Survival Garden Seeds is always striving to give back to the communities that give so much support to us. We do our best to donate seeds to people and organizations that can use them to pass on that help. At the end of 2025, we donated seeds to a missionary that regularly travels to the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya. We recently received a report with photos about her most recent trip, and wanted to share that experience with you.
When that missionary carried our seeds into the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, she was surrounded by people who had lost nearly everything. They had lost homes, stability, and a sense of what tomorrow might hold. Supplies were distributed, essentials were handed out, and gratitude was everywhere. But what surprised everyone most was this: the greatest excitement wasn’t for food, clothing, or tools, it was for seeds. In a place defined by uncertainty, seeds represented something deeper than survival. They offered hope, self-reliance, and the promise of a future that could grow.
“Right now I’m at a refugee camp Christian Center and they have an amazing garden. They said to tell you thank you from the bottom of their heart. It’s saving their lives. They are happier about the seeds than anything else I did for them” - B. Angle
Kakuma is the Swahili word for “nowhere”, yet for many, it is a very real place that has been life-saving. The Kakuma Refugee Camp was established in 1991 to house the “Lost Boys of Sudan”, over 20,000 Sudanese boys and girls who were orphaned or displaced during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). These children walked over 1000 miles until finally reaching safety in Kenya. The camp is now one of the world’s largest refugee camps housing over 300,000 refugees from South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Uganda, and Rwanda. Although it was never intended to be a permanent settlement, Kakuma has recently been designated as a municipality by the Kenyan government with an eye toward future evolution into a city.
Combating disease and malnutrition is a constant struggle in the camp. Despite aid from multiple humanitarian organizations throughout the world, the residents of Kakuma have to find a way to make a living and survive. Those little seeds can make a big difference for the refugees. The ability to grow their own food to support their families is life-changing. Since the seeds are heirloom varieties, they will be able to save seeds from the crops they grow to continue planting for years to come. We are profoundly pleased that our small donation of seeds has taken root, offering not just sustenance, but a vital source of hope and a tangible step toward self-sufficiency for the resilient residents of Kakuma.
If you would like to contribute to aid for the children of Kakuma, you can do so through UNICEF.
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