OA&DC Visit to Kenya

Thursday 23 May 2024

The President of the Guernsey Overseas Aid & Development Commission, Deputy Chris Blin, and Vice-President and volunteer Commissioner, Judy Moore, have recently returned from a personally funded four day visit to Kenya to see projects that have been supported by the Commission. They also travelled with a Board Member of the E J Rihoy Charitable Trust and Managing Director of Rihoy and Son, Dan Taylor, and the Principal Officer of the Commission, David Way.

The visit was principally a fact finding opportunity to gain a better understanding of how charities and their in-country partners operate in the developing world and the challenges and opportunities they face in implementing projects which benefit local communities. Guernsey based charities the E J Rihoy Charitable Trust hosted the visit and School Farms Africa also invited the Commissioners to visit their projects.

For over 25 years, the E J Rihoy Charitable Trust, associated with Rihoy & Son, has been providing financial and implementation support to improve the livelihoods and opportunities of some of the world's most marginalised communities. With Dr Liz Rihoy and Patricia Wangui, respectively Chairperson and Treasurer of the E J Rihoy Charitable Trust, the group saw a number of initiatives the Rihoy Trust has implemented in partnership with the Commission, including:

• Visiting Ewaso Nyiro Primary School, the first school built using the "Waterbank" design, developed by architects from Princetown University and PITCHAfrica to maximise rainwater harvesting in arid areas of Africa exemplifying how sustainability can be integrated into what and where students learn. Construction was implemented by the Zeith Foundation and funded by the Commission. The school was awarded the prestigious 'Greenest School on Earth Award' in 2013.
  
• Looking at progress on the Segera Mission Foundation (SMF) Hospital. SMF and the E J Rihoy Charitable Trust originally set out to build a maternity clinic, but were able to leverage the support provided by the Commission to engage with the Kenyan Government and national supporters to undertake the construction of a much needed fully-fledged County referral hospital.
  
• Opening the Early Childhood Development and Education classrooms at Weruni and Baraka Eloi, which are two of seven supported by the Commission and the E J Rihoy Charitable Trust. Undertaking construction with additional support from the Laikipia County Government reduced initial envisaged costs, which combined with favourable fluctuations in exchange rates, has resulted in reduced expenditures per classroom which will provide for construction of up to three additional classrooms.

As a number of the projects are based in Laikipia, the group also met with His Excellency Joshua Irungu EGH, The Governor Laikipia County. The Governor accompanied the group on the visits to some of the above projects, as well as a tour of the Nanyuki Vocational Training Centre which is committed to empowering youth through vocational training that leads to sustainable livelihoods. The Governor sent a message of appreciation on behalf of his constituents to the people of Guernsey for their support in up-lifting the lives of some of the most impoverished communities in Kenya.

From Nanyuki, the group travelled to Nairobi where it met with Ambassador Amina Mohamed EGH, CAV Patron of ALIVE Foundation which is dedicated to empowering youth and women by leadership training and tools to recent University graduates. Matters of mutual interest were discussed. The group also visited the St Stephen's Primary School site, a potential project in Githogoro high density suburb where a school is desperately in need of support as it tries to provide education and a safe haven to primary aged school children, many of whom have been affected by exploitation and violence.

Dan Taylor, Managing Director of Rihoy and Son, said:

"The E J Rihoy Charitable Trust is able to target support at local institutions that have dedicated and talented leadership drawn from within local communities in many countries in Africa. These institutions have demonstrated that, with a small amount of initial seed funding and external support, they have the energy, commitment and dedication to address the problems facing their own communities, ensuring that every penny donated to projects contributes directly to their realisation and bypasses administrative overheads. I am delighted that I was able to travel with Commission representatives to show them the good work that has been undertaken."

Deputy Blin, Judy Moore and David Way then spent a day with local representatives of School Farms Africa, founded by Guernsey resident Peter Sarl. Schools Farms Africa supports children and families in deprived areas of Kenya - in particular the impoverished Nairobi area of Kibera which has a population of over one million people.

With Dr Carol Ayuka Muaka and the Kenyan representatives of Schools Farms Africa, the group:

• Visited Kibera Academy where the Commission has previously funded a kitchen, a borehole, a toilet block and two classrooms.
  
• Travelled to Kiserian Farm, which supplies food to the school and provides urban children from impoverished backgrounds with an opportunity to spend time in the countryside. The Commission has previously funded the construction of a dam and the drilling of a solar powered borehole at the site. Schools Farm Africa is also looking to establish a Medical Centre at the Farm for the local community which it already supplies water to.
  
• Met with Professor Laban Ayiro, formerly a childhood resident of Kibera and Chairman of the Kenyan Board of School Farms Africa and Vice-Chancellor of Daystar University.

Peter Sarl, Board Member of Schools Farm Africa, said:

"School Farms Africa was established primarily to provide support for children in the impoverished areas of Nairobi. Today that includes schools in Kibera and Kawangware suburbs, another in Soi to the north of Nairobi and an orphanage of 75 children in Lukenya. The charity operates two farms, one owned by the charity near Kiserian and the other in the north near Kitale which is leased to us for the production of maize. The Kiserian farm is designed to be self-sustaining within the next few years.

The boreholes at Kibera Academy and on the farm have given children and their families, as well as other local people, clean water on a daily basis. Digestive problems, especially with the children, have been greatly reduced as a result and school attendance has been significantly improved.

The Charity is very grateful to the Commission for its support over the years; without doubt hundreds of families have seen positive changes to their health and lifestyle since the Charity was established in 2013."

Deputy Chris Blin said:

"Judy Moore and I were pleased to fund our visit personally and independently of the Commission and the organisations concerned, as the opportunity has provided us with a good insight into how projects are implemented in developing countries. I was particularly interested to meet with the charities' in-country partners and to see the excellent initiatives undertaken with Commission grants over a number of years. I have learnt a great deal about the context in which they work. I was particularly moved by the high density suburb schools which, as well as providing education, give food and a safe space to children who are sometimes being exploited in the cruellest way. We also visited the home of one pupil who, although having a loving family, had to live in a 16 feet x 10 feet single room mud constructed building with his mother and up to 6 siblings. It was packed together amongst similar buildings in a narrow alleyway. It had no running water or washing facilities and an illegal electricity supply which was cut off on a regular basis."

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