CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Donating consumables such as food, clothes e.t.c was viable in the short term; however, we thought that creating a lasting and permanent solution to a family was more desirable. The IDPs encounter a myriad of problems among them lack of shelter, food, clothing, medical attention, psychological trauma among many. We decided to assist with shelter. This meant that we would commit ourselves to building a house for an IDP family in whichever part of the country (we wish that we had the resources to do more: build more houses, schools and perhaps hospital, but we believe we can change one family at a time and that our actions will open doors for other Kenyans of goodwill to stretch their hands and help as well) The next challenge was identifying this needy family. We had heard of so many “fake IDPs” and we were focused on helping a genuinely needy family.
At that time a lot of media houses were highlighting the plight of IDPs and appealing to both individuals and corporate to assist. As you will recall, the Government was encouraging them to return to their original homes after they (Government) had brokered a peace deal. Many IDPs heeded and began returning to their original farms with their tents since their homes had long been destroyed. These tents had aged over time and were leaking when it rained exposing the inhabitants to flooding, destruction of the little property left, cold temperatures and diseases. We chose to partner with CITIZEN TV mainly because it had been highlighting these cases on a regular basis and it had managed to keep touch with the people on the ground. Through their reporter Franklin Macharia, we got to know of Mr. Peter Kandara’s plight.
Click on the link below to view the whole CITIZEN TV FEATURE.
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