KISUMU

Kisumu, a small city on the banks of Lake Victoria is Kenya’s third largest city. A bustling regional centre, the city has grown beyond recognition in the last few decades. With so many people coming into the city however, there just isn’t the infrastructure and services to support them. Providing enough food to eat, having safe, clean water and making sure children get an education and are just some of the issues facing families.

Violence following the 2008 election has also set back the city’s development and HIV continues to affect everyday life. And on top of all of this, the traditional farming in the area cannot produce enough food for everyone; especially now the rain pattern has changed resulting in droughts and floods.

The people of Kisumu are a passionate and resourceful people but nearly three quarters of them live in absolute poverty. Organisations like World Vision are working alongside these courageous people, giving them the support and skills they need to build a brighter future for themselves.

WANT TO HELP?

You can help the people of Kisumu by taking part in the Just Christmas campaign at St Paul’s and St Georges. Through your generosity this Christmas, you could help to build a bright and sustainable future for children and families living without certainty of what tomorrow will bring.

RESPONDING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE

In recent years Kisumu has been rocked by droughts and floods. Vast acreages of farmlands have ended up smothered by floodwaters, while riverbanks have been washed away, causing heavy silting and water-borne diseases.

The whole community needs to get together to tackle this problem and one of the best ways to start is to plant trees! With your help, nurseries will set up in schools and community areas to nurture the trees that will be used to stabilise the land and also bring extra fruit to eat.

To support this initiative drainage channels will be dug to direct floods waters and provide irrigation during droughts and groups like churches will be trained to know what to do if bad floods hit the area.

  • £30 could give three schools 200 tree seedlings to nurture and plant in their community
  • £52 could pay for a session in a school on how to care for and manage the environment around them
  • £225 could enable a local group to be trained in disaster preparedness

PROVIDING ENOUGH TO EAT

Find out more...

Traditional methods of farming just aren’t producing enough food for families or their communities. Climatic changes and increased floods and droughts have changed the face of farming in Kisumu leaving families without food and markets empty.

To help farmers cope with the changing times, training will be given on new farming methods and management. They will be given access to new kinds of seeds to grow crops more resistant to extreme conditions and new methods to reduce pests. At the same time, Mothers will be trained in nutrition and given the knowledge they need to give their children a healthy start to life.

For some however, they are unable to grow their own food or purchase what they need. Food will be given to the most vulnerable households to support them until they are ready to provide for themselves.

  • £22 could train one household on new farming methods
  • £60 could enable workshops for 20 households on proper nutrition for children and expectant mothers
  • £234 could support 15 households by providing goats and chickens

"When I harvested this year, I got fifteen sacks (90 kilogrammes each) of maize and a sack of beans. Before the training, I would get just a sack of maize or none at all because I did not use inputs like fertilizers," Leonida Akinyi Abuony

CREATING ENTREPRENEURS

Find out more...

Where families cannot produce their own food, they need to be able to buy it from the market. But with three quarters of Kisumu living in absolute poverty, food can be very expensive to buy for some families.

Micro-enterprise initiatives in the city seek to help families like these set up businesses to support themselves. World Vision’s micro-enterprise operation called KADET offers not only micro-credit but support and training for the businesses they help to fund.

You can support the poorest families by helping them receive the boost they need to start their own business and provide links to organisations like KADET.

  • £30 could help two families by giving them goats or chickens to start a small business
  • £100 could allow trained staff to visit over 100 households, helping them make more money to provide for their children
  • £605 could pay for 40 farmers to be trained by highly qualified staff on rearing small livestock

"I thought I would die when I lost my property in the violence. KADET has changed all that, and I am now enjoying life with my children," Evelyn Juma