 Sadov音qa na kwa muna niwa pawazone kwa ku-izun roti uum 웃uwehannya kwa kumasa mwutia kwa hivilstusil, mwuti niko-anjia kwa ku-izunahan, kwa na mwuti kwa uma niko-anjia kwa uma niko-anjia. Uwutia kwa kwa muna niku-anjia kwa hawa sika na ho-zini kwa uma kwa koma kwenye kwa niko-niku-anjia kwa hivilstusil. Nisha kwa niko-anjia kwa kwa implementa kwa mwutii kwa ku-izunah history, kwa mwuti kwa blikiu ni ni haibuqia. My name is Claire Vanenck, my last name is. I'm originally Dutch from the Netherlands, but I grew up in Kenya. So I do consider Kenya as my home in that sense. Ya, I live here with my small family, I have two small children and that's me. Obviously we're going through a crisis and because a lot of people are losing incomes, jobs and things like that. That's the horrible situation. But there's an effect as well that if there's less demand in the market, also local businesses will struggle. And my form of trying to promote local businesses, trying to promote local farms who have lost access to the markets because of lockdowns or curfews or just because the demand has decreased. So this is why I have tried to link the farmers directly with their market and their market being the most vulnerable people. With many unable to feed themselves and their families, the results are under nourishment and starvation due to extreme poverty. I just felt this is just a terrible situation we're in, right? It's terrible. I am comfortable in a house, but there are a lot of people out there that don't have what I have. And for me, it was just very important now in these times, but also before I just never really knew what I could do. And now I knew, OK, this is now in my power. And I have the power to make a big impact. Why not use it to my full extent? And I feel I'm not done here. I really want to push this forward. Do whatever I can in my personal power, right? And if I can use the sources I have to help from both sides, so the farmers and to help those people who really need it. And what I feel is the worst thing about the situation is one, of course, the corona and the health situation. But because of this, a lot of people are losing incomes and that has also a very big threat of malnutrition and those type of things. Farm to Feed, which was spearheaded by Clare, helps feed the vulnerable who lost their proceeds with food items that are sourced directly from farmers, struggling to keep afloat in the current crisis. Time is of the essence. We aim to deliver food every day to as many people as we can reach, says Clare. What we are doing today is we buy vegetables from the farmers and these farmers are struggling farmers, right? Or not necessarily struggling, but we're going through a crisis. So we are buying from the farms to make sure that they will continue having their business. And we are procuring vegetables from them to be able to donate to the vulnerable, to the people in need, basically. So what you see behind me now is what we have bought. This has come straight from the farm. So this has literally been harvested this morning, fresh within fresh and transported this morning to Nairobi and will be distributed to the people who need it. Well, how it started was really small. It was just, you know, what I had, I just wanted to buy it from the vegetables. So the farm, Malongo Farm, who really helped me to kick this off and I called her up, I said, do you have any farmers who can sell me for so many vegetables? And immediately she had quite a few farms and it started rolling from there and I started asking people, do you want to donate? Just a small amount, we can buy a few vegetables, we can give them around and that's how it started. And now it's quite a big organization. In that sense, now we're doing two locations, we're doing 2500 meals, vegetables for 2500 meals per day. Yeah, per day and we're doing that six days a week. So it started from something really small and now it's grown into something big and hopefully bigger. Her aim is to help farmers through these difficult times. It is crucial for the livelihoods of the farmers and their families, but also so that after the crisis, the value chain is still intact and able to produce enough food to feed the people. I believe that because some farmers lost access to the markets because of curfews and other situations and it's just harder in these times, that's why I believe that we have to try to keep these farmers going. The main reason also is if in the long term, this is not immediate, but if the long term, if farmers will keep on losing business, they will start producing less, right? That's like they will skill down because they won't have enough income to purchase inputs for their next harvest, et cetera, et cetera. And then the long run, if we lose productivity of the farmers, we all will have a problem in terms of less food will be produced and at the moment, I think it's about 63% of food comes from small holder farmers. So also just keeping that chain going was also sort of the inspiration of this. Now, of course, I'm not sure with this, I'm keeping the entire value chain going, but this is my attempt to at least help some of the farmers and keep some of the value chains intact. Raising funds basically, that is just by advertising, sending people sharing things like that, right? So just sharing the message. There's a car that goes to the farms. We have two locations now. We have one close to Mlamgo farm. Mlamgo farm is the pickup point. So all the farmers bring the vegetables to that point. Mlamgo farm is in Limuru. So all the farmers drop their produce there. Then our driver, John, goes and picks it up from that place. Then we have another supply hub, which is in Bibiluroni. That's on the way to Navasha. It's just past this garment. Then there's another car that picks up with our driver, Temubi. They pick up the vegetables and they bring it to Nairobi and they have a schedule and they drop it off at different places every day. And basically when they drop it off, as you can see then we make it into packaging and I call them distribution centers or the charities, they then go to the different places where they to the vulnerable families that need it. And that was actually to write scripts and to do more things with film. So I actually just started that at the moment. So that's where I am now. While every good deed attracts positive vibes, Clairez has not been an exception. We've been having a food drive that has been ongoing for close to three, four, five years where we target the most vulnerable in the community. So these are the elderly, the disabled, single mothers with children with disability or large families that can't sustain themselves by food, by packing food and taking to doing a door to door, delivering and just ministering to them, praying with them, encouraging them. So we are privileged as joint children's organization to be a member of Charity Connect and that's how we able to meet our wonderful lady by the name of Claire. And so we were introduced to Farm to Feed and we've been besides receiving the fresh veggies, spinach, cabbage and kale. We've also been receiving fish. We've received bananas and we pack this food properly and we take them to either the grandmothers who've got many children within them. We've actually distributed food all day from Langokubwa to Getare Marigo. We have a partnership with SND. We have a partnership with SND I think that is really a big impact on making this successful because they are providing the transportation and the logistics in that sense. So we've made a plan with the farmers and these are the 12 charities, these are the days, etc. So I think the SMV partnership has really been sort of a savior to make this really successful. Clia says every cent is channeled directly to the farmers. The main thing is sharing. So sharing what we're doing, sharing the message so that I think the more impact we can have is with more funding basically. So that's why I'm also trying to find sustainable ways of getting funding but I think the main thing is through the network and sharing the message. Because the real thing is it's such a big impact because every shilling goes to the farmer and every vegetables goes to the people. So there's nothing in between. I pay them through Mpesa basically so there's one sort of lead farmer that manages all the other farmers. So I place the order with them, I say okay this is what we need for the day or this is what we need for the week and then they organize. So it's sort of like a small in that sense they're sort of connected with us. She shares with us her strategic plans, other projects at hand and her past achievements. So growing up here you work with communities right also via schools that you attend. So in that sense yes I worked with communities not at the intensity that I'm doing now. But I feel now as the grown up that I am now I have a feeling that I can really be impact and I can choose what I do with the impact that I can have. And this is a long time ago because I moved back to Kenya a couple of years ago so I was out of Kenya for a while. But what I used to do I have worked in small epilepsy centers things like that because it's charity work. But very little to be honest very very little. So I've always wanted to do something more and this has been my chance to really have an impact. I guess all this build up of I need to do things has come out now full force and now I know where I can have that impact. I think a lot of people search I want to do something I want to do something but I don't know what. And I think this for me has been the calling to do something. Marketing is essential for a successful business project. And because Claire clearly understands this she shares with us her marketing strategies. At the moment I have more of a team behind me as well that are helping me getting a website up and running, getting sort of more formalization in that sense. We're looking at for example getting ambassadors who have more influence things like that. So to promote in that sense to maybe approach companies or things like that. So I'm really sort of using still from from what is in my power but I want to go beyond that and see if we can get more people involved who can support this in that sense. Yes, spreading the word. Claire is there for humble by the support she receives from well wishes because it has enabled her to reach out to many farmers, families and individuals. We should have more clients like Claire stepping up and just playing their part in the community and just partnering with us to reach out to the most vulnerable in the community and working with all the different partners, the local chiefs, the local elders, the different youth groups. So if we merge our resources together and utilize each other's strengths we'll be able to reach out more to the most vulnerable in the community. I think it's really the vulnerable people. So yes that's children that is elderly but that's also people who have lost their income or disabled or things like that. So what I do I work via the umbrella organization charity connect and charity connect has 12 charities under the umbrella and every charity organization under this umbrella is vetted and they all have their own networks. So that's why I actually really like it. So every day the car drops off at two places right six days a week and it's every time it's a different place. So and every charity has a different target group in that sense a different network that they supply to. I use the charities who have been vetted so I'm not involved in really choosing who gets it who doesn't get it. I trust the charities who've been here a very long time who have the network like my friend Fred here. He knows the area in the back of his hand so he knows exactly who needs it the most which new families have come there. How do I extend the next network who would really benefit today or tomorrow. So that's why I really use the charities who really understand the areas that they support. Are there any challenges that she has encountered? To be honest I think I'm just flabbergasted by how that I thought I would get more challenges and I'm flabbergasted at how everyone has been so supportive and I've been getting so much help. So I think I'm just very very very grateful of all the support I've been getting because I haven't done this alone. So that I want to have said that the challenges have been less because of really everyone saying this is important let's do this. Challenges we have seen for example is obviously finding the right places for the farmers but there are enough farmers who would want to sell their produce right. As the pandemic is still looming and its effect on the economy still on, Claire is determined to keep up the good course with the hope of going bigger and stronger. At the moment it's really my personal network and the network of people I work with so I'm getting now more and more a team which has been amazing because it's been a lot of work but with a team we can do much more. So at the moment it's been my direct network or the network around me of surrounding people. I'm really looking into ways now to expand that and to look up different ways how do I get sponsors or donorships and what is a sustainable model for this to carry on because I think COVID is here to stay, it's not going away in the next month or two. So I really wanted this to be able to last so we can get everyone who needs it until curfews start dropping and borders are opening again. What I've seen so far is everyone's been super happy. When we first go in with our first charity and they haven't received vegetables yet and then they see the amount of vegetables, some people are like wow I never expected and so fresh because you don't get these fresh that often. So that has been really amazing. But obviously the people that we really help they're in a very desperate situation so for me it's really touching that we're able to help them and obviously they're super grateful that they're able to have something in these very difficult times. She is there for urging all persons who would like to be a part of what she does to send their donations to the pay bill number below 4023885.