Due to heavy rains, the rivers Galana and Sabaki flooded many homesteads and thousands of people became homeless in eastern Kenya during April and May 2018.
Many areas of Kilifi County had been affected by floods and the victims were in urgent need of daily necessities. There was an urgent appeal for help and the Kenya Defence Forces responded with helicopters to rescue trapped families and distribute food.
The Sathya Sai Centre in Mombasa responded directly to the call for help and Sathya Sai volunteers jumped into action to assist their brothers and sisters in need. They started to collect food and essential items for distribution, including blankets, plates, spoons, mugs, maize meal, sugar, clothing, water jerry cans, salt, etc.
Two days prior to the planned service activity, all volunteers came together to repack the material into 1,300 ‘family packs’ and on the day prior to the service, five trucks (4 x 10 tonne and 1 x 7 tonne) were loaded. The truck owner donated 5,000 pieces each of bread and juice items.
On the 27th of May 2018, a team of about 200 SSIO volunteers reached out in very difficult conditions to six different camps. The roads were washed out in some areas making the drive extremely challenging. At one point, one of the trucks got stuck in a shallow river and had to wait for more than three hours before another truck came to the rescue.
Family packs were distributed to about 1,300 households, including bread and juice, which was also distributed later to roadside villages and children. The volunteers returning to Mombassa after a 17-hour day of selfless service were happy and grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to help the needy.
