February 05, 2007
Categories: Diary
The New Year has got off to a super start for the orphans. Three of the older girls and one boy have started as day scholars in a secondary school in Njoro.
The success of the book collection is soon to pay off, as they will hopefully arrive any day now. We plan to get bookcases made in order to store them all. Alison and Mike Wadey, who were behind the big book collection, are visiting Kenya in early February.
The children have been enjoying lots of visitors over the past couple of months. In December Sarah Green (one of the founders of Watoto Trust UK) came to visit with her family. It was particularly special for them all to see how far the orphanage has come since the early days and to spend some time with the children in their new home. The orphans thoroughly enjoyed being taught board games such as Snakes and Ladders and Junior Scrabble by the Green children, who all made great little teachers!
Chris and Claire Coull made the most of their luggage allowance and brought clothes and sports equipment from Doha. Two weeks later, Ian and Diana Coull came and brought more goodies.
The children are currently enjoying the company of Will Culliford, a gap year student who is here on the farm for a few weeks. He has spent some quality time with the children. As January is the beginning of the school year, some children were waiting for a school place and Will stepped in by doing a few lessons, playing games and chatting to the orphans. (Thankfully, each child now has a place.)
Will has funded a new pair of sturdy black school shoes for each child. He ventured to the mitumba (market) and managed to find brand new shoes for everyone. He has bought himself a trusty ‘black mamba’ bicycle to get to and from Njoro, which he will donate to the orphanage at the end of his stay. Well done Will for enduring the bumpy roads on a most uncomfortable contraption!!
Tim Westlake has spent the last few days visiting the orphanage. He and his family have been great supporters of the orphanage over the last 20 months. So too has St. Denys Church in Cardiff who have raised over two and a half thousand pounds now- a tremendous help!
Now the children are looking forward to seeing Ivo Nightingale once again, who is visiting from Canada later this week.
Wendy Briggs organized a ‘mufti’ day at Park House School in Doha and held a tea party, raising 918 US Dollars.
Ian and Diana Coull held a carol singing/lunch in France, raising 400 Euros.
Marguerite Masterson has been very busy making and selling beaded bracelets in Canada. Two of her students are also getting involved. Rebecca Gannon, a 12-year-old student is helping to make the bracelets and is very keen to join Marguerite on a visit to Kenya one day and spend some time with the orphans.
Jessica VanStaalduinen made beaded snowflake ornaments as Christmas presents and gave them to friends and family members in the name of the Faith Holy Orphanage.
Jane Scragg, Jan Brown, Lesley and David Porah and also Jane’s Tai Chi group sent a generous donation from Australia before Christmas. Well done to them, and thanks.
The result of all this financial help is the lovely buildings that have been put up, the rainwater tanks, the Pastor’s house, and all the land too. The children have now been in residence in their new surroundings for six weeks and it is hard to visualize how they had managed so well in their previous cramped and limited conditions. Thank you one and all for your help. Our next project has to be worthwhile education of these children to give them the chance to fulfil their dreams and to take their places as equal citizens of this their beautiful country.
I wanted to include this lovely photo of Bruce with the children taken last weekend. He plays a crucial role in the Faith Holy Orphanage, giving so much of his time yet rarely gets a mention.
