The SOS Family Strengthening Program works with children in vulnerable families in Eldoret communities who are at risk of losing parental care. The Family Strengthening team in Eldoret carefully assesses the needs of each family and each child to identify the best way of offering support. Key elements typically include access to essential healthcare, education, counselling and psychological support. The nature of the work involves frequent visits to the families enrolled in the program.
Currently, there is only one vehicle serving all program teams in the SOS location. This makes it difficult for the social workers on the Family Strengthening Program team to visit the families.
When the car is in use, the social workers sometimes rent a vehicle. This, however, is very costly and not all rental vehicles are suitable for driving on the bad roads in the area. Transportation problems often force the social workers to cancel planned visits and activities with the families in the program. This leaves the families with a feeling of being unimportant.
Donate Now!
By donating to Xellia’s Annual Fundraising Event 2020, you can help ensure that social workers on the Family Strengthening team will be able to visit the families whenever needed – all year round. Regular monitoring of the families may ensure that programs remain relevant and social workers are able to track families’ progress.
“Visits make me feel important”
Poverty, economic and social hardship often leave caregivers feeling powerless and this, of course, cannot be changed overnight. The first step is always to make caregivers believe in the fact that with some support, they may be the drivers of their own family’s development.
Meeting face-to-face is paramount in this process as it helps social workers encourage caregivers and remind them that they are not alone.
“In an African context, we appreciate having visitors in our homes as the Kiswahili saying goes “mgeni njoo mwenyeji apone”. Life was quite difficult before I joined the program. I was not used to having people around to check up on me, which is something that makes me feel important and makes me realise that I matter to somebody,” says a caregiver enrolled in the SOS Family Strengthening Program.
Our target is to raise at least 200,000 DKK (32,000 USD)* .
Total amount raised
~30,316 USD
208,499 DKK
Add your name to the lucky draw when donating and win the opportunity to visit SOS in Kenya
A new car will improve the support for vulnerable families
THE HISTORY OF THE ANNUAL FUNDRAISING COLLECTION
In 2015, all donations went to the SOS Primary School in Eldoret, Kenya to ensure that some of the most vulnerable children in Kenya could attend school and make a better future for themselves.
In 2016, all donations went directly to scholarships for the SOS Secondary School in Eldoret, ensuring that children from a poor background have a chance to continue to go to school.
In 2017, Xellia employees helped the young generations from Eldoret, Kenya by giving them the opportunity of getting a higher education after Secondary School, which will allow them to live an autonomous life as adults.
In 2018, Xellia employees helped young women and men from vulnerable families in Eldoret by giving them the opportunity of technical and vocational training, business start-up support and life skills training sessions.
In 2019, Xellia employees helped the laboratory at SOS Medical Center Eldoret to fund purchasing of a new biochemistry machine for pathological testing, especially targeted at vulnerable families and their children. And thereby saved lives!
