About HHCK
HHCK
seeks to support the poorest of the poor in Kenyan streets, slums and rural
areas by finding a foothold in life and begin to live resourceful lives. This
is done through community participation and targets our beneficiaries. The HHCK
approach involves helping the beneficiaries out of the situation of want to a
situation where they are empowered and engaged in activities that enable them
regain control and hope in life.
Since
its inception, HHCK has made significant strides towards fulfilling its mandate.
So far, we have achieved the following;
ü
Establishment of a contact office in Nairobi, to
serve the people of the slums and the streets
ü
Established a Rescue Centre for street children in Nairobi. We
rescue, rehabilitate, reintegrate and re-socialize street children. Full support from street to sustainability, stability and financial
security
ü Sent many children to attain primary, secondary and university schools. Most of these children would have been deprived of any educational opportunities without our intervention.
ü
Started Policy Dialogue groups (Self-Help Groups) among women
in the slums and rural areas. The women do savings during their weekly meetings
ü
Job placement for young people
ü
Removed families from slums, training them and resettled them
ü
Established an education department within the organization
supporting many children through school
ü
Established a strong network of partners to help us in
delivery of service
ü Bought 7 acres of land in Transmara, Narok County, for our rehabilitation activities. We have also acquired half an acre of land in Kajiado County, near Nairobi, which is currently being developed
ü
Built a residential facility in Transmara
ü
Designed permaculture farms that provide organic vegetables
and fruits
ü
Planted thousands of trees
ü
Trained adults in farming techniques for sustainability
ü
Created workshops/empowerment
programs
ü
Medical support
What We Do
POLICY DIALOGUE (PD)
Hand to Hand
Community Kenya envisions to support groups (CBOs, SHGs, and FBOs) to engage in policy dialogue in order
to create meaningful change in the community. These groups will be spread
throughout seven counties in Kenya and will collaborate with CSOs in Uganda and
Tanzania for benchmarking and research.
Policy
Dialogue is a process that intends an open and inclusive dialogue on
development policies (Accra Agenda for Action section 13). It aims at achieving
sustainable change and development in interest of the
communities/beneficiaries. Advocacy is part of PD. However, the difference lies
where power is located. For policy advocacy, power is located in the duty
bearers; in PD power is located in the beneficiary/right holders. Thus this
program enlightens people in the grassroots to demand their rights in an
informed way. We want people to be a part of policy formulation by engaging the
authorities in non-violent ways. Our women and youth groups engage in this
exercise from time to time.
We have
PD clubs in which participants discuss issues affecting them and the society in
general. A printed manual that seeks to counter corruption among other ills
guides them. For example, it is sad to be an orphan because a careless driver
bribed the police; it is evil to lose a loved one because someone stole drugs
from a public hospital; it is wrong to convert walkways in the cities and towns
into open-air markets; it is irresponsible not to offer clean and safe water to
everyone; it is disheartening to see children out of school because they cannot
afford the basics of education; it is inhuman to let anyone die of hunger; it
is immoral to treat people differently because of
tribe/color/religion/political affiliation; it is unacceptable to engage in Gender-Based
Violence (GBV), child abuse etc. These and many topics including resource
allocation will feature in the PD sessions.
As a way
to advance and create an impact, we shall involve pro bono lawyers to dissect
the constitution for the participants in order to identify weak links in
policies that will require legislation. We shall then petition parliament to
enact laws to strengthen our institutions. The media will form a central pillar
in the project.
KAJIADO
COUNTY PROJECT
We recently received a special gift, a rare
one in Kenya by any standard. This is half an acre of land near Kitengela,
Kajiado County. This place will be used to rehabilitate street children, grow
organic vegetables for our beneficiaries as well as offer accommodation for our
staff and volunteers. We are specially excited about this land because we will
not have to continue paying rent. Another advantage is that water is available
on the property.
You will notice that Kitengela is a town
in Kajiado County and is part of the
Nairobi Metropolitan Area. It is one of the fastest growing urban areas of
Kenya and is only 30 km south of Nairobi.
TREE
PLANTING PROJECT
In response to rampart deforestation, HHCK
has a vibrant reforestation program. We create awareness among our neighbours
on the importance of tree planting and conservation of the environment. In line
with this, we raise thousands of seedlings, which we share with our neighbours,
schools and churches. We work with
partners to enhance this program. For example Kimisitu Sacco has been a
dependable source of seedlings and expertise.
REHABILITATION PROGRAM
Cases of children and young adults being exposed to
drug abuse and exploited are increasingly becoming rampant in most urban
centers/slums in Kenya. The upsurge in these cases is because the urban centers
are becoming highly populated as a result of people relocating from rural areas
in search of jobs/livelihoods. This has made the informal settlements in the
urban areas to become resource-constrained areas thus subjecting the populace
to poverty. This is also due to poor urban planning that has pushed many
families to the streets. Recently, there have been many cases of uncontrolled
consumption of illicit brews forcing the government of Kenya to crack down on
the entire outlets selling these illicit deadly liquors. The majority of consumers are unfortunately boys and young men
who have dropped out of schools and are not actively engaged in any productive
work. Girls are not left behind either.
This has
deepened the need to rescue, rehabilitate, reintegrate and re-socialize the
young adults who have been caught up in this web of drugs and substance abuse.
This is the work of HHCK. While we acknowledge the efforts of the government in
the intervention on drug abuse, it is evident that such measures are short term
and very limited in fighting drug abuse making it necessary to maintain long
term drug rehabilitation programs. This has led us to establish a residential
drug rehabilitation center in Nairobi.
Our intervention includes schooling for those willing
to go back to school, vocational training, job placement, and provision of
trade tools to enable graduates to start their own enterprises. We have
registered high success rates so far. Most of our graduate clients are working
and earning a decent living away from the streets and drugs.