In March 2021, Grace and Mercy Foundation president Cheryl Francis visited Nairobi, Kenya. Part of her accommodation was a homestay in apartments that overlooked Kibera informal settlement commonly known as a Slum (a heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor). Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. The residents live in small, overcrowded shacks made of mud and sticks with corrugated tin roofs.

There is no indoor plumbing in Kibera and residents must share a toilet (which is a simple hole in the ground) with nearby shacks. Kibera is near the industrial area of Nairobi where up to 50% of the available workforce are employed as casuals for a daily wage (usually in fairly unskilled jobs). However, there is still an unemployment rate of 50%. In Kibera, many residents frequently go a whole day and night without food. Slum residents had the worst health and nutritional status of any group in Kenya in 2014, according to the African Population and Health Research Centre. The reasons were unemployment, lack of basic services and poor sanitation. The foregoing inspired the desire for Grace and Mercy Foundation to extend its services to the needy people ofKibera. My involvement with grace and mercy is an opportunity to serve and lessen the hopelessness and despair of members of a community that greatly needs it.

How We Serve

To alleviate the health and developmental consequences of childhood malnutrition, increase primary school enrollment, and combat social pressures that limit educational opportunities for children, GRACE AND MERCY FOUNDATION seeks to implement a school-feeding program in Kibera Slum dumped "FOOD FOR EDUCATION". The programs' main objective is to provide nutritious meals to approximately four ( 400) hundred school going children. The program aims to address hunger and encourage learners to enroll/stay in school; provide nourishment for their growth and development; help boost their immune system; enhance and improve their mental focus and concentration; and improve their nutritional status.

- Provide 400 school meals per day (breakfast and lunch)
- Provide 200 meals per day for orphanages and nursing homes
- Provide support and encouragement to primary school, orphanage, and rescue center staff