One Young Man’s Mission To Bring Real Change To His Local Folks.

S.K. Ng’ang’a, an outgoing and energetic young man, has kicked off an initiative whose aim is to help the less fortunate and at the same time provide volunteers and the community a chance to participate and be of service to the disadvantaged as well in his village constituency of Kandara.

S.K. Ng’ang’a Foundation, an independent non-profit organization, was started to generate awareness among the public about the needy in our midst as a society and to strive for a world of leaders and citizens who are truly knowledgeable and mindful about the world's poor.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday in Njoguini-Karimamwaro, in Ithiru Sub-Location of Kandara Constituency where he had joined hands with the residents to erect a house for Michael Ng’ang’a who was living dangerously in a house that was collapsing, S.K. said that he was moved by the number of people in the constituency who were living in abject poverty.

“Every time I visited my rural home, I came face to face with so many of my village mates who were living in very inhabitable conditions due to poverty. The sight of kids dropping out of school due to the inability of their parents to pay school fees also pained me a lot. I prayed to God to grant me the ability to just bring a change to my people. So, when I went back to Nairobi I talked to a few friends who agreed to come on board to help me in my initiative,” said S.K.

“For instance, when I saw Muchori’s case and the other one in Kagunduini last week, I was so touched at the sight of the kind of house they were living in. A sight that left an impact on me and I had to do something immediately.”

S.K. strongly believes that there was a need for real change and transformation instead of just mere giving of small change in terms of donations and that is the reason he decided that other than building houses to those people and buying clothing and beddings to the elderly, there was also great need to empower the people of Kandara by initiating income generating activities as well as boosting what the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was giving in terms of bursaries to needy students.

“The test of a civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members. I will continue to distribute blankets, warm clothing and food on a regular basis, in the hope that my modest efforts will give some comfort to those people we are able to help,” he said.

This, he said, could not be accomplished alone, thus the need for him to seek wider assistance through a foundation.

“We have been blaming our men for drowning themselves in alcohol without seeking for a holistic solution to the problem. Majority of these young men do not have jobs and coffee, which was the main income generating activity in the yesteryear, no longer guarantees tangible income. We intend to organize these people into groups where they will be saving and borrowing loans at only 1% interest. These SACCOs will help them start their own agribusiness ventures that will empower them out of poverty and the yoke of alcoholism,” he said.

He lamented about the current leadership, both in the constituency an in the county, where leaders only reacted to the people’s plight in instances of calamities. “It is time leaders started being proactive,” he said.

He added that his Foundation would strongly fight for equal opportunities for all and in preserving the dignity of the marginalized in the community.

“Many of our leaders assume that Kandara does not have many needy people due to the supposedly stable economy and abundance of rich people in this area. However, when one takes time to interact with them you will discover that there were actually many needy families and even homeless people locally who often fall through the cracks and go unnoticed. Mingling with these people has been an eye opening experience for me and I feel that there is a need to continue expanding our pool of volunteers in the community we live in because I that believe everyone needs to play a part to improve our community,” he said.

 

“As part of my corporate social responsibility, S.K. Foundation will always endeavour to help the less fortunate in Kandara by supporting their needs in education through secondary, college and technical-vocational scholarship programmes; health through medical missions; community development through initiating and organizing our people into starting and developing income generating activities,” he concluded.