Festival Month
December air in Kibera carries music from shops, extra traffic, and the quiet stress of parents doing math with too few shillings. In that month, our children’s feeding programme held its line — Saturdays like clockwork, bowls steady, the line sometimes longer than last month.
Festival lights do not pay rent. They also do not quiet a hungry stomach. So we kept the programme consistent while others were planning fireworks — because reliability is a kind of love.
Growth is good news. It is also a budget conversation. More children means more maize flour, more vegetables, more fuel — more everything except automatic funding.
We are honest about the strain. We would rather name it than pretend. Next year’s budget will need to grow if the numbers keep growing — otherwise portions shrink, and that is not the deal we want to make with children.
We are grateful to everyone who kept our programmes breathing this year: feeding, environment, learning spaces. Without that support, the wins would have been thinner — and hunger louder.
If you are ending your year with a little margin, put some of it here. A December gift to ETCO helps us enter January with the stove already warm.
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.