Imagine you’re elderly, handicapped, or a single parent caring for your disabled child…with no government assistance! That’s the predicament the recipients of our food hamper and face mask program live with. Normally they rely on the kindness of neighbors. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the neighbors are all out of work and not receiving an income. They too are struggling to feed their families daily.It’s been a month since I held my Facebook Giving Tuesday fundraiser, which was targeted specifically toward our food hamper program. I’m so grateful to everyone for making it so successful. We raised enough money to keep the program going for another 5 weeks. We have never needed your help more than at the present time. Thank you so much.Warmest blessings,Jennifer Hughes-BystromFounder/CEO Springs of Hope Foundation
Hello Everyone,
They say that when it rains, it pours, and calamity comes as its brother. The dreaded coronavirus finally found its way into Kenya on the 13th of March.Today we make reference to the bible quote from the book of 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 which says “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work”. The teaching has always motivated the Springs of Hope Foundation to give back to the needy in our communities especially in these trying times.
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Just when we were about to reach our first destination, our vehicle got stuck in the mud. It has been raining for some weeks now. The funny thing, we only had one gentleman in the car who happened to be the driver, Martha’s husband Ephantus Wachira, who volunteers to assist us every Thursday by offering his vehicle for our distribution. So we took the initiative and alighted and tried to push the vehicle from the mud. We were five ladies, we tried and tried and nothing happened. Martha decided that it was time to head off down that muddy road and look for help. We all breathed a sigh of relief when some community members came to assist. They pushed and pushed and finally our car was out of the mud. We were all delighted; we thanked the community members and continued on our journey. We finally reached our first distribution spot. Here, the village elders/ cluster leaders had selected thirty of the most vulnerable aged/ elderly in the area. The group was seated, maintaining the 1.5-meter rule; we introduced ourselves and shared with them some motivational talks. From their faces, we noted how happy they looked. These people were displaced from their original homes during the post violence elections in 2007, the place they relocated to is the remotest parts in the area where they have impassable roads, no social amenities e.g. hospitals and schools. The communities in these areas have been forgotten by their leaders, they only come in handy when the leaders want to get votes to vie for top positions in government. Once the leaders get the position they relocate to Nairobi without doing any development project in that area. Their faces were all covered with smiles when we gave them the food hampers. The food that we gave out could take them for two weeks.
There was a woman by the name Grace Wanjiku, Grace is 52 years old and a small scale farmer. She is married and has been doing manual jobs to fend for her family. She has four children. Out of the four, three are physically disabled and the other one passed on three years ago. The three are aged 34, 30, and 28. This has left her as the only sole provider for her family. Her husband is old and can’t do tough jobs because of his age.