17.01.2021
Kenya Locks Down and Open Hearts and Minds Responds
Like most other countries, in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic Kenya implemented a lockdown in mid-March.
With families being told to stay at home and to not go out for work, the Kenyan lockdown hit the Open Hearts families particularly hard. Many had little or no savings to fall back on and they were unable to go out to find work to put food on the table. Unlike many richer nations, Kenya was unable to support the people who were impacted with furlough schemes or unemployment cheques.
In line with the Kenyan government guidance, we had to close the doors of Open Hearts and Minds School from 14th March. Edward distributed the remainder of the school’s Term 1 food supplies to prevent them going to waste, but he saw a much greater need in the village of Kokoth Kateng. The directors at Open Hearts decided to use some of its food budget to help the families which were most at risk. Edward bought a load of maize flour, rice, beans, oil and salt and split them into parcels for 20 families. While the food packs were only enough for a few meals, the families were so grateful for the support!
As we could see the situation was not going to change quickly, we looked for a way to keep these food parcels going. We decided to set up our first Facebook fundraiser to raise £500 to fund a second distribution. The response from our donors was humbling. Within a week we had surpassed our goal, and over the course of a few weeks an amazing £1,500 was donated by our generous donors. This allowed Open Hearts and Minds to give food parcels to needy families over the following weeks while the shutdown was in place.
This was truly a great response of people helping their neighbour in a time of need, even when that neighbour is halfway around the world! We are so grateful to everyone who contributed and made this happen. This is surely what Open Hearts and Minds is all about!
Join us in helping to ease the struggle for the families in Kokoth Kateng. Donate today!
