And God said, “Let there be
light, and there was light. God saw that
the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1:3-4
Dear Friends,
Do you remember the last time
the power went out in a region of our country, perhaps even in your own
neighborhood, for an extended period of time?
Do you remember the feelings of frustration and helplessness that followed? The truth is that in our country, as painful
as these experiences are to us, we know that the electrical grid will be
repaired and life can begin to move forward once again.
In places like
Kinyago-Dandora, there is little of hope of moving forward. In fact, worldwide, one in five people live
in darkness after the sun goes down. In
our KDS community, where more than 950,000 people reside, 100% of our families
are without electricity.
Let me portray the reality of
living in Kinyago-Dandora: When you
leave the comfort of Nairobi’s city center and drive into Eastlands, you will
immediately notice a change in the landscape. Continue eastward, and it now
becomes obvious that you have entered into hopelessness and despair. There are two main roads that pass through
this area of Kinyago-Dandora. Along
these routes are just a handful of electrical poles with unreliable street
lamps. If you are one of the few
fortunate enough to have a shanty close to one of these power poles, you may
claim to have electricity because you live in the shadow of the light or have
managed to jerry rig bootleg power.
However, just a short
distance off these roads people live in shanties or huts made of sticks,
plastic, iron sheets…even cardboard. The
small homes are piled together into a vast sea of destitution. There is no clean water. Families walk long distances with containers
called jerry cans to fetch water from a city pipe. The water is not free so people often need to
choose between having water or food for the day. There is no sanitation. Sewage flows freely
through drainage ditches between walking paths and homes. Garbage from the massive city garbage dump is
strewn everywhere including the nearby river.
The most crippling condition of
all is to sit in twelve hours of darkness every day with your only source of
light coming from toxic kerosene lanterns, fire pits and candles.
Light is not only critical
but liberating. Without it, families
struggle to perform the most basic activities such as cooking, studying,
reading and working after dark. It has
been proven that light has the biggest impact on raising living standards,
promoting economic and educational opportunities and improving health for the
poor.
This is why Kenya Children’s
Fund has partnered with Watts of Love to provide proven sustainable,
safe and reliable solar lighting to the Kinyago-Dandora School (KDS) community
in 2014. Because electricity is so
unreliable at our schools, we will also use them in our classrooms and offices.
Our goal is to provide every student’s family with a solar lantern that even on the lowest setting will light up an entire room for 130 hours without a recharge. With your help, we can provide light to our families for only $30 per kit which includes the lantern and solar charger.
Would you please prayerfully
consider giving a year end gift to help us ship 1,000 solar light kits to Kenya
in the New Year? This important project
will give our students, families and staff a safer environment and more time to
read and study. It will also allow breadwinners
more hours of the day to be productive. Households will save money since they
will not need to spend their few schillings on kerosene, candles or
firewood. Please see the enclosed fact
sheet and response form.
During this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, what
better way to celebrate our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Light of the World, then
with the gift of light to those who sit in darkness?
We are so grateful for your
prayers and financial support. Each year
we are able to do more to lift up this impoverished community, and we could not
do it without you. Together, we are
making a difference by bringing His light and hope to His precious little
ones. Asante Sana!
For His Glory, and Our Joy!
Ginger
President and CEO
