By Shem Kosse
The Kenyans friends abroad under the aegis Kenya Development Friends (KDF) have embarked on a feeding programme aimed at assisting the victims of the last year’s post election unrest and the vulnerable lot in the society. The aid is emanating from USA, headquartered in Orlando.
KDF’ representative to Kenya Mr.Peter Odhengo who vied for the Kisumu town east parliamentary seat but bowed out of the race due to irregularities that marred the ODM party preliminaries exercise, said that the programme which kicked off two months ago is to run for two years.
They are packed instant nutritious food supplies containing beef, chick, juice, dates, pepper drinking chocolate and also consignments for men clothes.
Pragmatic Odhengo said that the post election upheaval is what prompted him to jet out of the country to go solicit for humanitarian aid.
The programme, he disclosed, is to assist mostly, the Luo Nyanza with respect Kisumu town east constituency and other pocket areas of Kenya.
And so far, several schools, orphanages, women groups, youth groups, HIV/AIDS centers among others have benefited, chiefly.
28 schools in Kisumu town east covering kolwa east, west and central, manyatta A&B and also kondele are some of the institutions that have received the food supplies.Udenda and papgoro in siaya district also form the long list of the beneficiaries.
Not left out are the far-flung areas such as Dagoretti, Langata and Starehe in Nairobi.
“It has been established that many pupils drop out of school due to lack of food to eat and this programme is therefore crucial to them†noted eloquent Odhengo with concern at the site of distribution food donations, thronged by thousands of victims who appeared malnourished.
“God is great we can now afford a wide smile since post election crisis rocked our nation, robbing us of our livelihoods†gloated one victim, overwhelmed by the goodies.
Odhengo also took a swipe at the government for concentrating more on the plight of Internally Displaced People (IDP’S) in Rift Valley province, ignoring other affected areas.
Meanwhile, as the top official of the Relief and Economic Care Africa (RECA), he further disclosed that they are working in tandem with US with a view of promoting investment in luo Nyanza.
RECA is going to increase food security by reclaiming Nyamthoi and Aero rice scheme through intense irrigation and also intensify sugar and cotton production. And the investors have been identified for the said projects.
By the time of going to the press, the programme was slithering to the needy areas, to the joy of the deserving case s and to the amazement of players in the Kenyan political scene who hardly walk their big talks.
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Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 07:15:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Shem Kosse
Subject: IT’S A SIGH OF RELIEF AS THE KENYA FRIENDS ABROAD LAUNCHES FEEDING PROGRAMME, BACK HOME.