News Category: Past News Updates

Dear Friends,

We would like to extend our heartfelt THANK YOU for your continued support towards our Aid Work, which has been a great help to those in need, especially during this time of hardship.

Our weekly Ration Packages reach into the homes and huts of the elderly, jobless single mothers, those who struggle with cancer, HIV Aids and TB, as well as the disabled.

The recipients of the Food Aid and Hygiene Supplies are often moved to tears and are most grateful. Sadly the after-effects of Covid have left countless already poor families stranded and without the bare necessities for living.

We have heard many sad stories of children who have to make due with one sparse meal per day and malnutrition is starting to have a serious effect in those young lives.

Through your donation we are able to put together Nutritional Food Items such as Uji porridge, atta, beans, rice, dengu, sugar, tea, cooking fat, as well as cleaning and hygiene needs. For those who are bedridden, the Packages are being delivered by our faithful volunteers.

As in most parts of the world, Kenya too has been heavily affected by Covid-19 in various ways. Especially for countless poor people who live in Informal Settlements and are dependent on daily income to feed their families, the current situation has turned into a nightmare. Fear and worry of how to make ends meet the next day, as well as hunger and in some cases even starvation has reached into homes.

Even though most of us haven’t experienced such dire circumstances, sharing with others might be the last on a list of to-do‘s during a crisis that puts one in a financial squeeze. Together with a group of part-time helpers, we have been reaching out to Marginalized Communities where countless lives have been touched through material and emotional assistance. Since our work is solely supported through well-wishers, we repeatedly experience that it is often through an act of unselfish giving or sharing that we find ourselves blessed in some way.

When the pandemic first hit our country, we had no idea how we would continue our full-time work with poor communities, nor be of help with the increasing requests for food aid and help. Each call for assistance seemed more dire and desperate than the one before, making us feel quite inadequate.

We are grateful for the response from you, dear friends, despite the financial challenges during these trying times that most are experiencing. With the donations we receive, we secure nutritional food/hygiene items and pack 12 kilo bags with necessary survival needs for vulnerable families! Throughout the last four months, our team kept securing and distributing these Care Packages for numerous poor households each week. This tons of food aid have gone out to widows, the disabled and those who are affected by HIV/AIDS, TB, and cancer. Many of the packs are delivered to homes, carried through muddy garbage-strewn slum lanes to the doorsteps of those who are too weak to come to our weekly meeting point.

Following is a short insight into the lives of some of the recipients of our Family Care support: Auma is a young woman who was a victim of rape and lives in a small hut in one of Nairobi’s slums. One day she was bit by a poisonous snake that led to the amputation of her leg and because of inadequate medical care, cancerous wounds have now formed. Since a friend of Auma was evicted from her small home as she was unable to pay the rent, she now shares her humble hut with this lady. Both women, jobless and penniless, find help and some consolation through our Family Care Food Aid project.

During the work in poor communities our volunteers identify the need, like in the case of Henry (27) who suffers from sudden paralysis due to GBS. Through sponsorship we were able to deliver a much-needed wheelchair to him and for the first time in 18 months, Henry was able to sit in the sun. He is a recipient of our monthly food/hygiene packages.

Women from the Cancer Support Group we assist, knitted a mat for our Charity to show their appreciation for the continued food, hygiene and medical needs we provide while they undergo treatment. This month two of the women received breast prosthesis. -- These are few stories to portray how your help is touching lives. Daily we witness many desperate needs and we feel that the help we give never seems sufficient. However, we trust that when we do what we can, God will do what we cannot do.

We pray that the cycle of giving and receiving will continue, as times are hard for those who have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Perhaps someone reading this article will feel a tug on his or her heart to help us keep helping where the need is great!

If you like to help, please get in touch at: iris@familycare.or.ke. Thanks! Your Family

When a pandemic as we experience at the moment enters our lives, when all around us morphs into a state of uncertainty and chaos, a word of cheer and a deed of kindness becomes all the more important. When everyone rushes for  supplies to stock up on needed items, sharing things with others might be the last thing on our minds. But it’s often through an act of unselfish giving or sharing that we find ourselves blessed in some way.

Even though all of us are affected, some suffer more severe conditions. Our sympathies go out to the ones who are infected, those who are fighting at the front lines of Covid-19 and to those who lost loved ones. In Kenya, the effects of the current outbreak with its following restrictions have led to increased hardship for millions of poor citizens who live in marginalized areas, since many are day laborers. Unable to save for emergencies, hunger, uncertainty and the daily worry of how to feed their children has turned into a nightmare for poor families.

We‘ve heard of cases where children only receive cups of warm water until the evening when a sparse meal of Ugali and Kale is shared.

We are most grateful for all of you who have continued to contribute! Your giving has been enabling our Family Care Team to distribute more than1000 Kilos of desperately needed food items. Some of the supplies went to the Olives Rehab Center in Mombasa and to a Rescue Center for Street Children in Uthiru.

All throughout 10 Kilos Care Packages are being distributed to widows, single mothers, the elderly and orphans. We are grateful for friends like you, who care and who continue to help us reach out to needy families. God bless you!

We greatly appreciate your giving that reaches the homes of those who are most vulnerable during these difficult times … Thank You!  

 PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy

O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive …“