Staying Off The Streets

As COVID-19 cases continue to linger on, the need for food and rent assistance continues to increase.

Though the number of cases throughout the Oyugis community are much less than other areas in Kenya, they are still impacted and struggling to survive.

Many families have fallen behind in paying rent and are in jeopardy of being tossed into the street to become homeless.  Most rents average between $10 - $50 a month.  With your generous gifts many rents have been brought current and in some cases paid for one month in advance. 

Paul is married with a wife and five children.  He is behind on his 3000 ksh a month rent. That’s less than $30 a month U.S.  His rent is now paid up and he can focus on taking care of his family.

On our last round of food deliveries to nine COVID-impacted families, we took extra food packages for families we came across that we weren’t aware of beforehand.

One such family we found was totally out of food.

The father had been working to put food on the table, but when COVID hit his salary was either delayed or cut in half. He could barely sustain his family; a wife and one year old daughter.

At the time of the visit, his wife wasn’t sure what to even give the child to eat for dinner.

The food was such a blessing to them. They said it was a miracle because they prayed that morning for God to provide and God indeed provided!

One of the nine families we intentionally set out to deliver food to said the following…

“Just this morning I was telling my pastor how hard things have been and I didn’t know what I was going to do. He told me not to worry, God will provide. “

She was shocked a short time later to see all this food arrive and said, “God does provide!”

One of our volunteers making the food deliveries for the first time said it was so great just to see how grateful people were to receive the supplies. He reported one lady kept saying in disbelief “What am I seeing, are my eyes seeing this?”

 Thank you for making these stories a reality…you are filling tummies and keeping families together in homes. 

 You are a blessing to many…Thank You!

Gratefully,
Merry Broughal
Olalo of Hope - Kenya

Seeing And Meeting The Need

Working within the one community of Oyugis, Kenya, the basic needs of the people clearly become defined, and we can look for ways to address those needs.

Recently Olalo of Hope partnered with GEM (Global Eyeglass Ministry) to bring a free vision clinic to the town.  For 13 days a team of volunteers from the U.S. and the local community tested the vision of the people as part of our Medical program. 

Through this process, we also were able to address medical issues that needed attention. Two of our own local volunteers ended up spending time in the hospital dealing with various ailments. Both are recovering at home currently.

Other obvious conditions were seen and addressed as people came each day to get their eyes tested.

In good practice with COVID-19 safeguards, hand washing stations were set up at the clinic and each person had their temperature taken prior to being tested.  Amazingly only one person had to be turned away because they had a fever.

Through the 13 days of clinic, a total of 889 people were seen; 357 people were matched with prescription eyeglasses; and almost 530 pairs of readers were given out.

There is not much that is more precious than seeing the look on the faces and smiles (yes smiles even through the wearing of masks) of someone who can finally see clearly for the first time.  It just makes your heart joyful and thankful...ours and theirs!

Several urgent medical situations arose, both at the clinic and in the surrounding community.  Those we had knowledge of were sent to local hospitals for treatment.  Malaria and typhoid are still prevalent as well as a growing number of injuries caused by recent changes in the roads.

Getting Urgent Medical care was all possible due to your generous hearts supporting the Urgent Medical Fund of Olalo of Hope -  Kenya.

We thank you for your support, and the people helped Thank You because you cared and changed their lives!

Gratefully,
Merry Broughal
Olalo of Hope - Kenya

YOU Are The Reason Many People Are Alive Today!

Since the arrival of COVID-19 in Oyugis, we expected a surge of  people seeking help for medical care.  Fortunately, that hasn’t been the case…at least not due to the virus.

What has increased is the number of incidents requiring urgent medical care due to major changes in the roads in the area and throughout town.  Vehicle accidents and children being hit by cars has increased, resulting in injuries and sadly even deaths of young children going to or from school.

Your generous support for urgent medical care was invaluable in getting medical help for these victims.

The need for surgeries increased through the year, and illnesses that were not identifiable required hospital stays, multiple tests, x-rays, and scans.  This was all possible because of you and your generosity. 

Thank You!

Arriving at a hospital for treatment without the money in-hand to cover the costs means in most cases, you are turned away until you can come back able to cover the costs.  Sadly, this practice leads to greater health risks and sometimes death.

Your support goes to cover those hospital/medication costs so people can receive the urgent medical care needed as the need arises.

You are the reason many people in Kenya are alive today!

We cannot thank you enough for your support!

Nyasaye Ogwedhi!
Merry Broughal

Moving Forward With Education

It has been a challenging year for our students in Kenya. COVID-19 impacted every area of their lives, including their education.

Students returned to school in January and rather than beginning a new school year as usual, instead they picked up with Term 2 of the previous school year.  The entire system has changed.

As we enter the month of May, students are beginning Term 3 of the previous school year. In July they will begin the new school year and most likely, that will be the new schedule from that point forward.

Change usually has its challenges, but our students are adapting quite well and anxious to continue with their education.  School supplies were distributed as needed, uniform pieces replaced for growing teens, and pads for our female students were distributed so they won’t miss school each month.

In March students gathered at the Olalo office to receive letters and cards written by supporters who sponsor specific students.  It was an opportunity for them to also express how COVID has impacted them personally and we were able to supply food packages to those who needed the help.

Our Computer lab has reopened and those taking courses at the lab are also returning.

It may have some semblance of normalcy…and that’s good...but our hopes are life will continue to return to what it once was and give both balance and confidence back to these young lives.

Thank You for being part of that process….Thank You for giving hope and encouragement to these young people in such a time as this.

Gratefully,
Merry Broughal
Olalo of Hope - Kenya

Adjusting To The Times!

Life has certainly changed for all of us in the last few months with the corona virus spreading across the world. This pandemic may have changed how we go about living our daily lives, but it has not changed the needs that still exist around the world.

Thanks to you and your generous support to Olalo of Hope-Kenya, plus an amazing micro-grant we received from GlobalGiving, we are still supporting the students in our education sponsorship program…just in a little different way.

When schools in Kenya closed their doors and sent students home to their families, kids lost 2 or 3 meals a day that the schools provided.

Families already struggling to survive now added another mouth to feed and increased the hardships on the entire family.

Thanks to your continued support, we purchased and delivered food to your students’ families to  offset those lost meals and ensure students and families were able to eat. Some students even came by the office to pick up the food before we had the chance to deliver to all of them.

We are so grateful for you! Your dedication to our Education program has expanded in this new direction and now helps ensure students and families have food in their homes during this difficult time. Three food deliveries to each family has taken place so far today.

We do not know how long this situation will continue, but at least we know our students will have access to food and be ready to head back to school once the doors reopen!

Thank you for all your support.

Merry
Olalo of Hope-Kenya

Crisis Response Through Education...A Game Changer!!!

Back in March, when Kenya closed the schools no one ever thought educating our young would come to a complete halt for months to come!

The Kenyan government initiated on-line learning networks to help students continue with their studies but students in many areas, including our own, had no means to access those online courses so their education stopped.

With almost everything else closed in the community, kids had too much time on their hands.  Many helped around their homes by planting gardens and doing other household duties.

In a three-month period after schools closed,  teen pregnancy soared to over 40% countrywide.  Our staff in Oyugis knew they needed to do something to help stop this growing concern and issue.

That’s when the Education piece of Olalo took a temporary turn to offer a new form of education….one of mentorship, information, encouragement, and education with the goal of decreasing teen pregnancy.

The Olalo Team set up a two-day Community Outreach and invited local youth ages 13 and older to attend.  Girls who attended were given sanitary pads and  boys received new underwear (something very few have ever owned).

The expectation was 150 kids would participate in the two-day outreach.  Instead, over 200 came the first day!  Those who came met together in a group before the one-on-one talks took place with each youth.

Solid connections were made between individual students and the mentoring Team promising a positive and ongoing relationship that not only would benefit the student, but the community as well.

These are certainly unsettling times, but this new education piece may be a game-changer for the youth of Oyugis.

This is all made possible because of you and your support for the education of the youth of Oyugis, Kenya.

Thank you so much for your heart for kids and education….You are changing their world!

Merry Broughal
Olalo of Hope-Kenya