A weeks of Gifts Baskets and Famine Relief

A great thing about my job is handing out special gifts. These are donated by sponsors and people just like you and it’s either designated to a specific sponsor child or to a child who needs it the most. Gifts come in all shapes and forms – from goats, to cows, to houses, to kitchens, to shoes and clothing to gift baskets and much more. This last week, our office bought the supplies and complied 29 gift baskets to give away on Friday. Wow, what an amazing time! Check out the photos below and you can see for yourselves!


A gift basket is such a great gift - it is filled with essentials like rice, soap, matches, paraffin, and much more!


Here is 9 of the 29 we gave away


Some of the kids coming to pick up their gifts - they have so much personality!

Fun times with Sean and the kids on the computer.


All the kids are so happy with the gifts, they just put the basekts on their heads and away they go!


Kids all the way from Nursury to Senior 4 (Grade 11) came to the office to recieve gifts

This last week Sean and his Community Services Department partnered with the local counsellor and government to help with the famine. It’s kind of funny, because with a famine you always think of water shortage. But this situation had come about when hundreds of people’s crops were destroyed by a hailstorm leaving them with no source of food. The Community Services Department worked with the local government to assess the neediest of the needy and those selected were able to come for some food assistance. It’s only been through the generous donations of the people back home in Canada that we were able to provide this relief, and the experience is something that is hard to explain in words. Truly rewarding work. Check out the photos below to see.



The 'Tipper' (dumptruck) the center owns, loaded up with Maize flour. 39 bags at 50kg each.


One group of women waiting to be called to receive their portions


This is the list of the needy families prepared by the counsellor for the sub-county. You can see names, gender of the person picking it up, and number of children as well as a place for each person to sign (or, as was the case with about 1/3rd of the people there, a thumbprint for verification if they could not write)


One of the older women we helped


Happy to receive some assistance. Every face has a story


The early crowd which ballooned later in the day to three times the size seen. The process is time consuming


A child carrying his portion home for his family, with mom at his side