Categories: Diary

To keep you all up to date with the progress on the new building:
The dormitories, ablutions block and dining room/nursery/prep room are all finished. The tables, cupboards, beds and desks, being built by local artisans, are nearly completed. I have bought some lovely flowery curtains in the local mitumba market for the girls’ dorm, and will get the other sets of curtains in the next week or two. Pastor Reuben is having a house built on site so that the children are under his close supervision 24 hours a day. His house now has a roof and the builders are currently plastering the walls and fitting the windows and doors.

Two stone rainwater tanks have now been installed with a capacity of 20,000 litres each. They are about to be connected to the guttering on the roofs. At the moment water still comes in for building in 200-litre drums by donkey cart.

A late rainfall saved the maize crop from disaster, and it is now cut and stooked, and should be dry enough to harvest in mid-November. Lots of vegetables are growing but they could do with more rain.

In last month’s newsletter, I mentioned that we were planning to buy a full set of textbooks to help the children study. This has now been done. We are looking forward to the end of year exam results next month and are hopeful that next year we will see an improvement as the children benefit from the extra textbooks.
Whilst on the subject of books, Alison and Mike Wadey are doing a collection in the UK, and so far have collected and astounding 100kg! We are hoping that they will be sent out here in December through the generosity of a family member.
Sarah Green and Laetitia Pienaar are organizing a fundraising party on the 10th November. The Green family is very much looking forward to visiting in December and seeing all the developments that without them would not have been possible.
Ivo Nightingale is coming to Kenya in a couple of weeks and is very enthusiastic about visiting the orphanage. He is keen to do some video footage whilst here so that he can return to Canada and do some presentations to raise people’s interest and hopefully funds too!
I will be selling Watoto Trust Christmas cards at a craft fair here on the farm on Saturday 11th November. They were kindly donated by Watoto Trust UK. However, we hope that next Christmas some of the artistically gifted children from the orphanage may be able to design some cards!

Following the tremendous success of the children’s visit to Lake Nakuru National Park in August, we are planning another trip in December. Hopefully, the children that were not able to make it last time will be given the opportunity to see the wonderful wildlife that is right on their doorstep.

Thanks to donations coming in from Watoto Trust and friends in the UK, from Jane Scragg and her colleagues in Australia, and via Ivo and friends in Canada, the children continue to be fed and clothed and will soon each have a whole bed to themselves, a previously undreamed of luxury!