No Child Should Have to Choose Between A Meal And An Education
If you had to choose between going to school, or getting enough to eat, the choice would be pretty obvious: food, as a basic human need in life, will always prevail as a one of the things we ‘must’ have in order to survive.
But we believe every child should have an opportunity to thrive in life, not just survive. Living day by day does not do any good for the human spirit and the collective good of the world. We want children, our future, to thrive – and one way to do this is to have them learn as much as possible about the world, to be educated and have their eyes opened by the endless possibilities that exist in the world.
School should not be a privilege, but many vulnerable children live under precarious circumstances where their caregivers have to choose between having enough money to pay for food, or having enough money to send a child to school.
We believe education for every child should be a right, just the way in which clean water and quality nutrition should be a right. For many of our orphanage partners, under the financial strain of caring for many children, school becomes a secondary priority, because they have to make sure there is enough food on the table each night.
But what if there was both food on the table, and also backpacks lined up by the door? What if caregivers and the children themselves didn’t have to worry every month if their ‘sponsor’ was going to send enough money to help pay for their school?
Our greenhouse project at St. Catherine’s Children’s Home will do two amazing things – grow enough vegetables so that the kids have a more varied and nutritious diet at home, and have surplus produce that will be sold in local markets so that school fees can be paid.
The project consists of refurbishing four greenhouses on the home’s property outside of nairobi, installing proper irrigation drips, fixing their well, as well as one year’s salary for a farm manager to oversee progress and production. We have been in close contact with St. Catherine’s since 2012, and have followed them as they have stayed committed to providing the best care for their children – we first met them at their location in the Kibera slum. They have managed to secure land on the outskirts of Nairobi, and are slowly to moving the children out of the slum and into a cleaner, more open, and safer environment.
Today, we are inviting you to join us in nourishing bodies and minds – because no child should have to choose between a meal or an education. The best news of all, is that we have a generous donor who will match all donations up to $5,000 – so whatever your donate today, will have double the impact. For more details on the project, and to make a donation, please view our project page on our site.
All photos: St. Catherine’s Children’s Home
Written by: Jacqueline Herrera
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