A lot happens within a year - unfortunately, beautiful and positive events are often overshadowed by the omnipresent crises. So that our success in giving the children in our day care center a better life is not lost, I would like to review the past year 2022 today. One thing in advance - we are proud of ourselves as the Child Destiny Foundation, but also of all the helping hands and donors! A big thank you to you!
As a non-profit organization, the Child Destiny Foundation lives from the many dedicated volunteers who regularly donate a little of their free time to work together to give the children with disabilities in the slum "Kibera" a better life. This intrinsic motivation drives the 13 volunteers and the two chairwomen, Claudia and Manuela, to use their individual skills for a good cause. Together with these committed people from a wide variety of professional fields, we have managed to work more intensively on our website in the Austrian association. A clearly formulated vision and the mission derived from it helped us to make better decisions from a strategic perspective and to use our available time more efficiently. We have also improved our donation page on the website with more intuitive handling and developed a new newsletter design. These significant improvements enable increased user-friendliness and help us get our message out into the world. Speaking of carrying the message out into the world - our blog was also regularly updated with content in 2022. In order to offer our donors complete transparency about our campaigns and activities in the therapy center, we use this channel to provide information about the most important topics. Also new this year was our "sirup campaign" with the host Z'Weissau in Lochen am See - with the purchase of a lemon-ginger lemonade, part of the proceeds were donated to our association. Rarely has doing good been so pleasurable.
But not only on the Austrian side of the association are the people who make the CDF what it is. In the therapy and day center directly in the Kibera slum, we were able to look forward to a new therapeutic addition in 2022. We warmly welcome Felista to the Child Destiny family and wish her, as well as our new additional childminder, Dorkas, many beautiful and unforgettable moments in the CDF. Last year we looked after 50 children in the center for the first time, more than ever before. In total, the therapists and childminders look after 25 childminders and 25 children who come for therapy. It is wonderful to see that we are able to make life easier for more and more children and mothers through a place in the centre. Unfortunately, two of our children, Callistus and Dylan, also passed away last year. We share our sincere condolences with the two mothers.
But not only on the Austrian side of the association are the people who make the CDF what it is. In the therapy and day center directly in the Kibera slum, we were able to look forward to a new therapeutic addition in 2022. We warmly welcome Felista to the Child Destiny family and wish her, as well as our new additional childminder, Dorkas, many beautiful and unforgettable moments in the CDF. Last year we looked after 50 children in the center for the first time, more than ever before. In total, the therapists and childminders look after 25 childminders and 25 children who come for therapy. It is wonderful to see that we are able to make life easier for more and more children and mothers through a place in the centre. Unfortunately, two of our children, Callistus and Dylan, also passed away last year. We share our sincere condolences with the two mothers.
New children's playground in the garden Child Destiny Foundation
In 2021 our therapy and day center moved to larger premises. The additional space and the garden opened up even more possibilities for individual care for the children with disabilities. In 2022, the construction of a children's playground in the CDF garden was initiated by our local volunteer, Saskia. In this way we can give the children even more beautiful and joyful moments.
Donation campaign: what 10 € can do in Kenya
A cinema ticket, lunch without a drink in the restaurant or a train journey between Wr. Neustadt and Vienna. With 10€ we often pay nothing more than small things here in this country. In Kenya, on the other hand, the situation is different. 10€ in Kenya enables a child to be fed for a whole month. Mainly from grains like rice and ugali. 86% of Kenya's wheat requirement, which plays a key role in dietary habits, is imported from Ukraine and Russia. Due to the war situation last year and some other factors, the prices of basic things in Kenya have exploded and savings had to be made everywhere. With our donation campaign, we wanted to draw attention to the possibilities that can be opened up to a child with 10€ a month. Just one cinema visit less per month and a child in Nairobi will be able to lead a dignified and healthy life!
Jewelery sales and workshops for a good cause
As in the previous year, the distribution of self-made jewelery played an enormously important role in the CDF's generation of donations. Not only online, but also offline at various (design) markets, Manuela was able to inspire people for her "jewellery with impact".
Among other things, a market stand was made available to us free of charge at the “Neuer Wiener Markt”, the “PerlePopUp” and the “Scout Group 46”. This year Manuela was also able to conduct workshops on the subject of jewelry making for the first time for a free donation and material fee - this offer was very well received and helped us to increase the income from donations.
Visitors from Austria
In 2022, too, the children, therapists and childminders could look forward to visits and support from Austria. In March and April, the Viennese occupational therapist Saskia enriched the therapy and day center for two months with therapy units for the children. You can find the detailed travel report here hier. Im Anschluss war Elisa vor Ort in der Child Destiny und hat bei alltäglich anfallenden Tätigkeiten geholfen und Updates aus Kibera direkt nach Österreich geschickt. Auch sie hat ihre Erfahrungen, die ihr hier nachlesen könnt, niedergeschrieben.
Last but not least, the long-standing supporters of the Stadlau pathfinder group visited the therapy and day center in Kibera in mid-October. In advance, they started in Stadlau with a call for donations for children's clothing, medical protective material, toys and diapers. The result was overwhelming. 120 kg of material, packed in four large suitcases, went on the trip. They shared their local experience hier.
Blog article and education about water supply in the Kibera slum
Hardly anything is more natural for us in Austria than access to drinking water. It was all the more important for us this year to do widespread educational work on the situation in Kenya via our blog and social media. A wide variety of actors, from NGOs and the state to criminal constructs, are involved in the water supply of the Kenyan slum. Only rich Kenyans have a water pipe through which they can bring running water into the house from water tanks in the garden or on the roof of the house. The rest of the population draws their water reserves from canisters from corruption-prone water kiosks. You can find the full article hier.
The past year brought a lot of positive things, but also showed us how vulnerable Kenya is to external crisis factors. In 2023, we must all the more dock on to our energy and make many children's eyes shine.
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