As with all the programs supported by Bread and Water for Africa®, our ultimate goal is to help our partners become self-sufficient by growing enough grains, vegetables, and other staple products to provide enough food for the children and families they serve and generating income from the surplus products they sell.
In Kenya, many years ago, we provided the capital funds necessary to create the Baraka (Blessing in Kiswahili) Farm to provide food for the dozens of orphaned children living at the Lewa Children’s Home (founded and overseen by our international spokesperson, Phyllis Keino) and its dairy operations which provide milk and cheese for the children as well as generate income to cover the administrative costs of operating the children’s home.
In Zambia, we provided the capital costs to establish a banana plantation, a vegetables and crop farm, and an aquaculture (tilapia fish farming) operation to provide sustenance and generate income for the Kabwata Orphanage and Transit Centre.
And now, with the help of our supporters, we are working to do the same for the Watoto Wa Africa (WWA) orphanage in Tanzania to first provide with grant funding to address immediate and urgent needs in the short term, then provide capital assistance to help them to eventually become self-sufficient so that they will one day no longer need funding assistance from Bread and Water for Africa®.
Such is that case with WWA, where our first joint project was to prevent the orphanage from being closed by government authorities due to severe deficiencies, specifically to improve the living conditions for the nearly 100 children living there including the purchase of new mattresses and bed linens, new beds and mosquito nets.
Next, we took on the building structure itself by painting the building, replacing doors and windows, adding security fencing and making significant upgrades to the kitchen.
More recently, we provided funding to purchase eight hectares (nearly 20 acres) of land, which has been plowed and planted with sorghum grain (a nutritious food rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins and minerals), sweet potatoes, greens and more.
In addition, we provided funding to construct a small, simple “watchmen’s house” as well as drilling a well in order to provide irrigation to the farmland during the long dry season.
“We want to thank the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® for their generous support because all of this is being accomplished in our primary duty to our children,” says WWA director Joseph Kirutu.
Now, he noted in a project grant proposal for improvements to the farm site, “We need to improve the production and use of the land so as to produce food to feed the children at the orphanage and bring down our monthly food budget.”
To do that, Joseph is requesting funding for “a farm manager who will run the farm professionally,” as well as to “buy strong and healthy indigenous cows, the construction of “a cow shed,” irrigation, seeds and fertilizer and plow accessories.
The objectives of the project are “to improve our farm production with the aim of producing enough food for the orphanage, and produce some extra for us to sell,” says Joseph.
Drainage and irrigation systems will ensure “our crops’ development without hindrances,” and funding for livestock feed and care will enable him to “take care of the cows properly so as to make use of them for many years.”
And according to his timetable, Joseph is optimistic that, with the generous supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, “We hope to be more than 50 percent self-reliant by October.”
