GIVE - chicken rearing project

Hello former GIVE'rs,

It may seem like a lifetime ago that you walked in Kanyawegi but I assure you it is still there and still dealing with a lot of the same issues. I personally worked with GIVE for 10 years, with my now wife Jen, and all of you, before transitioning out, redirecting our time and energy to our new family.

Despite loosing the support of volunteers from Canada, GIVE has remained strong in the community nearly 20 years later. This is due to the ongoing, diligent efforts of Maurice Amoke. He is currently helping managed 3 groups in Kanyawegi: GIVE, GIVE HOPE and a regional group known as Farmers Producing Organization (FPO).

The original GIVE group continues to work on community health, agribusiness, youth saving and loans as well as girl empowerment. The new group GIVE HOPE is focused mainly on chicken rearing. Lastly FPO, which covers Kisumu county, is a marketing cooperative society for chicken.

Maurice has engaged 145 youth in the community and built a learning site within the village to teach the practical aspects of rearing chickens. This site is being used to provide a training program for youth. He has also submitted a proposal to the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP), supported by the World Bank, to support a F1 generation chicken breeding stock. The proposal has been accepted and 3 separate site visits have accredited Maurice's organizations. Land has also been purchased and secured for the project. I also have no idea what all this means other than to say Maurice has done his homework and his been talking about a chicken rearing program for basically as long as I have known him.

The last step in the funding process is securing 20% of the cost to ensure community stake holders are invested. The total funding for the project is 8,665,000 KSH (~96,000 CAD), the amount raised by the community group so far 126, 000 KSH (1,400 CAD), which leaves 1,524,000 KSH (17,000 CAD).

Maurice clearly believes in this project and that it will help a number of youth in the community. He has also grown into an amazing man, who cares for his community, with 2 decades of experience in community development. To be clear, I am sure his family will also benefit from this project. He has actually asked for nothing over the years but always keeps in touch. I believe in him and if he thinks this is going to be impactful, I want to help. Unfortunately this is too much money for us to cover alone.

I would kindly ask you to contribute to the goal of developing a healthy chicken rearing program in the community. I am sure Maurice would be more than happy to have you visit once this gets started or any time for that mater. I am sorry but I no longer have the ability to issue tax receipts. I also no longer have the capacity to oversee the funds on the ground. This donation will have to be based on collective trust. Thanks for your support and once again considering Kanyawegi.