Kenya Compassion Project
A shared love of singing and making jewelry sparked a special relationship between two women in 2014. Janette lives in Monterey, CA and Nancy lives in a Maasai community in Kenya. A small circle of donors in Monterey focused on the education of Nancy’s two oldest daughters, raising funds to send them to the Kiseryan Girls Senior Academy as boarders and buy necessary school supplies. The older daughters were in years two and four when the pandemic closed the school.
Over the years, funds were also raised to help make the ‘Nancy’s’ family safer and more sustainable. A water catchment system was established, a dirt floor was replaced with cement, electricity supplied, a new outhouse built, and a chicken business established to sell eggs in the market.
This relationship has recently deepened and broadened to include the wider community in which Nancy lives.
What we do – 2024
- School costs for 8 children includes school charges, tuition, exam costs, books, uniforms and study materials ($300-$1,000 per student per term)
- Personal Needs – medicine, pocket money, emergency funds to cover doctor visits or other unexpected expenses ($50 per student per term)
- Living Expenses – only applies to the older girls living away from home (rent, food, transportation, utilities) ($500-$700 per student per term)
- Orphan Caretaker – We help 3 orphaned children with basic nutrition, clothes, furnishings and support for a guardian since their mother died ($70 monthly)
- Chicken Business – funds to help with electricity and water for family and chickens, chicken feed and vet immunizations for the chicken business ($60 monthly)
- Family Food Support – food for two impoverished families ($200 monthly per family)
- Food and emergency assistance (as needed on a case-by-case basis). There are three main villages which have been getting relief food from your support, namely Kona Baridi, where Nancy and Joyce’s families are living. The other village is the one Theresia comes from. It is called Ewuaso. People there have no reliable income and were very hard hit by the last drought. Another village, Kabwagi or Oloropil is as poor as Ewuaso.
Please Help: Maasai Education and Student Family Support
Our project connects caring supporters with Maasai people seeking a better future. Kenya has experienced drought, floods, disease, loss of livestock, and lack of opportunity to work. Recently, the soaring cost of living poses a further challenge to get the basic necessities of food, water, and shelter.
Education is our primary focus. We know it can lift Maasai children out of the cycle of poverty and empower them to help themselves and their community. Those we serve have meager financial means to educate their children.
We also know that students can’t flourish if their families go hungry and don’t have their basic needs met. Therefore, we continue to seek donations to provide monthly food, a caretaker for orphaned kids, and building sustainable livelihoods.
Special Requests
We are seeking to expand our circle of donors to provide 2 more students with sponsorships in 2024 to help them break the cycle of poverty.
Abigail Naipei
Abigail is Magdalene’s younger sister. She graduated from primary school and is currently attending Kiseryan Girls’ High School, as of 2024. She is very motivated and a highly achieving student with the goal of becoming a doctor.
We are requesting a scholarship for her ($1100 per term). This could be one sponsor to donate that sum or 4 more sponsors who can each donate $250 per term. We also plan to send $50/month for her special diet at school for health concerns. Please consider sponsoring Abigail or making a donation for her.
Sarah Nempiris
Sarah is now in grade 5. Thanks to some generous donations, we recently provided her with new shoes (her first), a backpack, uniform and learning materials to attend a government school. She has been walking barefoot and has no money for books for her education.
Our dream is to support her going to a residential school. Her 3 km walk to school is hard and dangerous. School supplies are $300 a month now. Residential school would be $1,000 for each 4-month term. Please consider sponsoring Sarah or making a donation for her.
We appreciate your consideration of a donation to help the Maasai with an education and basic support.
We continue to embrace community projects to ease suffering and hunger, as funding allows.
For further details, please contact us.
2023 Accomplishments of the Kenya Compassion Program
FUNDS RAISED: $25,000
Scholarships for education
- Magdalene completed her internship in Agribusiness and will enter her final year of tertiary education at Tikki Technical School.
- Joyce has completed her schooling and is a hairdresser. She is living with her grandmother who is ill.
- Purity completed high school and is taking a computer course in preparation for further course studies in 2024.
- Faith has entered her third year of High School and is doing well.
- Abigail, the sister of Magdalene and Purity, finished elementary school and entered High School in January of 2024.
- Alex, Wesley and Hakim all advanced to Grade 4.
Shelter and Basic Needs
- Midway in the year, we took on the building of a new house for a widow who lost her husband and was living in dire straits.
- In addition, one of the families in the community gave her a daughter, Sarah, to help her. This young lady was very thin and we believe it was also a way for her family to survive themselves.
- We provided some food and also some very basic supplies: shoes and a coat for Sarah so she could go to school.
- Supplied with her first leather shoes and school bag.
- She can look forward to attending school every day because the fees will be paid.
Prior Accomplishments of the Kenya Compassion Program
Education
We started with the education of one student and are now supporting the education of 8 students in 2 villages.
Magdalene, our first student, is the first person in her family to graduate from High School and received a college scholarship from a private donor.
Health and Sanitation
- We rebuilt 2 latrines to replace unhygienic outhouses harboring disease.
- We rebuilt 3 houses to replace uninhabitable structures.
- We bought a water tank and have built a water catchment system for one family. This reduces the need for multiple visits daily to a local well
- Covid Emergency Fund: Although we are no longer providing funds, during the covid outbreak we donated food to feed 200 families and provided masks, sanitizers, buckets, water and training to 30 families.
Sustainability
- Chicken Project: We built a henhouse and stocked it with 50 chickens to help Nancy’s family earn an income to gradually sustain themselves.
- Nancy’s Little Shop: We funded a small shop at home where Nancy can sell eggs, produce, beads and other commodities to local villagers.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
We are grateful to all our donors and sponsors who, together, are making a positive impact on the lives of these students, their families and their communities.
