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In September, four young people from Estonia are going to Kenya to volunteer in a small non-profit organization Western Focus Community Organisation (WEFOCO). WEFOCO is an organization in Shianda village in Western Kenya and consists of young people, who want to improve the lives of their village people. WEFOCO is mainly focused on orphans and families suffering because of HIV/AIDS. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS is very high in this area of Kenya: 14% of people are infected and more people are affected. The orphans and families, where one parent has died, are often lacking funds for food, medical care and education. One of us, Janika, volunteered in Shianda one year ago for 2 months and knows the situation well, so we decided to fundraise before going to Shianda, to be able to make a change for the local families.

Wefoco seminar on microloans

We mainly ask our friends to become our contact persons, who fundraise at their work or school and then send or bring the collected money directly to us, that we could keep the bank transfer costs as low as possible. We update the donation list in the internet: the date, first name, country and amount. When we reach to Kenya, we will update the information in the webpage about how the money will be spent. We are going to write blog and add photos to the gallery. In case of any questions feel free to contact us: info@wefoco.org

We are collecting money for the following projects:

  • Food – maize flower for cooking ugali (local porridge) or other cheap basic food for the families/orphans most in need
  • Education – to support the orphans that they could continue/ start going to school
  • Medicine – medical care is not free (except medicines for HIV/AIDS) in Kenya, helping orphans with the serious health problems to get the most basic treatment.
  • Empowering local families – we buy animals (chicken, cow) and either divide them to local families, that they could use the animals to be more financially stable, or the local organisation will sell the newborn animals in the local market to use the profit to support the orphans

Azina was taken to hospital by Wefoco in June 2009 to treat osteomyelitis

Some examples of the costs in Kenya:

  • Primary school uniform – 400 shillings (3,8€)

    • School uniform is obligatory for all the students. Many families in Shianda can not send their children to the school, because they do not have money for the uniform.

  • School bag – 500 shillings (4,7€)
  • Maize flower for 3 people for one meal – 47 shillings (0,4€)
  • One week old chicken – 55 shillings (needs additional vaccination costs) (0,5€)
  • Cow – 15 000 shillings (143€)
  • Hospital bill for food and bed for one week – 2 800 shillings (26,7€)
  • Hospital treatment costs depend from the illness, for example: malaria – 350 shillings (3,3€)

Read about our program families.

Download the information file and table to record the donations here.

Asante Sana!

Janika Tamm
Alari Rajande
Elen Süvalep
Meelis Sikk