“IDA-Elect Bev Bucur and I were privileged to visit the SI Eldoret’s Rescue Centre project in Kenya on the 15 June 2017. The Centre rescues abandoned children from living on the street. Some are runaways, others are victims of child abuse and others are abandoned. The root cause is poverty. Currently they care for 53 girls and 61 boys, and see a potential capacity for housing 800 children to be realized when they have the buildings and infrastructure.
The Kenyan Soroptimist club, SI Eldoret, saw an opportunity to make a difference and since 2005 have taken on three projects with the Rescue Centre.
They contributed a cow in 2005, which they called ‘Sorobella’. She had 2 calves, which they called, ‘Soroplets’, The milk has made an ongoing contribution to the health of the children. Unfortunately, Sorobella died from food poisoning. The club then decided that they would support the Centre to grow their own animal feed to ensure they lost no more animals.
The Centre has plenty of land and the children plant fodder for cows. Working in partnership with their Friendship Link Club, SI Brande from Denmark funded the seed, while SI Eldoret provided the local connection to the project. The partnership of the two clubs has made a difference to the Rescue Centre which relies on donations for the day to day running of the Centre.
The third project, a kitchen for the girls, was also funded by SI Brande from Denmark, and SI Eldoret oversaw the project on the ground. The cooking was done in pots using three stones to hold up the pot. Now they have a purpose built large pot over a fireplace. The health of the cooks, and the efficiency of cooking has been improved.
The next project is to improve the girls’ toilets. Water and sanitation are challenges in Kenya. Water at the Rescue Centre comes from a bore hole on the property, so they feel lucky. More toilets however are needed. Currently there are four toilets for the girls.
The work with the Rescue Centre enables the club to provide meaningful service to the Soroptimist Mission to transform the lives of the girls. It was a privilege to meet the club and hear about the many other projects they are doing”.
Photo – SI Eldoret members with Incoming IDA Bev Bucur and President Yvonne Simpson
Authored by Yvonne Simpson
SI President