NAIROBI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese investors on Tuesday announced plans to expand humanitarian assistance and community outreach programs in Kenya to help fight poverty, officials said on Tuesday.
Zhao Jian, secretary-general of Kenya Overseas Chinese Association that comprises top Chinese companies and residents in Kenya, said after nearly 14 years of reacting to humanitarian needs and disasters in the country, the association has created an internal institution to aid the coordination of humanitarian work.
"We have formed this internal institution because we want to be able to respond to the issue of poverty in a different way. We want to do it more regularly. We will not wait until we have another disaster to respond to humanitarian needs," Zhao told Xinhua.
Speaking during a ceremony to distribute food items to dozens of Kenyan employees working for Chinese companies registered to operate in Kenya, Zhao said promoting cultural exchanges between Kenya and China was among its key priorities.
The internal humanitarian response mechanism would respond to community needs in order to reach a wide cross-section of the Kenyan society.
Zhao said the formation of the internal humanitarian response mechanism within the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association would coincide with the celebrations to mark 55 years of the Kenya-China diplomatic relations.
Zhao said measures to respond to poverty would focus on building nursing homes, orphanages and assistance to prisoners.
He said the poverty response initiatives would also focus on diverse issues affecting the Kenyan society, including enhancing community access to prevention of malaria.
"We would like to be involved in the distribution of clothes to communities impacted negatively with cold weather and flooding by providing them with warm clothes," Zhao told Xinhua.
He said the humanitarian response initiatives would also expand to other towns in Kenya, including areas around Lake Victoria region, including Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city, which reports regular outbreaks of malaria.
"I have talked to the board members of the association. We have to approve projects we intend to undertake. However, we intend to visit people living in malaria-prone zones to provide them with protection and prevention materials so they are able to prevent the death of young children. It would be a self-motivated initiative by the Chinese companies," Zhao said.
The association was established in 2005 to promote the exchange of information and culture between Kenyan and Chinese nationals.
Since its establishment, the association has helped to mobilize resources for humanitarian assistance and community outreach projects in Kenya.
The most notable involvement of the association was in 2011, when it mobilized 25 million shillings (about 250,000 U.S. dollars) to assist victims of drought and hunger in Kenya's Turkana region.
The funds were handed over to the Kenya Red Cross to assist in the drilling of boreholes to avail water to the community, Zhao said.
In 2015, the association also worked with other organizations to provide a donation of 64,094 dollars to the Moi University, which took most of the students whose studies were interrupted by the Garissa University terror attack on April 2, 2015.
Zhao said efforts to respond to humanitarian needs have mostly focused on assisting communities caught up in poverty.
"Kenya as a country remains peaceful but there are poverty incidences which we intend to deal with," Zhao said.
He said since 2012, the association has also been cooperating with the disability centre in Nairobi to provide them assistance.
A single purchase
