Ten university friends from Blackburn raised £145,000 to bring food, clean water and business opportunities to some of Kenya’s poorest communities.

What began as a casual chat over dinner in February soon became a major charity drive, with the friends booking flights the next day.

The group, whose friendship goes back almost 20 years, launched the Kindness for Kenya campaign through The Connect Hub, winning support from local businesses, families and donors across Blackburn.

One of the friends, Farhan, sparked the idea and suggested they join forces to help people facing hardship overseas.

Within months, the team travelled across Kenya, delivering vital aid and helping families build more secure futures.

Their mission took them from Nairobi to Isiolo, Marsabit, Garissa and Mombasa, as well as remote villages where food, water and basic supplies remain a daily struggle.

Clean water, food and vital aid

The team distributed hundreds of food hampers, provided 25,000 litres of water to a remote community, and witnessed the opening of six donor-funded water points.

They also visited schools, maternity clinics, disability centres and an orphanage caring for 56 girls, delivering clothing, shoes, toys and other essentials.

At one school with makeshift partitions dividing classrooms, the friends donated ten desks and learning supplies.

They also supported a football team at a specialist school for deaf children.

But the campaign went beyond emergency relief, also focusing on helping people earn a living.

Women given shops to start their own businesses

In one of the campaign’s biggest projects, 20 women received container shops to start small businesses and support their families.

The handover sparked celebration, with women singing, dancing, and placing colourful scarves and tinsel around the visitors’ necks.

The shops give women a chance to earn their own income and gain greater financial independence.

The group also donated sewing machines to women and community projects, and provided 20 laptops to help young people develop computer skills.

Motorbikes were handed to people seeking work, including one man in Mombasa who broke down in tears after receiving his.

For him, the vehicle offered a way to earn money and provide for his family.

Abandoned children receive life-changing wheelchairs

Some of the most distressing scenes came during visits to centres supporting children with disabilities.

Local charity workers told the team about vulnerable children who had been abandoned, with some reportedly found on the streets or in rubbish bins.

The group provided specially adapted wheelchairs to children and adults with mobility needs, helping them move more freely and take part in daily activities.

The handovers were among the trip’s most emotional moments, with families seeing the difference the equipment could make.

£30 food parcels still leave families pleading for help

Two desperate women were left pleading for food after charity volunteers ran out of supplies during a visit to one of Kenya’s poorest communities.

The women had hoped to receive a basic food hamper costing just £30 – enough to feed their families for up to three weeks.

But there was nothing left to give.

Despite raising an incredible £145,000, the Blackburn volunteers were faced with the heartbreaking reality that there were simply too many hungry families and not enough food to go around.

For the women, £30 was not a luxury. It meant the difference between putting meals on the table and facing days of hunger.

The team could only watch as the women pleaded for help they were unable to provide.

In Mombasa, the scale of poverty was just as stark. Volunteers served hot meals to people sleeping rough, including mothers caring for very young children and women who had travelled miles in a desperate search for work.

Many were surviving on meagre earnings, struggling to afford even the most basic meals.

For the volunteers, the sight of families pleading for food was among the most distressing experiences of their mission – a stark reminder that even £145,000 could not reach everyone in need.

Sewing machines offer women prisoners a fresh start.

The campaign reached a women’s correctional facility, where the team delivered food, nappies, and milk for mothers caring for young children.

Eleven sewing machines were donated to support a skills programme to help women find work after their release.

The volunteers also planted fruit trees in gardens maintained by the women.

At a maternity clinic, friends, families and parents from Lammack Primary School in Blackburn distributed clothing collected for expectant and new mothers.

The donations were part of a wider effort to combine urgent aid with longer-term support.

Blackburn rallies behind £145,000 appeal

The campaign drew strong backing from Blackburn residents, businesses, sponsors, and volunteers, with fundraising events helping the friends reach £145,000.

The Connect Hub’s first Charity Family Fun Day, held at Bangor Street Community Centre on 26 September 2026, attracted an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 visitors and raised almost £6,000.

Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain and local councillors made a surprise appearance at the event.

Among those attending were people with family ties to Kenya, including one guest who told the organisers: “Thank you for remembering my country.”

Lammack Primary School also supported the campaign by collecting used football kits for children in Kenya.

The ten friends credited the wider Blackburn community with making the mission possible, with donations and practical support coming from residents, local firms, schools and volunteers.

Through Kindness for Kenya, the funds raised supported food and water supplies, mobility equipment, education, skills training and small business projects.

The Connect Hub’s work has included 20 women-run shops, 20 laptops for young people, 11 sewing machines for a prison skills programme and six donor-supported water points, alongside hundreds of food hampers distributed to families in need.