In the rural Kenyan community of Marafa, 6-year-old Beatrice Pendo stands with a radiant smile at the edge of her family’s garden. Her mother, Margaret, is busy harvesting cassava, cowpeas, green peas, and spinach.

“I like eating vegetables because they are sweet,” says the child who prefers to go by Pendo, which means “love” in Swahili. “My best meal is sima (cornbread) served with fried vegetable[s]. My mother gives me more because she says I need to grow big to help her water the vegetables.”

Pendo is thriving because of her garden and her neighbour, 14-year-old Maria, a World Vision sponsored child. Maria, who also sports a big, bright smile, cultivates her own fruits and vegetables.

Their flourishing kitchen gardens are a living testament to their hope against the spread of hunger.

In Marafa, sponsorship builds resilience against hunger. Because of our community-focused solutions, for every child you help, four more children benefit, too. With more than 3,300 children sponsored in the community through World Vision, over 13,200 children are being cared for.

Through sponsorship, Maria’s younger sisters, Eunice and Shaleen, have also been spared from the ravages of malnutrition, which remains a threat to millions of Kenyan children under 2. When not addressed early, the effects of malnutrition are damaging and can be irreversible.

“Before this garden was planted, it was difficult to get fresh vegetables because this area is dry, but now, we enjoy eating the vegetables—especially my 8-month-old sister, Shaleen,” says Maria. “From the skills of maintaining a kitchen garden, I decided to try planting bananas, and I am happy because they are doing well.”

Despite Marafa’s proximity to the Indian Ocean, the region has suffered from drought and critical water shortages.

To address this challenge, World Vision has drilled boreholes to help people in Marafa access groundwater. In 2018, we extended three main water pipelines in Kenya’s Kilifi county. We also constructed and connected 19 automated water kiosks to the pipelines that now help more than 12,800 people access clean drinking water.

Pendo’s mother, Margaret, also draws from those waters to feed her garden. “This project has helped me a lot; nothing makes me happier than the ability to provide for my children,” says Margaret. “Food was not regular [before] because I had to buy and sometimes borrow from neighbours. World Vision brought me this garden and cassava that is drought-resistant to plant. The yield is good and now my life is better because I have enough vegetables to eat.”

In neighbouring communities, sponsorship is helping cultivate a new generation of farmers.

Emma is one of 540 people who are enrolled in a Savings for Transformation group. Through the World Vision program, farmers are trained in basic financial literacy—including how to save and invest—and families increase their food security through agriculture training and support, and financial services for business development.