The charity was established by Dr and Mrs Walker after visiting Kenya in 2005. Little did they know that going on a Safari, and beach holiday would be such a life changing event.

In the final week of Paul’s and Pearl’s holiday in Kanamai (which is a district of Coastal Kenya) they were approached by a boy who was working in the hotel who asked if they could buy a football for the boys in a local village.

Paul and Pearl were happy to oblige and on visiting the nearby village of Mabambani to give the football they discovered the well was not working. They paid for a pump to be installed and for the well to be fixed. By the time they were due to return to the UK the well had been fixed and the villagers had access to clean, fresh water. They had also quickly cleared a plot of land next to the well, and had already begun to sow crops for themselves.

And that was the beginning…….

On returning to the UK Paul and Pearl made a decision to help as there were no N.G.O.’s working in the area. Together with another couple, they started work to help in the area:

  • They built a block of toilets / showers in the village on a plot of land made available to them.
  • As a doctor Paul was involved with a number of medical conditions, from pulmonary tuberculosis, to parasites, known as ‘jiggers’ (who live in the ground) crippling young children, to arranging heart surgery, and even paying for a new ‘bottom’ for a baby born without an anus.
  • They helped Mwana Bakari with the nursery school she had started in Mabambani. This saw the development of the school to include classrooms, school equipment and two meals a day from the feeding programme. Before that they were meeting in a tin shed which, by European standards was not even good enough for animals.
  • They have also completed a well in another village, and supplied tanks and pipe work for connection to the mains water supply in another. Two further toilet blocks have been built.
  • They have worked with a local Association to purchase a plot of land, which with a well means they now have a small farm where they can grow crops, breed chickens and make a living.

In 2010 the Kanamai Development Trust was established to ensure that the work could continue into the future. The principal aim is to support community projects within the Kanamai ward. The population of the ward is 10,000, living in 17 villages. There are virtually no administration ‘overheads’.

The major areas of need are:

  • Clean water and sanitation
  • Education
  • Primary health care for the population of Kanamai
  • Employment

The charity’s vision is to ensure that the villages in the Kanamai District have clean water, encourage self-help, i.e. with land so that they can be self-sufficient, to aid them with employment projects, i.e. chickens, fishing, shops etc, and to provide basic, primary healthcare by building and staffing a clinic at the centre of Kanamai.

We also need to continue to support the Little Angels School, with funding for books, uniforms, food and salaries for the teachers, caretaker and janitor.

Keeping in touch

W: http://kanamaitrust.org.uk/

T: @KanamaiTrust

To donate: Kanamai Trust