Watoto Spring Fair

Categories: Diary

Bring your friends to
WATOTO SPRING FAIR
Tuesday 9th March 9am-7pm
Wednesday 10th March 9am-4pm

at The Tithe Barn, Ditcham,
Petersfield, GU31 5RQ
£3 admission - (includes coffee and yummy cake and, in the evening, a glass of wine)

There will be the unusual and unique, the exquisite and exotic, stunning jewellery, vintage furniture and clothing, the latest must-have lifestyle products from London, local artists and artisans – 39 stalls of fabulous products you won’t find on the High Street!

Update October 2008 (based on a report from Bruce)

Categories: Diary

We have come a long way. The new buildings are very smart and have attracted much interest. The neighbourhood around has built up considerably. It is all for the good and helps to address in a small way the tremendous hardships many of these folk live under.

As to be expected we are now being approached by neighbours to see if we could possibly help them as well. There is a primary school, about 400m from the orphanage. The headmistress came to visit last month seeking aid. Her school had 519 children before “the clashes” at the beginning of the year but currently has 744, more girls than boys. The teachers are funded by the Government and there is no problem there. Classroom accommodation is their worry. There are three stone classrooms (very rough and ready), 18x25 feet each, which house Standards 1 – 3. Standards 4 – 8 are in 10 wooden rooms including a very small staffroom. Classes’ 1, 2 and 3 run two shifts each, ne group learning 8:30 to 11:00 and the second lot 11:30 – 3:00. When weather allows further teaching is done under the trees. The compound is bug, several acres donated by the County Council, and space outside is not a problem. When visited the children were all delightfully polite and seemed well disciplined.

Class sizes vary from 90 in Standard 4 down to 43 in standard 8 (now sitting their exams). This is the schools third year of Standard 8. The school was started in the old degazetted airstrip hanger for the children from the “slums” round Njoro. Primary education is free and although teachers are funded by the state there is no help for the buildings, stationary, food, etc. The schools are not supposed to turn children away. In practice, the better, more popular schools, have first choice of who they accept, obviously choosing those with better Nursery school reports to ensure that they get themselves good exam results and so maintain their image. The rest end up at the newest school, in this case the local primary.

The headmistress is looking funds to build more classrooms so that they could split the groups of children where there were more than 50 in a class. She said even two more rooms, would make all the difference. Other similar requests have come in from local schools for classrooms and more urgently for new toilet facilities. The secondary school’s form 3 classroom urgently needs a roof, which we have provided corrugated sheeting for and they have put in place. They certainly work on faith and the seat of their pants!

Perhaps the time has come for us to help some of the others in their surrounding neighbourhood. Our help is needed and that whatever we do it will be so much appreciated and the funds will not be wasted.
We have added 2 new dorms incorporating a library/senior study room, small store, matron’s flat and three indoor toilets for the girls. Additional funds will be used to prepare the facilities for another intake of 20 children at Christmas.

New orphanage pictures

Categories: Pictures

New Orphanage Pictures 2007 & 2008

The Faith Holy Orphanage: Christmas visit

Categories: Diary

The Faith Holy Orphanage: Christmas visit
(by Jonah Harris - age 14)

This Year I spent Christmas in Kenya, that’s a sentence you don’t hear often, and probably one you won’t hear for a while. While I was there getting into the spirit of Christmas with the seasonal jolliness and traditional excess, me and my family did something that was quite in keeping with the true sense of Christmas, on Christmas eve we rode down from Menengai farm to Kenana and met with Bruce Nightingale who discovered the faith holy orphanage and without him you probably wouldn’t be reading this. From there we travelled to Njoro and the Orphanage. As we passed through Njoro we encountered countless children all with huge smiles and all asking the same thing, “How are you?” in a sense these children have even less than the children in the orphanage, yes they may have parents but they aren’t supported by a charity and hundreds of people willing to make someone else’s life better. But these children were still so happy to see us, and as Bruce says, a smile costs nothing.

The orphanage has taken shape into a small community in its own right with their own crops trees and even flower beds. The buildings are strong and solid and their quality of life has improved a lot.

Again as soon as we got out of the car we were greeted with singing and dancing and were made to feel welcome the children were then gathered into a central room and the books were dispensed, in the space of only a few minutes they were all intently searching through the books. It was then our turn to be amazed as we were led around the premises the kitchen had stainless steel work surfaces a huge fire and chimney and new pots, pans, plates and cutlery. Our sense of amazement did not diminish as we proceeded outside to see the newly built water tanks linked to the orphanage gutter system. They now have a living space for their askari so the orphanage has 24 hour security.

All this new development comes with another set of problems, now the orphans have gone from the poorest people in the community to the people with the most, it is worried that feelings of jealousy may arise. So now it’s not just about giving the orphans the best opportunities but about raising up the whole community without conflict.

When we left we were hailed with a new bout of singing and dancing, as we drove away with waving and goodbyes. Later in our holiday we had planned to re-visit the orphanage but this was supposed to be after the disaster that was the election, the election went well it was the aftermath that cost lives and at that time Njoro had become embroiled in it too so we left Kenya with that first impression of the orphanage fixed in our heads.

One thing that strikes me now is these children, who have so little smile about, wave and talk to us as if we are old friends but here back at home we don’t, we don’t greet people in the street we don’t even smile, and sometimes I don’t think some of us, especially me, appreciate what we have and what we don’t have to go through. But a smile costs nothing.

Watoto Trust - Annual Report

Categories: Trust

Trustees' Annual Report
For the period 1st October to 30th September 2007

Watoto Trust
Registered Charity Number 1111551

Trustees
• Sarah Green Founding Trustee
• Jo Shapiro Founding Trustee
• Laetitia Pienaar Founding Trustee
• Bruce Nightingale Kenyan Trustee
• Oliver Nightingale Kenyan Trustee

The charity is a Trust with Trust Deeds as the Governing Document.

Watoto Trust is small charity set up by enthusiastic amateurs – we have strived to keep overheads low in order to apply donor funds solely to the aims of the charity. Our donors are mainly friends and family and express their pleasure at being able to know that their donations go straight to the beneficiaries’ needs as opposed to administrative costs, etc. When expenses arise, they are more often than not met from specific donations earmarked for that purpose.

All the work of the charity in the UK is carried out by the three founding trustees.. Committees of friends help to fundraise. In Kenya, direct involvement by the Kenyan Trustees ensures financial accountability and transparency and a real link with the projects.