Lyla’s Vision for the women of Makuyu ,Kenya.

Meet Lyla Wang, aged 19 from Beijing China a Sophomore student in the University of China Foreign Affairs. She visited Kenya for a month starting on the 18^th of January this year. Her visit was exceptional as she was on a volunteer mission at a local nursery school in Makuyu, Kenya.

Her stay was worthwhile, interacting with people of different ethnicities, yet so kind and homely. From their kindness yet with nothing to themselves, she couldn’t ignore the struggles behind those beautiful smiles. She stated that the women there are so burdened with so many responsibilities, yet with little to no income to ease their daily struggles. From her compiled proposal, the interviews, observation, and study show how overwhelming the struggles to make ends meet are, hence forcing the women to do more, up to two or three casual jobs, which are not guaranteed.

Lya sought clarification on why the women were fully taking the initiative of fending for the family fully, and while at it, she discovered that most of their husbands were absent, and for the present ones, they had nothing going on, so practically they had nothing to offer.”The local bars are full, but homes are empty; the touch of masculinity is absent.”The sad part is that homesteads were full of toddlers, meaning procreation was high, yet with no resources to handle it. Women could be seen tying their toddlers to the back while out on jobs, running errands(fetching firewood & water, picking up other kids at the nursery school as they can’t go unsupervised), and that isbecause they can’t afford day cares and they is no one to look after their babies while fending for the family. They are busy trying to build a home while they lack the motivation and nobody to care for them, they keep giving.

On touring the locality, she realized that when the women are not working, they are on the roadside trying to hawk their produce, hoping to get, extra coins but as fate would have it they ain’t lucky either as what they are offered is mere peanuts and can hardly solve a problem in totality. They are giving less for what would cost more. The disheartening part is that they keep showing up despite how unrewarding and time-consuming it is.

The situation extended to the schools around, with fee arrears running, the school was difficult and providing proper feeding for kids that young wasn’t easy at all. On rainy days, you could find the children misdressed, not because the parents don’t care, but because they are not privileged to afford proper attire. Upon returning to China, the situation in Kenya bothered her, and she decided to compile a proposal that would help her sell her initiative by offering extensive elaboration to get the funding to launch and initiate her initiative.

Lyla wants to be an International Public Servant working with International Organizations in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, especially in underprivileged countries where underdevelopment is rampant, yet with straining economies that keep pushing people further into the trenches. Someone has to help shorten the gap and alleviate poverty.

Lyla, though young, is a landmark of humanity as her initiative seeks to lessen the poverty gap, create employment, and foster proper feeding, especially to the school-going kids who need proper feeding to enhance their growth. When her initiative gets the proper funding, she will be able to redefine the fate of many resident in Makuyu who live day at a time with hardly enough to cater for their basic needs.

She approached me early April this year from my contact details I have provided on World Pulse, seeking further details on how she could address the unemployment rates while empowering women. To answer her, I made some inquiries, and from what she already knew, investing in farming sounded like a good idea. The climate is good, and the soil is fertile, while the residents are good at it. Value addition, through the intended farming, the residents will feel their worth as the produce will not be used just locally but sold out to earn the farm an income to ensure it runs smoothly, while offering them employment and adding knowledge from the improved farming techniques.

Initially, she wanted to offer capital for the women to set up businesses, but I differed with her, considering there might be misappropriation of funds due to a lack of knowledge in implementing ideas and running businesses fully, hence she would not have achieved her long-term purpose of addressing unemployment. Also, getting funds regularly from well-wishers is not guaranteed, and those funding the initiative will want to see growth, they want accountability of funds, and failure to show any might make them withdraw, so investment in an income-generating fund could go a long way. The funds will go into paying salaries, growing the farm, and charity, which includes supporting well-performing students from humble backgrounds. Running an NGO in the current world, especially in an unstable economy, requires great investments to attract collaborators in visualizing the vision. Supporting Lyla is creating a future for a hopeless society; she wants to start with Makuyu, Kenya, but you never know where her influence will get to. Lyla saw, felt, and is now on the road to acting on it. It will be a huge blessing to see her launch the initiative.

Dear well-wishers, funding is essential to dreamers who believe that everyone deserves better, who want to uplift a stranger because of community in humanity, and to see them become the best version of themselves. Funding her initiatives means enabling the future and restoring hope in the fight towards alleviating poverty. Go, Lyla, we are right behind you. Attached is the link to her ongoing proposal. Spend your heaven in doing good upon the earth, charity enhances possibility

.https://docs.google.com/document/d/17L_4PQuzQLcLtAwmySCM-MVTi3I-Yqs6czSnd4CtAVU/edit?usp=gmail