Orphaned chuldren at Heart of Mercy Havilla Family Organization in Trans Nzoia are scheduled to trek for more than 450km from Kitale to Nairobi to raise funds for the establishment of structures for their upkeep.
The Director of the organization Mildred Dindi said yesterday that they are walking to raise at least Sh5million.
She said that the funds will directly go to fund several programs under the Havilla project which have staggered due to lack of funds.
“We have high school initiative fund, girl child protection program and kids in the orphanage which we are going to fund,” she explained.
Dindi noted that the Organization has been in existence for seven years with operations in Trans Nzoia and West Pokot Counties but that an increase of beneficiaries has outstretched the organizations resources.
The Heart of Mercy Havilla Family Organization, according to Dindi has been supporting orphaned children access education in Trans Nzoia, rescuing girls from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Early Marriages, especially in West Pokot County.
She said the organization has two schools, one located at the slums of Kitale town with 320 kids and another school at the Havila Orphanage in Kitale town with 170 kids.
“We directly assist at least 81 kids at the orphanage,” she added.
She said huge costs of taking care of girls rescued from early marriages and FGM has forced them to mobilize for more funds to establish a rescue centre in West Pokot.
At the same time, Dindi said that the school at the slums in Kitale stands on a plot that is rented hence needed to purchase land for establishing the school.
She said that the kids under the organization have been trained on some technical skills as a way to raise funds but that lack of market for their products hampered their efforts in saving enough monies.
“The kids are skilled in welding, life skills coaching and bid work,” she pointed out.
Heart of Mercy is a charity organization that reaches out to abandoned, destitute and champions for the welfare of children who are left on the streets.
Dindi targets one million people in the walk, each contributing only Sh5 which she believes will help in meeting the cost of establishing the institutions to better lives of the rescued children.