In Kenya, nine-year-old Joshua was too familiar with the pain of going to bed on an empty tummy. Long periods of drought caused by climate change makes it hard to grow food in his community. All they had was watery porridge, and sometimes even nothing.
“When the drought strikes, many children stay at home because they are too weak to study due to lack of food and water,” a villager explained why they were worried. “So you can see that these droughts are affecting the education performance of our children and therefore jeopardizing their future.”
But since sponsorship has opened the doors for climate-smart agricultural training for the whole community, Joshua’s parents had the chance to learn about drought-resistant crop varieties and water harvesting techniques. Moreover, with a pump from World Vision, they channelled occasional rainwater from the pond to their vegetable garden. Now their garden is full of maize, beans, vegetables and fruit trees, so they can harvest their own home-grown nutritious food.
By selling the farm produce, they have been able to buy Joshua books, a uniform and a pair of shoes to wear to school, so he no longer gets pricked by thorns on the way.
He can also focus on the important parts of being a child: playing with his friends and learning about the world around him.
“School is fun,” he says, “I have energy to play and I concentrate better in class because I eat and take enough food to school.”
Your generosity can bring an unforgettable first-time experience to children in poverty like Joshua, as well as transforming a community in the long run to fix the root causes of poverty for children.
The couple is able to take good care of their children and ensure that they enjoy good nutrition. This is as a result of the support received through World Vision’s sponsorship programme, which are empowering farmers on climate-smart agriculture tips.
Nine-year-old Joshua, who is sponsored by World Vision is glad that he and his siblings can now get sufficient food all year round.
Daniel
A sponsor for 9 years,
currently sponsoring a child who lives in Indonesia