Visit 2017

We visited Nanyuki once again at Easter and, as usual, had a marvelous time seeing the children and old friends. This visit was dominated by the local elections and also the effects of the drought that had engulfed Laikipia. But, as usual, we managed to assist some of the local children.

We visited Likii Special School and were informed of the need to implement a kitchen garden at the school which would provide food for the children. In the recent drought, growing food has been virtually impossible and buying supplies is very expensive. We provided funds for the implementation of the kitchen garden and within 24 hours the new garden was underway. This will help enormously with the provision of fresh vegetables for the children. We also purchased some food for the school as supplies were running very low.

Whilst visiting Likii Special School, we were so pleased to see the hot water project completed. Solar panels on the roof, and new tank. This project was joint funded and Stonehouse Rotary, Gloucester, donated a generous amount towards this. A plaque was erected in memory of Brian Walker from Stonehouse Rotary, Gloucestershire, who was a wonderful supporter of the charity.

 

Our next project during this visit was to provide funds for a bore hole to be erected which would provide water for many underprivileged families. The provision of water would enable the families to grow food around their small homes. During the severe drought the children have not been able to attend school as they have been walking long distances to find and collect water. Something we could not possibly imagine in this country. Apparently the Government will provide funds for more of these local bore holes but the residents have to find the funds for the first one of its kind, which, of course, they cannot as they have no funds. Thankfully, we were able to provide enough for the first one. £1200 was provided for this project. There will be photos at a later date but the process is already underway to get started. These photos show a bore hole provided at a local school which was funded by another organisation.

We spent an absolutely wonderful day with the children from Simama and they all enjoyed a great time at the William Holden’s Animal Sanctuary.

On another day we visited the Simama Transition Home and took the children lots and lots of Cadburys crème eggs. These went down very well, as you can imagine. Simama are hoping to purchase a piece of land to erect a purpose built home and training centre for the children. We have provided a donation towards this and really hope the dream of providing a wonderful home, training centre and self sustaining farm/craft centre will soon come to fruition.

Next stop was the Likii IT Centre, which is located in the heart of the Likii slums. This wonderful centre provides a library and computer room where the children go to study and learn computer skills. This was initiated by CHADIK, another wonderful organisation assisting so many children in Nanyuki, and has just been taken over by Joy House. Joy House is a local NGO which works tirelessly to provide training and support to the extremely underprivileged children and street children in the town. It was an absolute delight to see so many children and young people busy with their studies.

 

A few weeks before our visit to Nanyuki, the charity received a wonderful donation of 15 computers from a school in Peterborough, which were transported to Kenya via the Royal Highland Fusiliers. These computers were distributed to several educational organisations/schools.

Recipients of the computers were Simama Centre of Worth, Anneke Secondary School, Kisima Secondary School, Joy House and IMARA.

Since our recent visit we have sent funds to enable three very clever girls to attend secondary school. Their families could not afford the school fees so we provided funds for their first term, together with school uniforms and everything needed for school. Now they are in school, the Community Development Fund (CDF) should (hopefully) take over the funding in future. In Kenya, if students attain high marks, the CDF will fund them but the student’s family has to provide the first term’s fees, but so many of them cannot afford this and the children are denied further education.

The drought is still a huge problem in Laikipia and so many children are going without food for days. Crops are failing and food is so expensive, causing starvation for so many. We sent funds for food and Joy House purchased supplies and distributed bags of maize, flour, beans, cooking fat, etc. They distributed 200 bags of food to needy families in just one day.

Finally we would like to thank absolutely everyone who has supported us financially, especially the Raymond Trust and Stonehouse Rotary Gloucestershire, and also everyone who has donated clothes, shoes, etc. which are waiting to be shipped to Kenya. Over 30 large boxes waiting to go via our wonderful British Army or Royal Air Force.

In our last newsletter we mentioned setting up a dance school in Nanyuki and this is well under way but, as yet, we have no photos. Several local schools have been very keen to participate in this and we hope to have more information at a later date. All the donations of ballet shoes/clothes are being safely stored and we would like to thank Studio One Dance School for all the wonderful donations.

Easyfundraising has been fantastic and has provided over £1063.00 since we started. It really is free money when you shop on line through easyfundraising.org and choose Nanyuki Children’s Charitable Trust as your chosen charity. Most retailers and services make a donation when you shop via easyfundraising.

We are now are registered with Just Giving so donating is now very easy either with paypal on the website or the Just Giving link in our facebook posts.

We hope you all have a really enjoyable summer and thank you so much for all your support.

Carolyn and Bill