Blessed weekend.
Saturday arrives with the smell of soap, the noise of chairs scraping, and children calling greetings across the compound. For many families, this weekly feeding programme is the meal they can count on—not because life is easy, but because neighbours and strangers have decided it should exist.
Plates go out. Someone jokes. A teenager helps a smaller child balance a tray. In the middle of Kibera’s noise, there is a pocket of order: food served with respect, seconds when we can, and gratitude that does not need a microphone.
ETCO does not do this alone. Donors who send M-PESA, partners who show up with bags of beans, volunteers who chop onions until their eyes sting—this is your blessing too. Every week it holds, a child walks home with warmth in their stomach and a little more hope in their step.
We are grateful because the programme is not guaranteed by speeches; it is guaranteed by people choosing generosity again and again. If you have ever given, you have been part of a Saturday that felt ordinary to the world and holy to a hungry child.
If you want to join us next week—whether with beans, rice, cooking oil, or a few hundred shillings on M-PESA—ask what we are short of and we will answer honestly. A blessed weekend is not magic; it is preparation meeting need.
See you on the next Saturday—same compound, same stubborn hope, same belief that a shared meal can steady a whole week.
Bring a friend if you can; the queue is long, but the welcome is longer.
Engaging Children through Feeding Program
Thanks to Chris and Jayne, ETCO had a warm feeding program for children at our new office—bringing joy, a good meal, and community together in Kibera.
Project Site Visit by Rotary Club of IPSWICH (USA) and Kikuyu (Kenya)
It was a great and engaging day of partnership and learning as we hosted the International Rotary Club of IPSWICH team, led by Environmental Lawyer Chris and his wife, Jane, Former President of Rotary Club of Kikuyu Hon. George Ngotho and Rotarian Yumbya for a visit to our project implementation sites. The visit provided an opportunity to review the project areas on the ground, discuss implementation priorities, and strengthen our shared commitment to sustainable environmental and community development. We also had the opportunity to visit the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC), where we were hosted by Commissioner Dr. Loice Kipkorir, a member of the Ngong River Committee. We explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration and align our work with the Nairobi Rivers Commission's Restoration Framework.
Community Capacity Building Training
We are currently participating in the ongoing PROVE (Public Space Governance Research, Observation, Validation and Experimentation) Pilot Programme, a four-month initiative by Public Space Networks (PSN) bringing together 11 community groups from Kamukunji and Korogocho. The programme focuses on strengthening community organizations’ capacity to manage, protect and improve public spaces as well as restoring rivers and it's ecosystems. The ongoing capacity-building training is helping CBOs and community organizations better understand the connection between public spaces, river restoration and ecosystem conservation, while exploring practical approaches and stronger collaboration among communities, government agencies, development partners and other stakeholders.