KENAID is development/humanitarian assistance from the friendly people of Kenya, in the African spirit of solidarity & togetherness!
Kutoa ni moyo wala sio utajiri (this swahili saying loosely translates to: ‘one does not have to be rich to give/assist’)
Formal aid from the Kenyan people has mainly been visible through the nation’s contribution in the following forms:
a) Hosting of refugees
Kenya has maintained an open-door policy towards refugees. The refugees have mainly come from Somalia and Southern Sudan, but also from other Eastern and central African Countries such as the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
The UNHCR-administered Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Northern Kenya have hosted some of the most vulnerable refugees (victims of drought and conflicts) in the region with the more affluent ones finding abode in Nairobi’s Eastleigh (Somali) and Donholm or Komarock (Southern Sudanese). By early 2015, Dadaab (the largest) and Kakuma camps hosted approximately 600,000 refugees and asylum seekers.
In mid January 2015, the Swiss ambassador to Kenya Mr Jacques Pitteloud (while handing over a water project funded by the Swiss Government to Garissa Deputy Governor Abdullahi Hussein) was reported to have said that the international community had not done enough to appreciate Kenya’s role in hosting refugees. Highlighting the fact that Kenya’s security, environment and economic well-being have been disrupted by the refugees, the ambassador said Kenya took more than its share of international obligations in catering for refugees from Somalia and other parts of Africa.
Towards the end of January 2015, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta for Kenya’s hospitality towards refugees.
b) Diplomacy and Peacekeeping
Kenya has supplied diplomats and hosted IGAD-led conflict resolution deliberations for example between warring Sudanese and Southern Sudanese groups and between Somalian clans.
The results-oriented South Sudanese (Naivasha Comprehensive Peace Agreement) and Somalian (Transitional Federal Government) leadership discussions have been spearheaded and hosted in Kenya with Mr Bethuel Kiplagat and one-time Foreign Affairs Minister who later became Vice-President – Mr Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka among others building useful bridges.
At the height of the 2010/2011 post-election standoff between outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo and president-elect Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, another Kenyan leader, the then Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya – Raila Amolo Odinga dedicated significant efforts to resolve the stalemate as the AU mediator.
Kenya’s Prof Washington Jalang’o Okumu helped broker peace between Nelson Mandela and Mangosuthu Buthelezi thereby helping pave way for South Africa’s independence elections (the ANC anscended to power).
The country has also made significant contribution of military resources to AU/UN-led peace keeping missions Somalia, Sierra Leone and Liberia among other places. Kenya’s Lieutenant General Daniel Ishmael Opande served as Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) from 2000 – 2003 and as the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) from 2003 – 2005.
Still on matters of peace, the Kenyan nation is not only very proud of a daughter of the soil who received the Nobel peace prize – the late environmentalist Prof. Wangari M. Maathai – but also the American president and Nobel peace prize winner – Barack Obama – whose father was Kenyan.
c) Monetary and/or material aid in cases of natural disaster and epidemic
On May 30th, 2011, the Japanese ambassador Takata attended the handover ceremony hosted by the then president of the Republic of Kenya (Mwai Kibaki) to receive 1 million US dollars as Kenya’s donation in response to the Great East Earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
The ambassador expressed his gratitude for the generous support and solidarity of the government and the people of Kenya to the victims of the disaster and the entire Japanese people.
In January 2015, the president of Kenya (Uhuru Kenyatta) flagged off the first batch of 170 (out of the promised 319) Kenyan health volunteers to help contain the deadly Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Those volunteering medics (nurses, doctors and laboratory technicians) trained on detecting and management of the disease, formed part of the African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA). Kenya fulfilled its pledge of USD 1,000,000 (KES 90 million) financial support to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to fight Ebola.
In February 2015, Kenya donated USD 1,000,000 (KES 91 million) to Malawi flood victims through the Malawian Embassy in Nairobi. More than 200 people had been killed and 200,000 displaced by a torrential rain and flooding, which got the Malawians by surprise. Although Malawi faces annual flooding but the 2015 floods came earlier and at an intensity not seen in the recent past submerging large areas in the south of the country and sweeping away crops and livestock.
The Kenyan ministry of foreign affairs has also established a portal for Kenyans abroad to register with them so that they maybe supported in cases of distress. As at the time of writing this information, the portal was: http://diasporaportal.eurocom.co.ke/index.php
However it has not always been money or manpower, there have also been instances in which the Kenyan people have donated tonnes of farm produce such as cereals, tea and coffee to other nations when natural disasters or epidemic strike.
Informal aid
Apart from the above described forms of official aid, there has also been significant informal aid from the Kenyan people of noble spirit and their organisations both in the diaspora and homeland. As an example, Kenyans in the diaspora dedicate part of their time to community service, spending quality time with terminally ill patients or the elderly who reside in seniors’ residences with little or no contact to their family members, and supporting vulnerable people (people in distress) such as those being mistreated by their hosts in adopted countries.
A recent example in the homeland is the Kenyans-for-Kenyans campaign against hunger and malnutrition in drought-stricken parts of Kenya. Despite the country’s challenges in becoming a cohesive nation state, the harambee spirit (pulling together) remains very much alive in the hearts of Kenyans.
KENAID not only documents development assistance/humanitarian aid from the Kenyan people but also actively champions the same.
The initiative supports the re-emergence of a strong, vibrant and cohesive social life with the aim of reducing loneliness, depression and vanity in capitalist societies.
Through its work, KENAID has a powerful impact on family life, personal health, addiction prevention, youth development and reduction of depression.