Over 600 vulnerable families from Rhonda informal settlement in Nakuru West Sub County have a reason to smile following a move by Nakuru based Gilani Family in partnership with well-wishers started a project to serve free food to the neediest in the area.

The Rhonda Hot Kitchen Project under Street Children’s Assistance for Nakuru Networks-SCANN will see most needy families served a meal on daily basis.

This is the second Hot Kitchen under the program after the one established at the SCANN children’s Home in Kisulisuli estate in Nakuru East.

The project comes at a time when families majority of those who have been hit by the harsh economic times occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic are going through difficult times.

Some of the beneficiaries from Rhonda who could not hide narrated that the project is a blessing to them more so to the families that cannot afford a meal.

Ms Grace Wangari lauded the Gilani Family and partners for setting up the project in the area that has been hit by high levels of poverty.
He appealed to the government to also emulate the same and ensure many vulnerable families are reached.

“We are very grateful for the Gilani Family together with partners for this gesture of remembering most needy. We hope the government will emulate the same” she said.

In an interview, Mr Shamsher Gilani who is the Founding Trustee and Chairman of SCANN said the move aims to scale up to respond to high levels of extreme poverty in Ronda and most recently the fallout of Covid-19.

He revealed that the SCANN Hot Kitchen Project has seen over 58,000 beneficiaries since it was established in July 2020 during the harsh economic times occasioned by COVID-19.

“We recognized last month that a second wave had hit our country and that is why the Trustees decided to set up this second Kitchen in Rhonda which is a low-income area. We hope that the pandemic will be over. But the government should also come forth and ensure better livelihoods” stated Shamsher Gilani.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has lauded Bedi Investments Limited, a clothing company based in Nakuru Town West sub-County for its leading role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the COVID pandemic hit, the President said, Bedi Investments Limited retooled its productive capacity due to a fall in clothing demand from the West.

This move saw over 800 workers stare at unemployment due to falling demand for clothing items from especially the United States of America and Europe.

By July 2020, however, Bedi began producing Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and face masks. Their production capacity of PPEs shot with speed to 10,000 pieces daily.

“Instead of firing its 800 workers, Bedi hired another 300 workers to cope with the heavy demand, not just from Kenya but Uganda as well,” President Uhuru stated.

As the company was making this transition, the World Health Organization indicated that there was a monthly deficit of 89 million masks globally to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, Bedi Investments Ltd is responsible for the manufacturing of 80 per cent of all the PPEs available in Kenya and for over 70 per cent of all PPEs in Uganda.

The President also commended another PPEs and masks maker Hela Clothing Limited, a global apparel manufacturing company at Athi River in Kajiado County.

The President said the success of the two companies under mention was made possible because they were not paralyzed by the COVID crisis; instead, they seized the opportunity and created innovations.

“But, above all, their innovations preserved the much-needed jobs and even created new ones, in the case of Bedi investments,” President Uhuru noted when he led Labor Day celebrations at State House, Nairobi.