Tumaini Youth Center in conjunction with the Colorado Mission Committee are exited to announce our new small agricultural project aimed at providing the center with more sustainable food. As the marginalized here in the U.S. experience, many Kenyan’s are experiencing food insecurities caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Food prices have skyrocketed, and certain items are unattainable. Our team at Tumaini Youth Center has proposed to add 100-200 chicks and a new milk cow to enhance the children’s daily diets.

The Tumaini Team’s Eliud sent us his assessment of what would be needed to enhance their current agricultural program in order to combat food shortages.

Hello CMC team,

Good to hear from you. Coming up with a coop structure would not be a problem. We will use local materials here to set up a small building. We are also thinking of starting small as we grow the project. We could consider starting with 100 to 200 chicks. One-month old chick is ideal, and it would cost $4.

In regard to cows, we will also set up a small dairy structure to accommodate two to three good quality milk cows. The board is ready to come up with this structure. A good productive breed would cost $1000. After consolidating sales of the cows that we have now, we hope to be able to raise funds that can help us to secure one good milk cow and probably remain with some change to help with purchase of feed. We are all excited about these two small projects. Thank you for your prayers and consideration.

Yours in Christ’s service,

Eliud

Our friends at the youth center are experiencing the same disruption’s and hardships that we all face due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Though nobody here is sick yet—Thank God. We are experiencing many side effects of the Pandemic. Due to the complications of Covid and a harsh locust season, food prices have increased drastically. Medical and sanitizing products are also difficult to obtain In Kenya.

Tumaini Youth Center July 2020

At present, our Children are not in public schools, so we are doing our best to keep them socially distanced and on track with their studies. We are very thankful for the prayers from our supporter’s, please keep them coming. We truly are all in this together. These times are hard for everyone, but with your support we will persevere. May God bless you all and keep you safe.

As we can see from our recent photos, Tumaini Youth Centers Banana forest is thriving alongside the children living at the center.

This banana agricultural project was planned in 2017 and planted in early 2018. In 2020 it is producing a delicious and nutritious food source for the youth center. Most of the children are on a two-week break from school in early January. Because of the break there is opportunity for the children to work in their-established gardens and crops. Busy hands are happy hands!

AICTYC gardens grow Corn, Tomatoes, Beans, and Cabbage for their own consumption. They also grow feed crops for the Cows, Goats and Chickens on site. Extra’s are not wasted but sold for income or shared with the local community churches.

The street children of Kitale, Kenya come from families or single mothers who are not only poverty stricken but the poorest of the poor. Often unable to provide for themselves, yet alone their children. Children on the streets are living without positive role models and relationships, missing their opportunity for education, and are susceptible to disease and violence. These kids often have no access to clean drinking water, healthy foods, health care, education or other social services. They often fear police and public officials knowing that they are often blamed for petty street crimes.

Among those who are rescued from the streets, the process of reintegration into society is so difficult they usually return to the streets. For others the relief from the pressures of street survival is the break that they need to become functioning adults and reunite with lost family members.

The word Tumaini means hope and trust in the Swahili language. At Tumaini Youth Center we never stop striving to provide hope for the street children of Kitale. Hope that there are opportunities for a brighter, healthier, happier future. And hope that we can achieve our mission and inspire our vision of a kinder world where every child’s needs are met.

The Invisible Street Girls

Blog August 2019

It is often wrongly assumed that homeless boys out number girls in a 9-1 ratio in the streets of Nairobi. However, a recent study that covered 12 locals in the Nairobi district, show’s that girls now constitute about 25% of the countable population of street kids. Alarmingly this percentage grows as the child’s age declines, in under the age of five bracket, close to 45% of the children are female. Boys have an easier time finding street jobs than girls. If they are thrifty, they can survive by collecting trash, loading and unloading merchandise for markets and doing other odd jobs. It is often easier to turn to drugs or organized crime, but at least they have an option. The girls have it even worse, if they do not have the protection of family members or a boyfriend, they have no choice but to turn to prostitution.

According to statistics about 63 percent of the children have been on the streets either on a part time or full-time basis for up to 5 years. Over 12 percent have been on the streets for between 6-10 years while another 13 percent cannot remember when or how they ended up on the streets.

There are many reasons that children turn to the streets. Most children report that they were either orphaned or abandoned. Many leave homes willingly in an effort to fend for themselves as their families have little or no resources to provide for them. Economically kids from poor families often suffer from lack of adequate care because their families have to spend most of their time and energy just trying to survive.

Tumaini Youth Center thanks all Donors and Sponsors for helping us build a new girl’s dormitory. This has allowed us to expand our girls program and take in up to twenty more needy female children. May God Bless your generosity.