One Donation achieved all this and more.

May 10th. 2025

Approximately 2 months ago SSF was approached by a person who just wanted to make a difference with money she had available. Giving to a charity is one very good thing. But finding out what happens to the donation can be both difficult and frustrating. However as SSF is relatively small, it is much easier to see where every pound goes and by negotiation and careful planning, the donation can be spent on causes that are close to the donor's wishes. This is just one such example:

This is a group of around 50 young children that usually go without food of any quality for long periods most days. Each child has been given a cup of nutritious porridge by the small but amazing church group, Acts of Mercy.

Yesterday we received this detailed account from Billiah Okul - a young B.Ed. university student who has volunteered to relay AofM's actions back to us.

Greetings from Miriu friends. I am Billiah, a girl from Miriu. This morning I am asked by Leah who is our mother's leader to give you brief on Acts of mercy's Uji project. I will try to report exactly what has said. The idea of porridge has been influenced by many factors among them:

1.Nutrition

2.Poverty

3.sicknesess

4.stunted growth

5.skin diseases

Lydia and Wiki they stay with the grandmother, their mother is married somewhere but has difficulties

AofM have come up with effective centres of influence like voluntary porridge. In the arrangement children have been coached on how to get the services. They are about 50 children aged 2 to about 10 . So Leah,Helida,Milka and Goretty prepare uji porridge in a rotation .During weekends the children assemble together, It is brief but other week days they use food container for porridge just like water. The porridge is a mixture of nutritious ingredients like muringa, soya, sorghum, millet. In short AofM serve uji to prevent malnutrition.

This is Okungu. He is 5 years old & stays with the mother but the father died

Apart from the porridge the babies are shown how to groom, using soft fresh sticks to clean their teeth. Small tooth paste is provided. They are also given a de-wormer

This program has been running for about 4 months and it's of great importance because by the time it was starting, children had ringworms , roundworms and skin disease, and this was as a result of poor health. The porridge attracts many children who can easily be treated.

Alex (7 years old) - was not originally included but he discovered what was happening and joined in hope - he was not turned away.

Obado is 6 years old, stays with the grandmother

Jack is second born in a family of three ,and the mother is approx 21. He stays with the grandmother.

This is the lastborn in the family of Velma learning at Miriu Secondary school, they are needy , he is 6 years old.

Acts of Mercy select the poorest and most needy but unfortunately there are just so many fragmented families with single mothers and elderly grandmothers doing their best to feed their incredibly vulnerable children. But in answer to a more general question - yes you can make a difference and this donation has not just funded this project for over 2 months but has also allowed us to add 20 older students to our crop project - growing crops such as maize and peas with the use of fertiliser which will help their whole families come harvest time. If you are at all interested in helping please contact SSF on our Facebook page: https://www.smallstepsforward.co.uk/

A very big thanks to the dedicated women of Acts of Mercy and to Billiah for sending us this detailed account which also includes a lot more photos of individuals which hopefully will be added shortly

Moses is 5 years old, he stay with the mother who works as a gardener .

Fountain - is aged 5 years old and he is a partial orphan. The mother is supporting in preparing the porridge.