2010 Kikapu Report: A Volunteer's Perspective

By Gladys Mutinda
All of us at Nuru Center would like to thank all the donors, volunteers and everyone who participated in making the 2010 Kikapu Campaign the success that it was. We were able to give food Kikapus(baskets) to ninety families in the Molo and Kitui areas of Kenya. Each Kikapu contains enough food that can feed a family of four for at least ten days. We were also able to give Christmas cheer to fifty patients at Molo District Hospital on Christmas eve. The visit by the volunteers left the families and especially the children grinning with happiness.

Each family received a kikapu containing 2kg of sugar, 1kg of Salt, 2kg or rice, 2kg of beans, 2kg of lentils, 2kg of wheat flour, 2kg of cooking oil, 1 box of cookies, 1 bottle of juice, and a bar soap. Each patient at the hospital, both adults and children, received a loaf of bread, three fruits, a yogourt or a packet of milk, one antibacterial soap, a packet of cookies and candy

During the Kikapu distribution we met and talked with many children raising children and others raising themselves, grandparents, uncles, aunts and other relatives raising

Kids raising kids

orphans most of whom are orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS. We also gave Kikapus to many who are living with the disease and struggle everyday to put food on the table for their children/families. We met with many families who were displaced from their homes as a result of the 2008 post elections violence and have not been able to return to their homes and others whose homes were destroyed/burnt as a result of the same political unrest. Many of the displaced live in mud and wooden shacks and some of their children no longer attend school. They are now casual laborers in an attempt to help their parents to put food on the table.

On Christmas Eve, we were out distributing food and bringing Holiday cheers to the patients at Molo District Hospital. It is during this visit when we met a man who had been in a coma for 7 days and needed a CT scan of his head in order for the physician to be able to diagnose his condition. This hospital facility did not have the equipment to perform the procedure and the patient needed to be transported to a better equipped facility but the patient/family needed to pay for the transport. Neither the patient nor his family had the money to pay before the treatment as is the norm in most parts of Kenya. Nuru Center paid for the procedure and the transportation to the advanced hospital. On the same visit, we met a man who had been held at the hospital for a day after his discharge due to the inability to pay for his hospital bill which Nuru Center also paid.

2010 Kikapu Giving Volunteers

The 2010 Kikapu distribution included volunteers from Georgia, California, Nairobi, Nakuru and Kitui. Special thank you to Mr & Mrs Orwenyo for hosting the volunteers and coordinating the Kikapu distribution. We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who sacrificed an entire week to spread cheer to many who did not expect much. Also during this distribution, we met some of Nuru Center’s Elimu Scholarship beneficiaries as we visited their neighborhoods.

**The author, Gladys Mutinda, is a Nuru Center board member and co-founder. This was her first time participating on the ground hands on in this campaign.
You can view pictures from the 2010 Kikapu distributions on our gallery and on facebook.