The KCDN Team

As we end the Month of February, I want to pay glowing tribute to the Board and Strategic Team and to all Friends of KCDN who have made the ending Month such a resounding success for The Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign.

I want to really appreciate all those Friends of KCDN who were instrumental in our successes for the Month of February. Your financial contribution, advice and words of encouragement ensured that our Work Plan for the Month was implemented.

I must sincerely thank our Board for their support and faith in me and my team. We are proud to have such a dedicated team at KCDN.

It is important to give a glimpse of this team, because, many people have wrongly believed that KCDN is a One Man Show. I am the Face of KCDN because I am the Founder CEO. I live the Vision behind the drive. But with me is a very quiet but efficient Team.

Our Chairman has worked with the UN and the European Union for so long in very Senior Positions. He is currently based in Abuja Nigeria and he is a Finance and Governance Specialist.

The next Board Member is a very Senior Banker. She is currently a Regional Manager of one of the Leading International Banks in Kenya.

The next Board Member is a very Senior Public figure who has remained an engine in the Organization that she heads.

We also have an Internationally respected Lawyer who also works for the UN Systems. He has won many cases for the Marginalized Groups of People in Kenya and his passion for a Clean Kenya is manifested through his actions.

The next Board Member is an Internationally recognized NGO Guru. He has been a voice of reason even in social commentaries and you would not doubt his fight in the second liberation of Kenya. He was firmly in the front lines in the trenches. He has been detained on accounts of his beliefs and he has lived to remain faithful to One Kenya under God.

Then we have a Swiss Lady whose efforts in Kenya has seen her organization avail clean water to over 15,000 Kenyans in a part of Western Kenya. She remains a beacon of Hope to many Kenyans in Western Province and to KCDN, she has been purely inspirational.

We also have a senior Tax Consultant with us in our Board. This is one man whose philosophy has helped shape some of the thinkings we have at KCDN. He is a man of action and brooks no nonsense.

Then we have a team of smart professionals in our Strategic Team. These are men and women whose advice and thinking we have immensely benefited from at KCDN. Their advice is implemented by a very dedicated team with me in the Executive.

This Team is complimented by a very strong army of Friends of KCDN. When we were recently scandalized, this Team rose to the occasion and strengthened our reach and capacity. They made sure that we had the resources to enable us travel and meet with Kenyans in pursuit of a Clean, Green and Litter Less Kenya. You can view this Team from our Website.

This is why we never fail to implement what we have set our eyes on.

As we move into March, we have a loaded calender of events. We have firm faith that this team and more, will once again rise to the occasion and be of maximum support to us. The Clean-up Campaign is not about ego fights. It is about each one of us doing his or her bit to make Kenya Clean.

And we will continue inviting Kenyans to join with us in The Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaigns. We will be in Kisumu at Kondele and in Umoja Estate for the Month of March, and we want to invite greater participation from as many Kenyans all across the land.

We want to lastly thank all the Teams that have written to us from across the whole Country. We might not have the capacity to join in many events at the same time across Kenya, but we have faith that we can all join in Cleaning Kenyan across the whole Country at the same time.

Lastly, we want to appreciate the resolve of the Government, the Local Authorities, the Corporates, Friends of KCDN and the many Kenyans who have made the Clean-up Campaigns the success story that it is continuing to be across Kenya.

Let us roll our sleeves and help make Kenya Clean.

'Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek'- President Barack Obama of the USA.

A Clean, Green and Litter Less Kenya at 50 is possible and achievable.

Odhiambo T Oketch
CEO KCDN Kenya,
National Coordinator- The Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign
Tel; 0724 365 557
Blog; http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com
Website; www.kcdnkenya.org
Facebook; Monthly Nationwide Clean up Campaign
Facebook; Odhiambo T Oketch

Our Focus this year at KCDN

Friends,
Last year was a big success for our programmes at KCDN thanks to our Strategic Partners.
This year, we want to be big, active, relevant and we want to impact on the lives of our members and Kenyans. To this extent, we want to engage in a massive membership drive that will advance our programmes. Besides focusing on Environmental Campaigns, we will engage in a lot of Civic Education on topical issues; Human Rights as captured in the Bill of Rights, Environmental Campaigns, Anti-Corruption, Peace Building, Devolved Funds awareness, Good Governance and the Roles of the Citizens in all these.
In short, we want the people to be able to hold our leaders to account. Secondly, we want Kenyans to see our leaders through their nakedness as they speak to us. This is what will save Kenya, and we want to all enjoin in playing our roles.

In a public forum at the grassroots

We will also focus on Economic Empowerment to enable our members be economically independent. We can only do this through a structured membership. We have structured the membership forms which you will coordinate for us at your various Counties.

We are in discussions with more Strategic Partners and I want each one of you in your various Counties to recruit 2,000 members that we will be working with. We will organize County Visits to all our Partners and we will be sharing in communications all the times. We request that you become active to enable us have a nicely coordinated efforts with all that we are doing.

For the University Students, please invite me as soon as you have organized yourselves. You need to take the lead for the Kenya we want.

Our focal point will be the Monthly Clean-up Campaigns which we will host every 4th Saturday of the Month for only 2 hours. This will be a voluntary exercise and we want to invite all our members to take active leads in organizing the clean-up campaigns in your various Counties.

We have designed official letters of engagement with the Local Authorities inviting their support and participation. Just give me the address and I will send the letters to you for delivery to the Town Clerks in the various towns.

You may call me on 0724 365 557 in case you need further clarifications.Once you are ready, please call me and we will make a visit to launch our programmes with you in your County. But in the meantime, let us mobilize for success.

The bottom line; this is our country and nobody will liberate us from bad governance, impunity and corruption if we do not take the first active steps. And 2012 is not far off. We want to make some informed changes amongst our members, and this we hope will be reflected through the multiplier effect to all Kenya.

We are counting on you for the success of Kenya. Peace and blessings as we start on this serious campaign.

Lastly, for ease of communication, please join friendsofkcdn@yahoogroups.com

Odhiambo T Oketch,
CEO KCDN Nairobi,
Tel; 0724 365 557, 0735 529 126,

Email; komarockswatch@yahoo.com
http://kcdnkomarock swatch.blogspot. com
http://nairobieastb a.blogspot. com
mailto:friendsofkcdn@yahoogroups.com

...moving from talking to tasking.. ...

Board; Mr. Rashid Juma [Chair], Mr. Odhiambo T Oketch [CEO], Mr. Elijah Agevi, Mr. Gichane Muraguri, Ms Kethi D Kilonzo,Hon Lewis Nguyai, Mr. Oduor Ong’wen, Mr. Lameck Siage, Dr Grace Ongile, Ms Nelly Githaka, Mr. Sam Olendo, Mr. Felix Kibet and Ms Brigitte Frey.

Our Core Functions- KCDN

Dear Friends,

Komarocks Community Development Network- KCDN Nairobi, is a Civil Society Organization founded on the principles of giving back to the community; selfless and voluntary service.

We were founded on 31^st March 2005 but became active in January 2008 following the escalation of hostilities amongst Kenyans in the aftermath of our voting exercise in the General Elections of December 2007.

Our core activities revolve around child support; the KCDN Child Support Initiative. Through this initiative, we have been mobilizing Friends of KCDN to give to the Orphans and Vulnerable Children. This support is specific to educational material only. But we have gone out of our way to engage in food and other basic material items donations to the children and their guardians.

Kashwesha Youth Group in action

We then have two other activities that compliment the KCDN Child Support Initiative; The KCDN Peace Building Initiative and the KCDN Environmental Management Initiative.

The KCDN Peace Building Initiative brings together all the children whom we are supporting, their parents, their guardians, teachers and the community in peace building activities. We meet and share our various experiences and tribulations and seek common and friendly ways through which we can all be agents of peace in Kenya. We have organized Peace Walks/Runs across Nairobi and these are forums through which we encourage Kenyans to walk and work together as one people under God. The focal point of this Initiative is the yearly KCDN Peace Walk/Run celebrated every 2^nd Saturday of June.

The KCDN Environmental Management Initiative brings together all the children we are supporting, their teachers, parents, guardians, community and the local administration to a one day of clean up campaigns. We have since made this a monthly affair and we are keen on working closely with all persons who believe in Environmental Management across the whole of East Africa to be joining us in the monthly clean up campaigns. This is our way of appreciating the support we keep receiving from all Friends of KCDN and more specifically, Akiba Uhaki Foundation in nurturing KCDN to maturity.

Clean up Campaign in Westlands on 23^rd October 2010

As we do all these things, one thing rings in our mind; what can we do for Kenya our motherland? It then downs on us that as we engage with the various people through our active participation in community mobilization for courses that are of human value, we discuss about our rights as Kenyans, what the constitution is all about, our social issues, devolved governance, devolved funds, anti- corruption campaigns, environmental campaigns, good governance and our roles in making Kenya a cohesive society.

Anti Corruption Campaign in Nairobi on 22^nd October 2010

This is a call that needs no pay. It needs commitment. And we at KCDN are happy that we are committed to this walk in partnership with all our Friends- The Friends of KCDN- http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com

Peace and blessings to all Mankind,

Odhiambo T Oketch,
CEO KCDN Nairobi,
Tel; 0724 365 557, 0735 529 126,
http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com
http://nairobieastba.blogspot.com
mailto:friendsofkcd n@yahoogroups. com

...moving from talking to tasking as we stay with the issues. ...

The Year 2009 at KCDN

Friends,

The Year 2009 has been very eventful for us at KCDN. We had three initiatives that were completed on time, thanks to your overwhelming support.

The KCDN Child Support Initiative got encouraging support from the Friends of KCDN, Nestle Kenya Ltd, Tetra Pak [EA] Ltd, Barclays Bank Haile Sellassie Avenue Branch [Ms Irene Wasike], Phoenix Aviation Ltd, Dr Matunda Nyanchama from Canada, Mr. Leonard Amolo of Chatis, Ms Irene Ngugi from South Africa, Capital Airlines Ltd, Express Connections Ltd, Mr. Chacha Odera- Advocate, Mr. Ragem Lugonzo, Staff at Aristocrats Insurance Brokers, Ms Elisabeth Onyango Auma and Text Book Centre Ltd.

The KCDN Peace Run/Walk got encouraging support from Akiba Uhaki Foundation, SGS Kenya Ltd, Bunge La Mwananchi [Mr. George Nyongesa], Mr. Elijah Kombo, Ms Arinolah Elizabeth-Nite from Juba, Mr. Otieno Sungu from Juba, Mini Bakeries [Nairobi] Ltd, Mr. Rodgers Orero from UK, Bishop Dr Julius Mbagaya [President- Baptist Convention in Kenya], Dr Shem Ochuodho from Juba, Rachier & Amolo Advocates- [Mr. Otiende Amolo], Ms Josephine Kamanthe, Ms Truphena Awuor, Text Book Centre Ltd, Phoenix Publishers Ltd, East African Educational Publishers Ltd, Erdemann Company Ltd- now H20 Beverages Ltd, Partnership for Change and Mr. herbert Omondi.

The KCDN Environmental Initiative got generous support from Total Kenya Ltd, Eco Challenge, Safaricom Ltd, the City Council of Nairobi, Mr. Eric Jang'olo, Mr. Cosmos Omondi, Ms Teresia Kanyenya, Mr. Reginald Okumu, Mr. Juma Assiago and Cllr John Muchori- [Councillor for Komarock Ward].

In the course of the year, we had internal challenges that prompted us to seek for financial support and for their support, we are very greatful to the following people; Mr. Jairus K'Onyiego from the USA, Mr. Samuel Okello from the USA, Dr George Omburo from the USA, Mr. Samson Olendo, Ms Pamela Ohonde from Denmark, Mr. Lameck Siage from Abuja Nigeria, Ms Jeannette Khaoya from Switzerland, Mr. Ben Ondoro from Canada, Dr Paul Nyandoto from Finland, Mr. David Ochwangi from the USA, Mr. Zedekiah Nyanchama from Canada, Mr. Jorum Odus from UK, Ms Nancy Wambui from Juba,Mr. Mark Matunga, Dr Edwin Otieno, Dr PLO Lumumba, Mr. Kuria Mwangi from the USA, Ms Janet Feldman from the USA, Prof John Maina from the USA, Mr. Oduor Ong'wen, Mr. Maurice Odenyo, Mr. Chris Obwolo, Mr. Dennis Obiero, Mr. Wilson Omondi, Mr. George Onyango, and any other Friend of KCDN whose name we might have omitted.

To you all, we salute you and we look forward to working more closely with you in the New Year.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Sincerely,

Odhiambo T Oketch,
CEO KCDN Nairobi,
Tel; 0735 529 126, 0724 365 557
http://kcdnkomarock swatch.blogspot. com
http://nairobieastb a.blogspot. com