For approximately two years now, we have been running a Mentorship Scheme that is aimed at lowering high school dropout rates from schools within low-income areas in Kenya. This project was launched in 2018 at Uhuru Kenyatta high school located at the heart of Nairobi. Trained university mentors act as role models for mentees and encourage enthusiasm for learning in the students. Read more about the project here: StudentMentorship. However, in its second year, the project came to an unexpected standstill when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the capital in March 2020.
Schools closed until further notice to contain the infection. This meant a new struggle for the mentees due to the rising cost of basic necessities such as food and sanitation products, coupled with the fact that most of their parents live off casual work income. In response, Kite-Oxford-Nairobi chose to work with their program beneficiaries and came up with an initiative that would raise funds to keep the families afloat during these trying times. Donations will support the families through a basket distribution initiative. For two months already, we have safely delivered baskets containing essential items such as hygiene products and cooking ingredients to our mentees and their families.
From left to right: Publicity and Outreach Chair Ella, Coordination Officer Sherrypat, and Nairobi Co-Director Patricia
Menstrual Health Director, Laura
In order to fund this initiative, we hope to raise £3000 over the next five months and have raised £2080 so far! Just £15 covers the cost of a basket to help feed an entire family for a month. We are relieved to announce that with the generous donations we will be able to continue providing the 35 vulnerable families we are supporting with basic supplies until at least the end of July.
The current pandemic has made it challenging for Kite to fundraise through its usual methods, so our very own Mentorship Scheme Director, Hannah, came up with a brilliant idea to: #ClimbKilimanjarofromhome! This challenge will help us fund baskets for the months of June and July. Below, we have collected the experiences of our team members in this effort.
#ClimbKilimanjarofromhome activities
On Sunday 17th May, the team took to their staircases or nearby hills to do their climbs. For many, the equivalent height of Kilimanjaro (5895m) on staircases resulted in climbing for over 10 hours, scaling staircases over 2000 times! Others opted for around seven hours of hill climbs. For the full mountain climb experience, the team carried backpacks loaded with energy drinks, bars and snacks. As they say, ‘teamwork makes the dream work’ and the team tried as well as they could to all stay in contact throughout their individual climbs - through a zoom call during lunch break and by live-streaming their climbs via instagram.
The early starts on Sunday morning, the unchanging scene of the staircase or hill, coupled with sore muscles over the next few days, were all bearable as afterwards everyone involved felt rewarded by the results. Laura Mitchell, Director of our Menstrual Health Scheme spoke of how grateful she is “to everyone for their kind and supportive messages and generous donations, that really did make the climb so much easier”. Camille Gosset, our Oxford Co-Director, spoke fondly of how the activities brought the team together towards a common goal of being impactful during this trying time. Despite being far away from Kilimanjaro, the team united through the climb and “seeing the support that we received was truly heart-warming”.
Joe, Chair of Trustees
Nairobi Co-director Patricia and Publicity and Outreach Chair Ella
The Nairobi committee decided to take the challenge to the hills where they climbed all 7 Ngong hills twice. The team consisted of Patricia, Sherrypat, Ella, and Kelvin. The whole challenge was documented in videos, pictures, and live-streams on Instagram and Facebook. Patricia, our Kite Nairobi Co-Director explained that the team had to start the day as early as 5:00 am to ensure they got to the foot of the mountain by 9:00 am. With lockdown minimising active movement, the hike was quite a challenge! Ella, our Publicity & Outreach Chair, said “We had to keep motivating each other with every peak we achieved. Post-climb we were exhausted and our bodies sore, yet happy to have been a part of this challenge”.
We appreciate each and every one of our donors for the warm hearts and generous contributions that have made our #Covid-19Response project successful so far. As we look forward to the next basket distribution, we kindly encourage further donations and ask you to share this message of hope with your network!
Daisy and Ella
(Kite-Oxford-Nairobi committee)