We Are Kenya was born in the hearts of a group of people who believe that one way to change a society, is to change the future of its youth. The members of the We Are Kenya team partner with indigenous groups in Kenya to provide the needed resources to provide hope for impoverished children by answering the need for food, clothing, shelter, and education.
Since 2008, We Are Kenya has partnered with Vision Link School (formerly, Provision Education Center) in Soweto, Kenya. Soweto, located on the east side of Nairobi, is a large slum whose people daily struggle with the sickness, crime, hunger, and hopelessness that results from severe poverty. In a slum where many children have one or no parent, the daily quest for food supersedes any hope for education. While education is free in Kenya, many children cannot attend school because their families cannot afford the required uniform, shoes, and school supplies. The situation becomes more difficult in Soweto as there are no government-sponsored schools.
Vision Link School believes that every child deserves the chance to thrive in an environment that is free from hunger, sickness, and fear. Vision Link School, through its partnership with We Are Kenya, mobilizes community members to assist in feeding and educating the nearly 140 children enrolled. Each child receives breakfast and lunch and attends classes taught by university-trained teachers. For some, this is the only meal that he/she will eat on a given day.
In addition to the school day, Vision Link School provides shelter and care for several of the neediest children. All of Vision Link School’s children are considered “at-risk” children as they are all from situations where food, medical, and education are a constant struggle. For some, it is simply that all the family’s earnings only cover what is needed for shelter and food. For others, it is that the home environment is unsafe. For some, it is that there is no home at all. Starting around the summer of 2012, Vision Link School began providing shelter for those who had none through the use of two small rooms cared for by a volunteer from the community. Mother Theresa says, “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.” Vision Link School seeks to fill the emotional and spiritual gaps for these children as well.
And it all comes back to you and me. Without our help, they can’t.