Githeri Day
As a child, githeri was one of those meals that felt like home—maize and beans cooked together until the flavours married, filling enough to carry you through an afternoon of football and chores. The maize gave quick energy; the beans held you steady until evening.
On feeding days at ETCO, we sometimes swap rice and beans for githeri: simple, nutritious, and honest. There is nothing fancy about a big sufuria steaming behind a tent, but there is something sacred about it—350 children eating together, spoons scraping plates, someone asking for seconds and someone else laughing.
We watch the queue move, we check the salt, we make sure the smallest hands get served. Joy here is not abstract; it is a child’s full belly and the sound of friends arguing about who finished first. The communal sharing of meals builds a kind of belonging—proof that you are not alone in needing help, and not alone in receiving it with dignity.
On days when charcoal costs bite and tomatoes feel like a luxury, githeri still delivers: protein and energy in one pot, the kind of meal grandmothers cooked when budgets were tight and love was measured in fullness, not flair.
You can almost set your watch by it: when the sufuria lid lifts, the steam carries the same promise it carried years ago—enough for today, and strength for whatever the afternoon asks for.
Our hope is straightforward—that these children grow into adults who remember what it felt like to be fed without humiliation, and who pass that memory on in how they treat the next person in line.
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.