Food Rations & Care Packages
The Challenge
The average annual income in Kenya is less than the equivalent of $1,800 CAD, which is just over 4% of Canada’s average annual income of over $41,500 CAD.
While attention grabbing, these statistics do not accurately reflect the Kenyan situation or culture. The economic inequality is staggering, with a very small group of very high income earners, almost no middle class and the majority of the labour force living on less than $1.50 CAD equivalent per day ($545 a year), well below the Kenyan poverty line.
With a 40% unemployment rate from a labour force of 18 million in a country with a population of over 44 million, this means fewer than 11 million workers support over 33 million children and adults who cannot work.
The Response
People For Progress Foundation forges relationships with families, community leaders to learn the needs of our communities and how to best contribute to their empowerment.
While developed counties have many safety nets for people when things go wrong — food banks, medicare, welfare and unemployment insurance — these safety nets are minimal in Kenya, Tanzania, and much of Africa. When things go wrong, when an emergency happens, Kenyans are often on their own or must rely on family. Families who are also barely surviving.
The primary avenue for humanitarian aid through People For Progress Foundation is home visits and visits to orphanages, and schools in the community, where we distribute food rations and care packages to families who would otherwise have little to eat.
The food supplied includes staples such as:
- corn meal
- rice
- flour
- sugar
- beans
- lentils
And the care packages may include:
- school supplies
- hygiene items
- clothing and
- special treats such as candies and toys.
Being responsible community citizens also involves providing sponsorship of community gatherings where meals are provided; provision of emergency medical assistance to families and being there as a support to families in times of mourning.
Your supporting People For Progress Foundation empowers us to be there for people in need and, through the sharing of compassion, to respect the dignity of people otherwise existing in poverty.