Here we go again. Another two months of lockdown

On March 26, the Kenyan government announced further restrictions in an attempt to stop the 3rd wave of Covid 19 sweeping across the country. In his address to the nation on March 26th, President Kenyatta is quoted as saying,“Since my last address to the nation on 12th March, 7,630 Kenyans have been admitted into our hospitals for COVID-19. Yet before my address to the nation on March 12th, 4,990 Kenyans had been admitted. In 13 days only, our admission rate increased by 52%. This confirms the fact that a Third Wave of COVID-19 is at hand in Kenya. The positivity rate is at its highest since the pandemic hit us; the death rate is devastating by all measures; and the stress the pandemic is placing on our health system is unparalleled.Based on experience, this peak will flatten only by Mid-May 2021, which is about 60 days from now.” Sixty days! Which means that schools will be closed…again. This will be devastating for many Kenyan girls, who lost 9 months of school attendance last year. The additional minimum of 2 months at home will mean that many girls will never return to school due mainly to lack of school fees and inability to catch up, forcing them into early marriage.Experts worry the pandemic could roll back decades of progress on gender equality and girls’ education.
Over a period of three months in lockdown due to COVID-19, 152,000 Kenyan teenage girls became pregnant — a 40% increase in the country’s monthly average. These numbers, from early July, are some of the earliest pieces of evidence linking the COVID-19 pandemic to unintended pregnancies.
Having learned our lesson from the first lockdown, our staff quickly jumped into action over the weekend, removing any signs that we are a vocational training institution. The girls immediately started working on facemasks full time, to be given out to anyone who couldn’t afford to purchase one. So, thankfully the area officials didn’t force us to send some of the girls home like last time.
Crisis situations are known to increase adolescent girls’ risk of sexual abuse, exploitation, gender-based violence, and unwanted pregnancies.
The other saving grace for us was that the week before this lockdown we had a graduation ceremony for the girls who had joined us in January 2020. Once again, the graduation ceremony was an exciting day for everyone. However, for the 2nd time now, no family members were able to attend and celebrate this very special day in their daughter’s life.

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Being total orphans, some of the graduates didn’t have homes to return to, however, a great opportunity came along for them thanks to the generosity of Rotarians on 3 continents.

  • In March 2021 the Rotary Club of Brisbane Mid City awarded the Springs of Hope Foundation a grant to purchase 6 sewing machines to assist in our after-graduation program, aimed at getting the girls established in successful businesses once they have completed our course.
  • At the same time, the Rotary Club of Nakuru approached us enquiring whether our students could make reusable sanitary pads for a project they were doing with their sister club, the Davis Sunrise Rotary Club. in California.
This was a perfect opportunity for our soon-to-be graduating girls, as they would be paid for each reusable pad they made.
Thank you for the amazing generosity of Rotary Clubs worldwide.
And, not unlike any other teenage girls around the world, they set up their temporary businessin our living room! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Actually, we had a room on the compound set aside for their new enterprise. Unfortunately, with this 3rd wave of Covid sweeping our county, and some of the girls being reluctant to return to their villages, we’ve rearranged our bedroom capacity for the time being, so the girl’s designated workshop is a temporary quarantine room for new intakes.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), more than a quarter of a billion people around the world are currently suffering from chronic hunger due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on vulnerable communities facing hunger and other crises. 
Our food hamper program is in greater demand than ever with this 2nd lockdown. In the past, we’ve been able to distribute hampers to groups of 125 elderly and disabled, who are preselected by the area elders as one group. With the new rules, it’s going to be challenging. Most of the time our recipients haven’t eaten for a few days and all they want to do is go home and cook the porridge which is part of the hamper for their family as soon as possible. Last week we were able to do two separate distributions per day, over two days.

_______________________________________________________________If you are able to assist us with our food distribution program to the elderly, people living with disabilities, and single mothers,please donate here.
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