Maisha International's Blog

Happy Kids Having Lunch at Maisha

We have been called in Matthew 25:35-36 “To care for the needy, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry and to welcome the strangers.”

It is this very verse that allowed Collins Oluoch to benefit from the feeding program at the Maisha Center.  After his father died in 2004, his mother found it rough to take care of the four children at home.  Feeding them became increasingly difficult and many times they would go to school on an empty stomach.  Sometimes school was forgotten in necessity for the children to go search for food.  “When we heard of this program, we became happy after we were enlisted as the beneficiaries. Now I go to school daily and my performance has increased,” he recalls.

Many children in villages around here are facing a similar situation.  Maisha’s feeding program has seen an increase from 20 children in 2006 to over 400 children and 10 widows benefiting today.  Ms. Anastasia Akoth Ndege, who is in charge of the program, says over 400 children come from nearby schools and take their lunch at the Maisha Center every day.  Feeding continues even during holidays. “We just have to feed them. We are now feeding both orphans and vulnerable children from the villages around,” she says.  The difference in orphan or vulnerable is whether or not they have one or two living parents.  We’ve found their level of need is the same, no matter their classification.  There are also about 23 children who are total orphans and have no one. “These we house and take all meals including supper here,” she adds.

One of the boys who live at Maisha is Ronney Okoth.  Life was very difficult for him after both his parents passed away – he had nowhere to turn but the streets.  He found his way to Maisha, who took him in and gave him a home.  Now he is in high school and his future looks bright.  “He has a heart of gold, is a natural leader and always goes out of his way to be helpful in every way he can.  I can’t and don’t want to imagine what his life would have been like had he not found his way here,” says Jennifer Whitener, Maisha Co-Director.  He is one of the 23 children who have come to know Maisha as their home.

“They are a happy lot because here they get three meals a day which is nutritious and well balanced.  This is a timely help to them because they are in their prime age and in need of good food to stay healthy even as they grow into adulthood,” says Joshua Ouko, the Program Manager.

John Omollo Mudho, a local from Chiga village says the program has really helped many children who had lost hope in life. “This is the program we cherish in this area. Hope has been brought back to the lives of children who had lost their parents,” he says.

“We are grateful to the donors who generously provide the meals to the children. They have supported this noble mission to bring back hope in the faces of the children,” adds Joshua.

Lunch in the Maisha Dinning Hall

Giftone in School Uniform

Giftone Ochieng dreams of being an engineer one day.  After scoring high on his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination in 2009, Giftone Ochieng received admission letters to attend Kisumu Boys’ High School and Kisumu Day High School, two of the top schools in Kisumu.  Since Giftone’s father was unable to pay school fees, his uncle came in to lend a hand so he could proceed with his education.  His uncle could only pay for him to attend a local school, so Giftone began attending St Aloys’ Mixed Secondary School where he has worked hard and was one of their best students.  However, his dream to become an engineer could not be achieved while in the local secondary school and he prayed one day he would have the opportunity to move to a better institution.

First born in a family of two, Giftone and his sister Beatrice Ayoo, lost their beloved mother while they were little children and had to face the tough side of life as partial orphans.  Recently, their father passed away.  It was then that Maisha International stepped in to support Giftone.

Through a sponsor in Maisha’s Legacy of Hope program, he now has full sponsorship to Otieno Oyoo High School where he started March 28.  Maisha Project Manager Joshua Ouko says the boy is determined to succeed in life and that it is through the help of a sponsor that his dreams can now be achieved.  “His parents have now died and we have come in to help so that he can have his education paid for,” he said.  Giftone has promised to work hard in class to ensure one day he becomes a mechanical engineer.   In Giftone’s own words, “This will make my dream come true.  Maisha has helped me and I will not disappoint them.”

Giftone At The Gate of His New School