THE IMPACT YOU MADE: OUR 2021 ANNUAL REPORT

The pages of our 2021 annual report paint a picture of years of work beginning to bear fruit. Please don’t take it as trite when we say that this success is in large part because of you. It is your support that has ensured we can set community programs into motion that are sparking real change in rural Kenya. Because of that fact, we hope that you take as much pride in the progress represented on these pages as we do.

Community work is marked by sprints when the times are right, and slow walks when the communities are wounded. In this report, you’ll read about the dramatic positive impact that our enrollment and secondary schools have had on girls’ (and boys’) lives in Kenya. At the same time, the region where we work is currently experiencing significant challenges due to drought followed by unseasonal intense rains that are threatening the livelihoods of the families we work with. This, in turn affects everything – the ability for parents to pay school fees; individual families’ calculus of whether to marry off a daughter for a dowry; the fundraiser that the village of Mausa was going to hold to build a primary classroom. We feel the pain of these families because the people effected are our staff, our neighbors, and our friends. We share hope that soon life will be easier for everyone.

The renowned anthropologist and physician Dr. Paul Farmer described the best community work as a process of accompaniment that doesn’t privilege technical expertise above solidarity or compassion. “To accompany someone,” Farmer said, “is to go somewhere with him or her, to break bread together, to be present on a journey with a beginning and an end…to share your fate for a while.” All of us at For the Good honor the Maasai culture, history, and traditions by working at the different pace their lives move to and within the realities that both enrich and constrain their lives. Ultimately, taking the time to accompany them in this way is the only way to build a partnership that allows us to have a meaningful impact in Maasai communities and build trust for the future.

We're grateful for the role all of you have played in creating a future for the children and families of the Loita Hills that is filled with greater hope and opportunities. Asante (thank you), from the entire For the Good staff and Board, to all of you, for the change you've helped create.