Nairobi street families receive food donations

Hundreds of vulnerable children in the streets of Nairobi have a reason to smile after receiving donations of food, hand sanitizers, soap and beverages from the Visa Oshwal Community.

The donations are to cushion them from the economic effects of the countrywide dusk to dawn curfew occasioned by the Covid-19 outbreak.

“This is good news because at least we will now have something to eat. This curfew has made it difficult for us to walk outside and find food from the restaurants that usually give us free food,” Alex Oduor, a street boy originally from Homa Bay county, said.

Speaking at the Visa Oshwal Community Centre during the flagging off of the caravan to distribute the foodstuff on Monday, Visa Oshwal Community vice-chair Jinit Shah urged private sector stakeholders to be mindful of less fortunate Kenyans.

He said the group have been the hardest hit by the preventive measures instituted by the government.

“Food is a basic need that each and every Kenyan should not have trouble accessing. This is why the Oshwal Community has come in to help the less fortunate cope with these hard times,” Shah said.

The task of distributing the foodstuffs will be undertaken by over 36 organisations that deal with street families and homeless persons across the county.

Joshua Kimemia, Director of Mind Your Community Organisation, noted that there is need for more sensitization among the street families regarding the preventive measures against Covid-19 even as more corporate bodies come on board to support the vulnerable children.

“At least we now have the food, which will get them through the month. KEPSA and Bidco have also undertaken to provide us with more sanitizers,” Kimemia said.

In the aftermath of the dusk to dawn curfew and the closure of various restaurants in Nairobi, concerns have been raised over the welfare of street families who depend on the streets as their sleeping grounds.

Furthermore, access to water and soap – key tools in preventing transmission of the virus – has been hard to come by for most street families who live in unhygienic conditions.