Throughout sub-Saharan Africa there are thousands of orphaned and abandoned children and youth who have much to be thankful for this upcoming holiday season thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®.
They are the destitute and most vulnerable living in some of the poorest countries in the world who know how fortunate they are to have found a loving home – many for the very first time in their short lives – at the children’s homes and orphanages which receive financial assistance from Bread and Water for Africa®.
Regardless of how young they may be, these children and youth realize how fortunate they are to have food in their stomachs, a roof over their heads, a warm bed to sleep in at night, and loving women including Phyllis Keino, founder and director of the Lewa Children’s Home in Kenya, Angela Miyanda, founder and director of the Kabwata Orphanage and Transit Centre in Zambia and Margaret Makambira, founder and director of the Lerato Children’s Village in Zimbabwe caring for them.
In Eldoret, Kenya, Phyllis, our international volunteer spokesperson, expresses the gratitude she and the children and youth who call Lewa home have for the generosity the loyal supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® have shown, and continue to show to them today.
Phyllis notes that thanks to their support, “the children at Lewa and in the surrounding area who are cared for by Bread and Water for Africa® have been able to sit down to a meal of fresh vegetables and meat from our Baraka (Blessings in Kiswahili) Farm.”
In addition, reliable, steady grant support to Lewa made possible by our supporters enables Phyillis to purchase seeds, equipment and fertilizer for use on Baraka Farm “so that we may continue to raise healthy and strong children, and just as important their generous gifts provide funds to pay for schooling our children.
“Truly these orphan children have so much to be thankful for every day because of your generosity.”
Among them are twins Levi and Lily who were born on May 19, 2015. Their mother, who Phyllis described as a “psychiatric patient who lived in the streets of Eldoret” is believed to have other children “and no know knows their whereabouts.”
Phyllis explained that good Samaritan who works with a community-based organization which assists mentally ill people living on the streets had accompanied her to the hospital where she gave birth to Levi and Lily. After delivery, she was taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s mental health department and the babies were taken to the newborn unit.
“Levi and Lily were admitted to the Lewa Children’s Home on June 22 through the children’s court when they were one month, three days old,” Phyllis reported. And when they reached school-going age, the twins were enrolled in the KipKeino School where they attend primary school and “are coping well with their academics.”
“Eight years ago these two special twins were abandoned shortly after their birth,” says Phyllis. “These beautiful children would surely have perished if they had not been admitted to our Lewa Children’s Home.”
Today, however, Phyllis reports, “Levi and Lily have grown to be healthy, happy and active children.”
She also stresses how important the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® are to Levi, Lily and all the all children who call Lewa home saying “You are truly a lifesaver.”
While tracing is still underway with the hopes of locating any of their relatives who may have the means to care for them and welcome them into their family, one thing is sure, Levi and Lily remain safe and secure, fed, sheltered, educated and loved at the only place they know of as their home thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® – and that is the Lewa Children’s Home.
