whole. Supplementing this service are free quarterly medical check-ups that take place within the community. Since its introduction, the community health care center has dramatically reduced the mortality rate in the immediate region, and residents no longer have to travel hours away to reach the closest medical center.

In the past month alone, we’ve opened a new, modernized library in the Transmara District, started a feeding program in the Ramosha primary school, provided uniforms for 2500 students, performed free medical checkups, and supplied six 10,000 liter water tanks to the Masaai community.

We are not content with what we’ve accomplished so far. There is much left to do. Providing clean water, education, and health services is only the beginning. Health care and clean sanitary conditions are also lacking in many areas and we are committed to bringing health care to those who desperately need it. The provision of modern toilets will also dramatically decrease the incidence of infectious diseases in the area, as well as improve overall sanitation.

Yet, while there’s still an abundance of work to be completed, we’re grateful for the small steps our country continues to take towards recovery.