MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Fall 2025
Kathy Flatoff, Kenya
Kathy Flatoff provides a small bag of beans to a participant in the weekly nutrition program run by the Daughters of Charity in Kitale, Kenya.
As a Maryknoll lay missioner working with the Daughters of Charity in Kitale, Kenya, I remain in awe of their dedication to the poor. In addition to building houses, working with street boys, empowering women, and helping with medical care and education, they have a weekly nutrition program.
Recently, we have seen more people coming to our nutrition program asking for food: “Can you help us? We are hungry…” They are hungry, and their children are hungry. Some walk for miles, hoping we can help them.
The Kitale area, which is known as the breadbasket of Kenya, is surrounded by fields of maize (corn). Some of the maize is sold locally, and many of the big farmers send their maize to other areas of Kenya and to neighboring countries. Beans, fruits, and vegetables are all available here, some of which comes from nearby Uganda.
Hunger should not exist here, but it does. As one priest told me, “We have no shortage of food. We have a shortage of generosity.”
The Daughters of Charity live in an area surrounded by 10 impoverished villages. The poor are struggling to feed their families, send their children to school, and pay rent for their one-room mud house, which can cost 2,000 -3,000 shillings per month ($15-$23).
Most parents want to work, and they are hard workers, but jobs are scarce for the uneducated and unskilled.
Grateful for the support, Mary beams as she carries a bundle of maize home on her head—relief in knowing her children, including one with developmental disabilities, will have food for the week.
When maize is planted and starts growing, men and women can find work weeding the nearby fields. They will typically work from sunrise to sunset, pulling the weeds by hand, usually earning about 200 shillings per day (approx. $1.50). The days are long, sunny, and hot, but I never hear complaints. They are so happy to have work! Jobs are also available when the maize is harvested, by hand, usually in September and October. When there is no work from weeding or harvesting, there is less money to feed a family, even though food is available.
Food prices fluctuate depending on harvests. A few months ago, a small bag of maize could be purchased for 80 Kenya shillings (60 cents). The current price for a similar bag is 145 shillings ($1.10) as we await the next harvest. A small pail of charcoal must also be bought for their little cook stoves, as well as cooking oil.
To most of us living in developed countries, these costs may seem trivial, but for someone living in poverty, the price of food can make the difference between eating and not eating.
The weekly nutrition program offered by the Daughters of Charity, provides maize to 50 people/families. On alternate weeks, a small bag of beans is also included.
Maize is the staple food here. The kernels are usually ground into corn flour, which is used to make ugali, a thick porridge-type food. Ugali is starchy, low in fat, rich in fiber. But it lacks sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals. For the poor, it is usually affordable, and it fills the bellies of the hungry children.
Some in the program may also get milk and nutritious porridge if the food is for malnourished children, someone in the end stages of cancer, frail elderly, etc.
Because funding is limited, we cannot provide food for all the walk-ins who are not in our program, and lately there have been many. After assessment by our social worker, some are put on our waiting list, others are given a small bag of maize, one time only, and some are turned away.
Being surrounded by poverty, the Daughters of Charity are focused on helping the poorest of the poor. They know they cannot help everyone, so they do their best to determine who are the neediest.
It is truly my privilege to work with these dedicated servants of God and be part of their ministry. St. Vincent de Paul, their founder, said: “Go to the poor and you will find God.” Indeed, He is here—living among the hungry, the sick, the weary. God hears the cry of the poor…
Please consider supporting my mission work at Nyota ya Asubuhi in Kitale, Kenya. with a donation via the button below.
If you are able, I invite you to walk with me as a “COMPANION IN MISSION.” Companions in Mission are friends and generous donors who give financial gifts on a regular (usually monthly) basis. For more information, visit Become a Companion in Mission. Thank you so much for your generosity!
Kathy Flatoff serves as a Maryknoll lay missioner nurse at Nyota ya Asubuhi, a ministry of the Daughters of Charity in Kitale in western Kenya. She previously worked at St. Patrick's Dispensary, a health clinic in a poor, informal settlement in Mombasa, Kenya.
