Weather extremes cause challenges for Kenyan farm families
The Farmers Helping Farmers Holiday Campaign has many ways to help make a difference for women, children and families in Kenya. Like so many around the globe, they have faced weather extremes over the last couple of years, making providing food even more challenging.
The Holiday Campaign has been a crucial fundraiser for the P.E.I. based non-profit for many years. Each year, it raises money to continue the group’s impactful work in Kenya, which has been ongoing since 1980. Generous donors contribute close to $100,000 annually.
100 percent of the donations go directly to families in Kenya.
Many of the gifts in the 2024 Holiday Campaign will help the women FHF works with to produce food to feed their families. The Campaign also raises funds for milk and healthy lunches for school children, as well as books and solar lights to help them study at night in homes without electricity.
New gifts this year include donkey carts which use best practices to make highly efficient, stress and pain-free donkey carts, and school grants which will allow students to finish high school.
Donkeys play an important role for many households and the economy. Donkeys in more arid areas, such as Nkando and the region of the Mwende Women’s group are breeding females (known as Jennys), as well as pack animals for livestock and household water on a daily basis. In some places, male donkeys (known as Jacks) in teams of two, pull carts to haul firewood, market goods, milk and feed for cattle.
With the hilly terrain in so many areas, donkeys can move water and goods where even a motorbike would have difficulty. Their care is quite minimal, with donkeys mostly being tethered to graze for their feed.
A $200 donation will help continue the work to build a better donkey cart for these important animals.
READ MORE ABOUT The Donkey Project: https://www.farmershelpingfarmers.ca/donkey-welfare-in-meru/
Another new item this year are school grants which will allow students to finish high school. School can be expensive for many families, as they have to pay both for tuition and uniform fees. A $200 donation will allow a student to stay in school and complete their studies.
There is a wide range of gifts that donors can choose from, with all of them making a difference, from milk for school children, to a cow or chickens to produce food daily for a Kenyan farm family.
Here is the list of items for 2024:
$20 for a bag to grow vegetables for a farm family
$50 for seeds for a garden,
$60 for a solar light for children to study at night
$75 for school books
$85 for five chickens to produce eggs for a family
$150 for milk for 10 school childen for three months
$200 Help a student complete high school
$200 Help build a donkey cart
$250 for a fuel-saving stove with chimney to cook a family’s food
$650 for a rainwater storage tank for a family’s clean water
$700 Dairy cow for a family (revolving credit)
$850 Biogas digester for cooking gas
$1,200 to establish and support a vegetable garden for a school.
There is also the option of a general donation, which allows Farmers Helping Farmers to allocate the money to the project with the greatest need.
All of the gift items will make a significant difference.
There are many ways to donate to the Farmers Helping Farmers Holiday Campaign. You can visit our FHF website and click on the DONATE button.
There is also a flyer available in the November and December editions of The Buzz if you prefer to mail us your donation.
All donations are eligible for a tax receipt and a holiday card of thanks will be mailed to you that you can share with family, friends or clients.
Donors will receive a card in time for Christmas for contributions received by December 15, 2024.
One hundred per cent of these gifts will go directly to Kenya.
If you are looking for a meaningful gift that continues to provide for a family for a long time, look no further.
Thank you for your continued support and please share our campaign with your friends and family.