Kanamai Trust newsletter – Summer 2022
Writing this, as I am, on a lovely morning, with the sun shining and feeling safe and secure, it seems so sad that in other parts of the world, despite the weather, many are living in fearful and dangerous situations.
The war in the Ukraine is awful, and it is heartbreaking to see what families are going through in that country. We are also now realising that this war is having serious consequences around the world, and in the last month or so we have faced this in Kanamai. Food, where still available, has more than doubled in price. There is very little fuel now, and the number of people who are completely without food is growing daily. Maize and flour have until now come from Ukraine, and so is in short supply; whilst the oil used for cooking has dried up. If you add into the mix that there has been a long drought, so Kenyans have been unable to grow their own food; and that the water levels are so low that their wells have dried up, you will see that our poor friends are in a crisis. In some parts of Kenya people are already dying through starvation. We know this to be true since we hear about it from our friends in Kanamai. And we see in the media huge siloes full of grain going to waste due to the Russian blockade of Odessa.
In past years, we have been able to help our friends by buying large quantities of grain when they have been unable to grow their own food due to drought, but it has never been as bad as this, with the price of grain increasing weekly. We have been forced to reduce the food we provide for the children to just one meal a day, and this is just scratching the surface I am afraid, since this doesn’t cover weekends and out- of- term time. Unless things improve fairly quickly, this will escalate to become a huge, global problem.
I am afraid I don’t have any answers to ease their pain, except to give as much money as we can, and hope and pray that this situation does not get any worse. We are continuing to teach the children at the Little Angels, but whether children will be able to continue to go to senior school is debatable. Even our teachers who have children at senior school are finding that, because of the cost of food, they are not able to send their children to school. For them it really is a case of food – or schooling.
If you feel able to give a little extra for food, we will gladly send it out on your behalf. Our friends are well organised and know which of the Kanamai villages and residents are in the direst need, and will endeavour to buy and distribute grain amongst the poorest. We are determined than no-one in Kanamai will starve.
We are planning for Paul to visit again in August, just after the Presidential election, which is always a time of unrest and often rioting, so hopefully the worst will be over before he goes out there.
Pearl has been asked to speak to some of the children at a local school here in Portishead in July. This will be her first visit for more than two years.
Meanwhile, we do thank you for your continuing interest in the work of the Kanamai Trust. We are so grateful for that, and it has been lovely to hear from so many during the time we have all been isolated through the pandemic.