By Muskan Singh & Mansi Kotak | Reporting Team
Warm and Lovely Greetings from Team RKF!
Hello and thank you for your ongoing support of our projects! In our latest report, we're excited to update you on our recent activities. As we eagerly awaited the rains to kickstart our gardening efforts, we're thrilled to share that our gardening activities are now in full swing!
This report covers much more than that. We've resumed our climate action workshops, received this year’s GlobalGiving badges, and we're gearing up for the upcoming July Bonus Day campaign. We're eager to share the latest developments from this project with you.
As a past donor, please consider supporting us again or becoming a recurring donor. Your contribution will help us expand our reach, enabling us to continue offering climate action workshops to more children and establishing additional school and community gardens in Kisumu. Together, we can make a lasting impact on our community and environment. Thank you for considering our appeal!
Gardening & Mindfulness
Several studies have highlighted the importance and benefits of gardening for young school-going children. According to the National Gardening Association (NGA) in the USA , 83% of teachers observed increased student engagement and retention of learning when garden-based activities were incorporated into the curriculum. Similarly, a study by The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) inUSA found that 70% of students involved in school gardening programs demonstrated a better understanding of environmental science concepts and ecological processes.
As a grantee of Mind & Life Institute's Contemplative Changemaking Grant in 2023, we've been able to bring to life a quote by David Sobel through our Climate Action Program: “If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it.”
Contemplative gardening allows us to give our undivided focus and attention to the earth. When we care for a plant or a tree, it isn't easy to focus on anything other than the plant or tree. We engage most of our senses in this act of care and this helps us bring our whole being to gardening. You can watch this video in which our CEO, Mansi Kotak, shares more about this project: Seeding the Future Through Contemplative Gardening
Through this project, we continue to work with students in public schools in Kisumu to introduce Climate Action through Contemplative Gardening by conducting workshops with them. We then collaborate with them to start school gardens that become permanent spaces around them where they can continue to use gardening as a contemplative practice.
Climate Action Workshops Continue…
After a long wait due to widespread flooding in many regions across Kenya, schools reopened on May 13th for the second term. Our team shared in the students' excitement upon hearing this wonderful news!
So far in 2024, we have conducted seven workshop sessions attended by 95 students from three public schools in Kisumu County. During the 2.5-hour workshops, we engaged in learning, fun activities, and more learning!
Over the years, through your support, we’ve nurtured a vibrant space filled with plants, vegetables and fruit bearing trees. More than just a source of fresh produce, this space has become a place of learning and growth. It acts as a dynamic classroom where children engage in hands-on learning about climate action, sustainability, and the wonders of the natural world. Each plant tells a story of ecological balance, the importance of biodiversity, and the urgent need to care for our planet.
At the end of the workshop, each student received a seedling to take home and nurture. They were also encouraged to apply the teachings in their daily lives.
GG Badges
For the 5th consecutive time, The Rahul Kotak Foundation (RKF) is incredibly proud to announce that we have been honoured with all 6 badges awarded by GlobalGiving. These badges represent significant recognition and validation of our ongoing commitment and impact in the communities we serve.
The badges awarded to our organisation include:
July Bonus Day is almost here…
Bigger donations, bigger impacts!
One of our biggest fundraising campaigns- July Bonus Day is coming up on Wednesday, 10th of July!
This year, GlobalGiving is making $100,000 in Matching Funds available for 15 hours on the campaign day. Your donations during those hours will get matched as followed;
Your donation + matching funds will be translated into impact to support and empower many more students with Climate Action workshops and to build green spaces in their schools.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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