Categories: Diary

Watoto means "the children" in Kiswahili. Watoto Trust has been set up with the objective of helping children in Africa have a better future. We believe that even if we make a difference to one childs life, our effort is and will be well worth it.

The initial motivation for setting up WatotoTrust was to more effectively raise money for The Faith Holy Orphanage at Njoro, Kenya. Sarah, Jo and Laetitia have been fundraising for the orphanage since January 2005 and set up Watoto Trust in October. Our dream is to help other similar projects once we have enough funds for continued support of the orphanage.

The Faith Holy Orphanage evolved when the congregation of the Faith Holy Church began feeding the hungry children that came asking for food on Sundays. They soon realised that these children by and large were indeed aids orphans. Pastor Reuben gave up his house (which was also where the church worshipped) to accommodate the most needy children. 30 children are living in the orphanage and 10 others are fed by the church and cared for in the community. This became an increasingly difficult task for a poor community. Pastor Reuben asked Bruce Nightingale (a neighbouring farmer) for help in December 2004. Bruce has been very involved in helping the orphanage fulfil their needs as they arise. He is key in linking us with the orphanage and controls the finances in Kenya. Bruce and his son Oliver became Trustees of Watoto Trust in December 2005.

Thanks to some very generous donations and invaluable regular monthly donations the most basic needs of the orphans are now being met and we hope to always have enough funds for ongoing expenses such as food, clothes, basic medical needs and stationary.

We have recently bought a 5-acre plot of land on the edge of the village. This is a very exiting development and we have some large fundraising targets ahead to enable us to build proper accommodation for the children.
We are also planning on farming this land to provide a degree of self-sustainability, and vocational training.

Education is one of the key areas in which we would like to help. All the children are entitled to free Primary education, once they are able to read and write! The orphanage has set up a nursery school, although this is in desperate need of a proper building and basic equipment. The nursery aims to provide nursery education to the youngest orphans and to other young children in the community. We would like to fund secondary education for all the older orphans. We are also inundated with requests for help with secondary education for children in the wider community.

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us over the past year.