Laikipia drought relief and our large scale feeding program.
Laikipia is among the ten counties in Kenya that are facing serious issues from a prolonged drought. Approximately 183,000 people in Laikipia are facing famine; lack of pasture and food in homes prompts parents to send their children to herd in far away lands to ensure the survival of their livestock. It is during these times, when school attendance decreases, that there is a significant increase of early girl marriages, early pregnancies, stock thefts and insecurities.
With the logistical support of Mugie Conservancy, Governors' Camp Collection rolled out a large-scale feeding program to twelve schools in the pastoralist communities that surround Mugie Conservancy. Providing schools with food significantly improves attendance and concentration in class and therefore reduces the negative ripple effects that arise from poor attendance.
It costs USD7000 to provide one nutritious meal per day to all of the 2,470 students for one term.
In order to start raising funds, Governors' created an online fundraiser raffle and donated an amazing FIVE night Kenya Safari for TWO people towards this cause with return flights on Governors' Aviation to the Masai Mara worth USD 8,500! The lucky winner was Roshni Peshavaria and she is looking forward to spending time at Governors' Mugie and Governors' Camp later this year.
The food drive took place on the 10th of March, it was a challenging day with great distances between each of the schools, however our team was brilliant and kept going despite the heat of the day and we managed to hand out close to 7.5 tons of food to the schools.
We spent over twelve hours moving across the harsh landscape, travelling from school to school. It was extremely hot and dry with not a blade of grass in sight - croton bush leaves had shrivelled up with the heat and the only livestock to be found were goats. Many families have already had to move away in search of pasture and water and this explains why so few children were present in some of the schools.
It was heartbreaking to hear from the teachers how each day, children will come to school having walked many kilometers through the heat and dust, only to faint in class due to their hunger and thirst. Many schools lacked even a single drop of water, since they rely on rainwater harvesting to fill their water tanks. If the children can't bring some water in with them from home (many cannot as there is no water at home either) then they go thirsty.
The words of thanks that we received from teachers, students and parents were incredibly moving and we would like to pass on their deepest appreciation to each one of you who helped us to raise the funds required to provide this food. We would also like to thank our partners at Mugie Conservancy for their vast logistical support and the Kenya Defence Forces for providing their lorry and personnel to move the supplies. It was a huge team effort and one that all of us can be proud of - together we positively impacted hundreds of school children and their families.