June 100 Club Draw

We have had some great news that Lydia who came to Kenya with us in April has applied to a charity to try and win sponsorship to work for our charity for one year, including expenses. She has put in her application and we now wait with baited breath to see if she manages to go through to an interview. Keep an eye on this page and we will keep you posted.

There are 8 places to be won. Six of them are decided by a committee following interview and the last two then have to be voted in by members of the public, through facebook. If she is one of the two we will be calling on all of you to vote for her. Lydia has so much to offer the charity with skills that include counselling and working with those involved in rehab, amongst many other things. It would be a terrific boost if she were to be able to work for us.  Watch this space.

May 100 Club Draw

April 100 club draw

March 100 club draw

1st £15 Roger Dann

2nd £10 Frankie Chrusciel

3rd £5 Simon Deeprose

More news!!

February brought some lovely news!

Unicef invited any street boys who played football to compete to try and be picked to go to Kisumu for training. The idea is that they will try and take a number of boys who they think are good enough to be trained for professional football. Two of our boys were picked, Peter and Denilson. So Unicef took them to Kisumu to see if they were good enough to get through the next stage. Unfortunately Peter was found to be too young by 6 months. BUT Denilson got through and will now be going to Nairobi to see if he makes it through the next stage. Good Luck Denilson.

Peter is on the right and Denilson is next to him in the red hoodie.

January 100 Club Draw

£15 S Adams

£10 F Crusciel

£ 5 Tessa Garnham

January 24th 2010.

Great News......Margaret Harris has been in Kenya helping the project by working with the older boys, teaching them. She has written us a short report.

My arrival in Kenya was a pleasant one.I was relieved to be met by Thomas who duely organised my transfer to Nyakoe Safe House where I met the boys for the first time. They were quite obviously happy. Everyone,adults and youths alike are quite the most helpful,grateful and unselfish people I think I have ever met.
I am teaching 10 older boys who don't go to school,some of whom, never have, and I must say communication is a problem at times. At times I'm helping the younger children and see those who are needing special help on a fairly regular basis.
The room upstairs, on the left of the passage is being made ready for John who is coming to help in February. It has been painted but still quite a lot to do. The new wall and stairs up to the school room is well underway. I watched a few of the older boys ,early on saturday morning carrying buckets of concrete and tipping it into shuttering. Phew!! exhausted just watching.
My apartment is great.Two rooms kitted out next door to Beatrice and Elijah. The school room does get terribly hot after about 10.30 am. and in the evening , with the younger children the light is poor. wonder if the next project might be more lighting and a ceiling to stop the heat through the tin roof. I do realise that this is probably the hottest time of the year and " boy, is it hot!" The book shelves that Lesley would like errected before I leave are not to be seen but I'm reliably informed it is all in hand.
I am just into my 4th week of my 8 week stay, so hopefully another update will be written before I leave.

Love to everyone, Margaret

The boys were learning about circuits during this lesson. Reports from Andrew are that the boys have really been enjoying their lessons.

If any of you would like to go and work with our young people, get in touch with us please.

100 Club Draw December 2009

This was drawn early by the Scouts at Heathfield as it is Christmas and a special draw

£100 Daniel Clarke (jammy!!!!)

£50 Mick Wilding

£25 Gregory Dann

NOW is the time to rebook your numbers for next year's draw which starts in February. For those that have not had a number this year, don't miss out for 2010.....it could be your year.

100 Club Draw November 2009

£15 Daniel Clarke

£10 Abby Lafferty

£5 Natalie Collings

The December draw will take place a few days earlier so that the winners can enjoy their rewards over Christmas. So watch this space.

You now need to book your numbers for next years 100 club which starts in February. So DO NO DELAY. Book the number you want NOW. It;s only £12 for the whole year.

100 Club Draw October 2009

£15 Mary Wilding

£10 Julie Urry

£5 Babs Dann

100 Club Draw September 2009

£15 Helen Roundwell

£10 Jackie Parker

£5 Roger Gadson

The Kenyans have been busy this month trying to get the new building finished for Elijah and his family. Attached to the building there will also be a two roomed apartment which is for visitors who wish to stay there, especially those that wish to work on the project. In fact only last week we had a lady enquire about staying out there for a month or two to teach the children. If it happens it will be wonderful for the boys to have direct input like this. So if any of you would like to experience lige on the project, plese contact us and we will see what we can arrange.

100 Club Draw August 2009

£15 Steve Curry

£10 Kevin Brown

£5 Ben vince

It has been an exciting July. Lewisham Manor District Scouts visited the project and did some fantastic work fencing the land and making a chicken project. And the chickens started laying immediately. The lads are doing really well at the project. Osoro has passed his driving test for motorbikes which means that as soon as his licence arrives he can start work as a motor bike taxi driver. We have been fortunate enough that we have received a donation so that we can buy a motorbike which we will be able to hire out to him. Better that we do it than he hires it from someone else.

100 Club Draw July 2009

£15 Frankie Crusciel

£10 Lawrie Smith

£5 Laurie Millard

100 Club Draw June 2009

£15 J. Turner

£10 Steve Adams

£5 Kevin Brown

**********************************

100 Club Draw May 2009

£15 Greg Dann

£10 Ben Vince

£5 Lesley Dann

May 24th

We had some news this week that we now have an extra 5 boys staying in the safe house. Not ideal as it is over subscribed, but we could not refuse them

Malak is about 7yrs old and came to us in October 2008, when we were building the safe house. His parents had died and an uncle who was looking after him moved away (without him). A local lady took him in for a while. We were going to find a foster family for him but the lady said that she would continue to look after him. Something went wrong and last week he turned up, emaciated. He is now safely in the house and being cared for, while our Kenyan friends try and sort out what has happened. We will try and find a suitable foster family for him.

Duke, 11/12yrs old, was in the rented house we had but he ran back to his village and apparently stayed with an uncle. He returned last week asking if he could stay because his uncle has now chased him away. We are looking into the situation but at least he is safe at the moment.

We have also been asked by a local chief to take in three young boys who were on the streets. I think they may be the same boys we heard about while in Kenya in April. We do not know their circumstances but I believe one may be as young as 4yrs old. If it is the same boys I know that one was quite ill and was being given treatment, but we have not received news as to what his ailment was. With kids so young and destitute we could not deny them access.

This does cause us a problem though. The cost of food has rocketed due to the drought that Kenya has been suffering and this of course impacts on everyone. We desperately need more sponsors to help us in our work. It now costs about £12 per month to feed the children. One hopes it may come down again once the food shortage reverses. But even if you can only spare a couple of pounds per month we would be extremely grateful. Please contact us if you would like to help. And don't forget that if you are a taxpayer in the UK, and sign up to gift aid, the government will give us back 28p in every £1 you donate, from the tax you pay them. It's not often we get something from the taxman......why not make his day.

Malak in October 2008

100 Club Draw April 2009

£15 Helen Rouncivell

£10 Steve Adams

£5 Chris Walker

April 20th.

We have just got back from a wonderful trip....wish you had been there too! We were able to move the boys into the main part of the house and set their beds up in their bedrooms. They were so excited. They had new bedding and all happily made their beds. We looked at them every day we were there and noticed how neat and tidy they were keeping them.

We spent quite a time with the boys getting all their profiles so we can give the sponsors an idea of how they came to e on the street. Some of their stories were quite sad, but the lads are showing really good signs of settling down. We also discussed with the older ones what they would like to train in for work. It was very encouraging to hear the expectations they have and the fact that they want to find work.

Thanks to one donor, we were aloso able to go out and buy all the boys new shoes for school, a pair of trainers for playig in and slippers (flip flops) for indoors. It was amazing! The older boys had to stand round us to prevent the crowds of people from pushing us over. Aparently they could not understand why the Muzungus (white people) were buying street boys shoes. It was a little daunting at times but our boys were not going to let anything happen us. Look out for the newsletter due out at any time now. If you are not receiving one please email us and we will put you on the list.

March 22nd

We have just had some new photos sent to us by Thomas. He tells us that the whole of the living accommodation has now been screeded. They had to wait a while as they had to spray something on the floor to ensure that any jiggers that were in the concrete had been eradicated. Jiggers are like flees but they get under the skin and eat it...very painful too! They have also got all the glass in the windows and the front door hung. So we will have loads of painting to do when we get there. The boys have been busy digging the land ready to plant maize and carrots. Look in the gallery.

100 Club Result March 2009

£15.00 Bethany Austin

£10.00 Steve Johnson

£5.00 David Mayne

19th March 2009

We had some great news today that the screeding had been finished in the living area of the house and the glass will be going in the windows at the weekend. The kids are all fine and have now got their new school uniforms so are attending school.

It is now just over two weeks away for the team who are going out to move the project forward a little bit more. We cannot wait to get out there and get on with things, but even more so we cannot wait to see the kids again.

100 Club Result February 2009

£15.00 Evelyn Watson

£10.00 Steve Adams

£5.00 Greg Dann

It's not too late to get a number....contact Jackie Parker as soon as possible 01825 830645

14th January 2009

Thanks to two donors we were able to give the boys a special Christmas. They were able to have chicken and vegetables. This included Potatoes which are not particularly cheap. They also had cake and sodas like Coke and Fanta. As you can see not only were they grateful but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

We have been told that there have been three more boys brought into the house as they were young and vulnerable on the streets. This brings the number to 35 in the house. But three others have now been fostered and are doin well. The cost of food has increased partly because of the rise of the cost of living in Kenya but due to the pound falling. This makes things very difficult so if you know anyone who would like to support us with a regular standing order we would be eternally grateful for the lads who would say a great big THANK YOU.

13th November 2008

Well the trip was amazing and we are all still reeling since returning. I was a hard three weeks but the results were worth it. You can see new pictures in the gallery showing you how quickly the building took to build. There were some testing times too because we had a sickness bug go through most of the contingent. It was tough but we made it.

In 16 days the building went from a shell to a building...amazing. The toilets were also built as was a kitchen area and the ground was fenced in too; and we must not forget the well. That was dug by one man and went down to 63ft. Then while we were there he went back down to dig a bit further.

We also had triple bunks made (9 of them made in 3 days) So all the lads now have a bed to sleep on...probably a "first" for many of them. We have 31 children in the safe house at the moment and five being fostered. While we were in Kenya we found another 6 kids to stay in the safehouse.

For those who are waiting for a newsletter, I am sorry it is late but we were in Kenya at the time it was due to be done and I am now trying to play catchup. SO I am going to do the December one early and the October news will be in it.

18th September 2008

The team are not far off leaving for Kenya and everyone is getting excited.

We have had pictures of the building of the house which take a little while to reach us but are great to see.

On the left, the footings are in and on the right they dug down 63ft for the well. The water will be pumped up to the house . They have been working well into the evening to ensure that they are on target. Everyone both here and there are excited at what is happening. Hopefully it will look really good for the opening on 28th October. Everyone who has been involved in the fundraising can be pleased with their efforts and feel a real part of this exciting time.

I will give another update when I get the next pictures

21st July

Exciting things have been happening lately. We are please to announce that the building is now being started. If you would like to see the plans then look on the June 08 newsletter. The boys are getting excited and cannot wait to move in. Four of the older boys will be helping the builder with the project. This will enable them to learn the work ethic and hopefully cteate an interest for one or two of them, encouraging them to want to learn a trade.

We are also planning another trip to Kenya for April 2009 so if any of you would like to join us, please contact us to register your interest. We will have things to finish off in the building so there will be plenty to do. We heard from Thomas that the man who sold us the land has also decided to GIVE us another 50ft. Wow! How generous is that? It will give us room now to start growing some crops.

On top of all this, we have registered our NGO and at first we were told we would not be able to have "Harambee For Kenya" because "Harambee" is a word used in so many things in Kenya. So we thought about a different name to use and when Thomas went to register the authorities saw our UK constitution and documents and decided that they will keep the UK name for the NGO. We are so pleased as we really wanted to keep the name because it says everything that we stand for.

2ndJune

We now have an easyfundraising account and you can help us raise money by using it. Eeasyfundraising is a shopping directory that features some of your favourite online stores, including Amazon, NEXT, Debenhams, John Lewis, Toys’R’Us, HMV and over 400 others. All you have to do is use the links on the easyfundraising site whenever you shop online and, at no extra cost to you, we'll receive a free donation of up to 15% from every purchase you make. It really is that simple! It’s completely FREE to register and use and you still shop with each retailer in exactly the same way. Many retailers even offer additional discounts and money saving e-Vouchers when you shop using easyfundraising. If you shop online anyway then why not raise valuable extra funds for us by using this fantastic scheme. All you need to do is visit http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/hfk and log in nominating Harambee For Kenya as your charity. You can also search the internet by using easy search and they will pay us some money. http://hfk.easysearch.org.uk/

14th May

Well we have been back from Kenya for a week and our minds are still reeling with all the information we gained. One exciting thing happened though. On our first day in Kisii, KTN television came to the safe house wanting to interview us, andsome of the kids so that they could show it on a special feature on their TV channel. I thanked Fred, the camera man for taking an interest and he said "It's our pleasure. This is not shallow. It is deep". He said that his editor wanted to make it a special feature and once it was done he would send me a copy. Wow! How exciting. I just hope that we are ble to get the copy and then we will have somethin to show people when we go out and do our talks. They also sent a journalist who said that the feature would appear in The Daily Nation this week. This is one of their main daily newspapers. We are hoping that our friends in Kenya will save us a copy. We saw Alex and Eric which was fantastic. Alex's leg is healing beautifully. We were told that they had removed a small piece of infected bone from his leg. It was amazing that he was walking so well and it appears to give him no trouble at all. They are very happy where they are and it was wonderful to see. Catch up with more in our next newsletter.

11th March

We heard yesterday that Alex, the little boy with the infected leg has to go into hospital on Wednesday this week so that the Doctors can put up some sort of drip in order to get antibiotics into his body. So far the medication that he has had has not helped him so they want to do more extensive (and intensive) tests to try and help. His leg is very bad and the bone marrow is described as "rotting". We have been told that he has Chronic Osteomylitus which is a bone infection and can be caused by bacteria. Alex is a sweet little boy who is being very brave. We just hope and pray that the hospital can sort his leg out as soon as possible

It's good news though that everything is settling in Kenya. The roads are clear up to Kisii which will help us when we go in April.

1st March 2008

Great news this week that the two party leaders have signed a document to share the power. We have already heard from our friends in Kenya that things have now taken a turn for the better even in the difficult areas.

There are many more orphans though, but we believe that the Kisii has not been affected as other areas have. When we get out there in April we will be able to ascertain if there is any more we need to do to help.

More good news is that Victor was taken to a foster parent in January as our friends were concerned that he was cared for due to his young age. They were concerned should things take a turn for the worse and as he was so young it would be batter that he was with a family. He is very happy and enjoying his new life. We have so many that we would like to foster as it is only right that these orphans should have the opportunity to have a reasonably normal life. But we need to not only find suitable foster parents but also gind sponsorship in order that they can be fostered. So if you have any fellings that you would like to be involved in this way then please contact us.

30thJanuary 2008

Well it's all very sad what we have been hearing on the news and in the newspapers. things have erupted in different degrees in various places throughout Kenya. Our friends in Kenya have said that it is not good but life continues. Looking in the Kenyan newspapers too we would think that things are not so bad. This makes it difficult to know who to believe. Howver the ray of hope is still shining and with the fact that the Foreign Office has advised that only essential travel takes place is fairly comforting as the last time there were major problems with the bombings, they actually banned all flights to Kenya

We can only pray that things calm down which lets face it, may only happen once their leaders start talking to each other properly and lead by example. Let's not give up on Kenya. It has always been one of the most stable countries in Africa. Let us hope it gets back to that very soon. We have very good people on the ground at the moment and they are taking care of the children well.

We have heard through a friend that due to the tourism almost totally ceasing in Mombassa there have been men laid off their work in the hotels. Tourism is one of their main industries and affects thousands of people.

So please keep supporting us because although we may not be able to get there just yet, we can still keep the funds moving to keep the children safe and well.

10th January 2008

We have heard from various sources in Kenya who all say that things have got a little better in Kenya. Althought the news today did not give that impression.

Thomas says" The only good thing is that Kisii is the only town in the area that remained calm. No housws were burnt. No killings were done. The people in Kisii are very kind and friendly".

This is very encouraging but we must not be complacent as things are still a little volatile.

There was one problem though. Between 27th Dec and 5th Jan, because of the trouble other street children came off the streets to the safe house to be safe. we had 75 kids in the safe house who were all fed! That just shows the need. We still have 30 of these children in the house but the others returned to the streets after it became quieter. We can now see the need in the area is as we suspected. So please consider if you can help us in some way and contact us.

2nd January 2008

Well I had planned that we would at this stage wish you all a Happy New Year, but unfortunately the problems that have arisen in Kenya have over-ridden all the excitement of a new year and new start. I think that our greatest sadness and biggest fear is that these troubles could cause there to be more children evicted to the streets.

We have today been in touch with Thomas who assures us that they are all fine in Kisii and indeed I spoke to one of the children in the safe house who was fine. They are obviously upset at what is happening in their beautiful country. But the saving grace is that Kisii is about 200km from Kisumu and a lot further away from Eldoret, which is where we have heard most news from the BBC.

We are very fortunate to have wonderful Kenyan nationals helping us with the project and so we can be ever hopeful that the children will remain safe.

Do contact us if you would like to help us continue to raise money to care for them.

28th December

We had the pleasure of speaking to some of the children on Christmas Day. We sent some money so that they could have a Christmas present and a nice meal. It was such a delight to hear their excited voices.

We have also received news that Alex with the infected leg, is out of hospital but he has to go back in for an operation on it but we have not been told when. This is a concern as the cost needs to be met. It will be somewhere in the region of £100 which may not seem too much by comparison to our private fees in the UK, but it still needs to be met over and above the costs of feeding the other children and paying the bills on the safe house. Still, his health is important and we must ensure he is given the best help or he will suffer more greatly in the future.

14th December

We woke up to find that we had received an email from Thomas in Kisii. Some of the children brought two little boys to him the youngest one being 6 year old Alex and the older, Eric. He had an injury to his left leg which had been described as cancerous but it looks as though it may be ulcerated and the infection is spreading up his leg. He and his brother need to be fostered because of the need he has to be cared for through this difficult time.

We desperately need sponsors for the children in our care. It costs only £20 per month to shelter, feed, educate to primary level and medical help when needed. If you cannot help directly yourself then consider getting a group of 5 people together to make a "team". Each person would only have to pay £4 per month and that is affordable by most standards. But to the children it is an absolute lifesaver.

10th December

Today we have our first little boy going into Foster care. Hudson is about 7 years old and is totally orphaned. Although in the house with other children he felt very lonely and would cry every time Thoma and his children left to go home. He cried so much that Thomas asked if he could be the first person to foster, along with his wife who is totally behind it. Hudson went into his new home on Monday and is already calling Thomas "Dad".

Oct 07

We have just heard from Kenya and the number of children we have in the safe house now is 30. We also have a family living with the children and the lady is now acting as a foster mum to the children ensuring that they are taking care of themselves and that they are well. She is a lovely lady whose husband has a job and they have a little boy. I will let you know more about them when I have the information.





















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