Homa Bay County Food Distribution During Pandemic

Okuyo Kenedy Omondi

When schools closed in mid-March due to COVID-19, children throughout Kenya were forced to remain at home. None of us could have imagined the repercussions of COVID on our country, its people, and the entire world.

As the Kenya Works (KW) consultant in Homa Bay County, my role is to support the coordination of KW programs and the scholars, as well as the distribution of the Makini Pad initiative. The young scholars—all of whom are orphans and/or vulnerable children (OVC)—have risen up against all odds and vulnerabilities in their short lifetime, and have faced great challenges in these times.

Hunger is a real issue among these challenges for students who would normally receive their only meal for the day at school. When the pandemic closed school doors until January 2021, meals suddenly became uncertain for so many. These students truly don’t know where their next meal is going to come from. To make matters more difficult, their parents or guardians are casual laborers whose jobs were insecure even before COVID came along, and many lost their sources of income after the pandemic

Since schools closed, Kenya Works has held two food distributions, bringing nutrition and hope to our scholars and their families. They are now happy and busy with their personal studies, hoping the pandemic will end soon and they can get back to pursuing their dreams of an education. Their smiles and voices send a big thank you to Kenya Works!

May God bless Kenya Works and all its donors! Please go to https://www.kenyaworks.org/donate to support further food distributions to our scholars and their families.