Environment

North Eastern Province is spar­sely populated with just 1.3 million people, mainly Muslims of Somali origin who move from one place to another in constant pur­suit of water and pasture for their livestock. The abnormally prolonged lack of rains usually triggers stress and livelihoods shock amongst pastoralists and agro-pastoralists due to a shortage of water and grazing.

Most recently, there has been an absence of short rains from October to November 2010, followed by a dry spell that started in December and lasted up to mid-March 2011 which was then followed by a delayed outcome of long rains in late March. The area is therefore classified as Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) with majority of the population there living way below the poverty line and suffering chronic food insecurity.

You can participate in our Environmental Projects by investing in our "trees for schools" project where sponsorship opportunities include contributing either number of trees or the labor requirements for the project.

Education

There is a failure in the education system in North Eastern Province. There are vast regional and gender disparities in the realization of the right to education in Kenya. More than 80 per cent of women and 60 per cent of men living in the North Eastern province have no education at all. The three problem areas in the education system can be summarized into three categories; lack of books, lack of classrooms and lack of any reason for going to school.

Poor performances in national examinations are synonymous with schools from the region. Of the 37 million people living in Kenya today, 15% of the population is illiterate with this percentage being higher for girls and women. According to the 1999 census, around 14% of children in Kenya over the age of five had never attended school. However, in North Eastern this number was 59%. Children in these regions face serious educational barriers, and girls have even lower enrolment rates than the average. In North Eastern Province, only 32% of total enrolment is made up of girls.

Our three-pronged approach to remedy the situation includes provision of bursaries that sponsor one child for a term or year, provision of teaching aids, or actually posting a teacher to the institution.

Health Care

According to findings of the 2008 Kenya Demographic and Health (KHDS) Survey, 35% of Kenyan children are stunted, while 14% severely stunted. Stunting is the result of prolonged failure to receive adequate nutrition and is also affected by recurrent or chronic illness. The survey further indicates that prevalence of stunting is very high. The Stunting rate per 2008 KDHS findings - Eastern Province (42%), Coast (39%), Rift Valley (36%), North Eastern Province (35%), Western province (34%).

The current health care delivery system in Kenya has considerable shortcomings for no­mads in general. The North Eastern Province of Kenya (NEP) is a specific region that poses both challenges and opportunities for quality integrated health service delivery. The challenges are particularly striking. Over 70% of the population is nomadic pastoralist; only 42% currently has access to any health services at all. Between 60-75% of all livestock—the population’s main source of income and nutrition—perished in the 2001-2005 drought. This has led to high levels of extreme poverty and malnutrition, with over 34% of children under five years old being underweight in parts of the province.

The Safara Trust steps in by running Awareness Camps as well as providing Medical Camps.

Sports for Change

To support budding athelets and sportsmen and women, the Safara Trust has embarked on the following initiatives:

Feeding Programmes