Jambo,
As you begin to read this message, a child in Kenya is forced by their life circumstances to drop out of school. Before you finish this line, a child runs away from their home to the streets of our cities. Before you complete this paragraph, a girl child gives birth in the streets to an unwanted baby. And before you are done reading this whole message, a child is orphaned of AIDS.
Right now thousands of children are roaming our city streets. Tomorrow hundreds more will join them. They are all searching for things that we take for granted; a meal, a warm blanket, a safe place to sleep, somewhere nice to call home, an honest person to love them and most importantly; a place where they can find hope and a purpose to live. These kids lead desperate lives filled with violence, disease, broken relationships, poverty, harassment from the society and the pressure to become child laborers.
Most of these kids live day-by-day lives with no responsibility, no direction and no boundaries. They are as addicted to aimlessness and the lack of discipline as they are addicted to sniffing glue, smoking marijuana (Bhang) and using other illicit drugs. They live in a world without love. Their world is one with no future....but they have to live in it anyway.
It is with great love, care and concern that Common Ground Program (CGP) and Feed the Villages (FV) started a feeding programme at Pathfinder Academy to help these kids so that they could concentrate on education and other skill trades. CGP and FV want to help these orphans and vulnerable children break the cycle of poverty and addiction to life on the street and prostitution. Yes, we want to assist these kids to find purpose and dignity in life. Despite the fact that most of them feel unworthy and useless and like outcasts of the society; we want to encourage them so that they know that they are important and useful people in the society. The project is providing at least a meal for day scholars and three meals for those that board in school.
Our main aim is to offer these children an alternative to the street and prostitution. We are feeding them and at the same time providing them with education. The opportunity is opening a window to provide other basic requirements of life such as work skills through vocational training so that they may become responsible and productive citizens in the future.
We have seen many children turning a new leaf already and we believe God will continue blessing our donors to continue supporting these efforts. We can do even better if we stored more farm produce we are yet to harvest from the planted 9 acres of maize plus beans and two acres of vegetables and tubers. If the harvest is well stored, over 300 kids will be fed from January through December 2009. For us to succeed we need your support to build a proper granary to store all our produce, a donation of $ 25-50 will make a great different. We need to raise about $ 3,100 for this project.
Thanks to all who have supported this practical work. And to those of you who have shown an interest to working with us; let me say 'Karibu CGP which means "Welcome to CGP". Let us join hands and make a difference in the lives of these kids as we wait for our reward in heaven.
Write the check to Village Volunteers and CGP/Feed Villages in the subject line. Send it to:
Shana Greene
Executive Director
Village Volunteers
5100 S Dawson St. Suite 202
Seattle, WA 98118
Office: 206-577-0515
www.villagevolunteers.org
Be blessed and thank you for taking your time to read this. I would be happy to hear from you.
Joshua Amwai Machinga.
CGP Coordinator
