Mbazi Community Association

On saturday we took a trip to visit a new group for the first time. The group is based in a very rural area towards Takaungu called ‘Gorofani’. The name of the town means ‘place with a storey building’ on account of the fact that near the main road passing through the town there is a two-storey house; quite a rarity in this area!

The group itself is comprised of 12 local adults who founded an association to provide aid for needy children, orphans and those living with only one parent or in very impoverished circumstances. The group provides a feeding programme every Saturday with 200 children already registered in its first year of running. This week more than 150 children came to eat rice and beans. The group also has a nursery school running in the mornings from Monday to Friday to provide education for 40 of the youngest children who cannot walk the 8 kilometres to the nearest school and back every day. The group has documented more than 600 orphans, one parent children and needy children in the very local area alone who are currently not receiving regular meals or any education and could therefore benefit from its support.

The projects currently receive some support from the government in the form of flour, rice and beans to distribute, any extra costs are currently being scraped together using small weekly donations from the committee members, local volunteer staff, cooks and teachers.

Although the intentions of this project and its potential are fantastic and the resourcefulness and dedication of the association’s members is astounding; it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘living on a shoe-string’!

The kitchen for all 200 children is transformed during the week into the nursery school, and the cooking equipment consists of one very large metal pot, a large spoon made of coconut shell, wood for the fire and a box of matches. There is also a nearby freshwater well which has been built by the members and this water is used for the cooking.

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed the day. It was truly special to see such a  well managed, independent local group doing such good work with such a small amount of money. Keep your eyes peeled for more pictures of this group when we go back there tomorrow!