Food for the Hungry/UK
Registered Charity 328273

Nkunga Community Development - Photo Gallery

This first picture is three young children standing outside a typical kitchen, made of mud and wood.
This picture shows the farming that is done in Nkunga. The maize does not do well because of very rocky ground. This maize has been growing for four months and as you can see, it is only the height of this small child.
This third picture is of a couple and their house made out of mud, sticks and plastic. They have three children in primary school. Their biggest challenge is that their crops do not do well and there are wild animals such as baboons and elephants that destroy their crops. They have no fence, but they have an “alarm” system that they have constructed. It is simply a piece of wire and make-shift bell. They say this alerts them when the animals come in.
Here, the same man as in picture #3 stands before a pile of volcanic rocks that he has removed by hand from his garden. There were at least four other huge piles scattered around his property. This is what is making farming so difficult.
This is Nkunga Methodist church. It is one of two churches in Nkunga village and it was constructed using community contributions.
This is a picture of the village “canteen” where small items are sold. As you can see it is attached to someone’s house. The house and canteen are owned by one of the more well-up members of the community. The owner’s son is the boy in the picture.
This is a picture of Nkunga Primary school. The eight cement classrooms were constructed in the late 1980s by a donation from CARE International. There are 155 children from classes 1-8 attending the school with eight teachers teaching them. The school’s kitchen, staff room, head teacher’s office and storage are all temporary buildings, but the parents have contributed to construct a permanent office and staff room.
These are standard one students of Nkunga Primary School. The students in class one are a bit squeezed for space at their tables. Other classes were okay.
This little girl, Karen, shows her family's garden, and you can see by this photo that there is very little productive land to grow food because of such big rocks which go very deeply into the ground. Since land is such a big problem in Kenya though, the inhabitants have no option but to stay as it is very hard to buy or rent other land in more productive areas.
This is Karen in front of her kitchen, together with British worker Naomi Hall, FHI's Mt Kenya Team Leader. The bedroom (only one for a family and no proper bed) is separate but is also in a deplorable condition. There is no father around and the older children have had to drop out of secondary school due to lack of fees so are not really doing anything. Such situations lead to high levels of immorality such as selling and consuming illicit brews, drugs and commercial sex work.