Children's Village Copes With Drought

Children's Village Copes With Drought

The seven year drought has also impacted the 800+ children at the Children’s Village.  Fr. Riwa has planted all available space in order to increase the food they raise.  With the new well he is able to water the crops, by hand, plant by plant.  However, the farm never did produce all the food needed and Fr. Riwa always had to purchase about 40% on the market. That option is no longer there because maize does not exist and rice is too expensive to purchase. So Fr. Father Riwa has had to cut the servings in half and the children only have a mixture of beans and corn each meal.

Sr. Kathryn reported for Easter the sisters were able to find one egg for each child at St. Clare and it was a big treat. Yet she also lamented the girls were beginning to show the physical effects of this limited diet. Many were losing weight.  In email an earlier email to us Fr. Riwa noted: “These children are so courageous. They do not complain about the small servings.”

At the urging of the sisters we have added another dimension to the work of Friends of Kenyan Orphans and added a section called the Emergency Food Fund.  Recently donations from the Tom and Carol Cracchiolo Family and friends of Sister Kathryn in Georgia have provided temporary relief and we are grateful to them for their generous hearts.

The situation is Kenya is made more acute by the thousands of Somalis who are fleeing across the board to escape the terrors and violence in Somalia. They are in refugee camps on the border and the Kenyan government is trying to find ways to feed them. In a country with nothing to give, this is impossible and dangerous. International aids is trying to alleviate this situation but it is never enough for the thousands seeking safety.