Children's Corner
Prize giving and back to school ceremony!
Saturday the heavens opened just as we were about to get underway! Not a very auspicious start. But puddles in the yard only dampened the feet not the fun! Our scouts paraded brilliantly. Our drama group had us laughing. We sang and danced.
The kids had just polished off 15 chickens at lunch (a special treat) and were warming up for the tubs of ice cream and other goodies that were to follow the ceremony.
We acknowledged a whole bunch of the kids for their 1st term performance at school and for their activities in the project, including scouting.
Thanks to the generosity of Lilley (who visited the project last month with her mom Lynda from Zurich) and her scout troop, we had several books on scouting to turn over to Abdallah , the assistant area commissioner for youth development and our scouts . We also handed out the scout T shirts that Lilley’s scout troop sent along.
The wonderful gifts donated by Jennifer Hardie and Matthew Hardie’s school in Dubai made great prizes. All in all, a terrific afternoon of fun and recognition.
A special asante sana to Lilley and Matthew and their mates for making this a very special occasion.
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Bouncing balls!
The sixth of October was a day our children will never forget. Angela van de Burgt and her friends came again to visit us!
She is the representative of Wings of Support, a charity founded by KLM and Martinair who fund projects like ours. HHFL is hoping to become part of the roster of charities funded by them.
Angela has become a personal friend to our children and whilst in Nairobi always comes for a visit laden with presents for them.
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This time, she and her friends brought them inflatable balls with handles that the children can sit on and bounce around on. What a success these proved to be! At first the children were unsure what to make of these strange, brightly-colored things with faces painted on them, but after Angela’s spirited demonstration there was no stopping them! Within minutes the compound had turned into a battlefield.
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What quickly became apparent was that there were not enough balls for the sixteen children and this clearly exposed them to the importance of learning the ‘art of sharing”. Our children have grown up with the attitude of the ‘survival of the fittest’ a necessary tool to survive in the harsh environment they grow up in but one that we do not promote at HHFL. This experience was golden as all of the sudden here they were being forced to take turns, watching and encouraging others taking part in the races and at the same time understanding that their turn would soon come. This was definitely better than fighting for it!
It is situations like this that best teach the kids to learn how to live and work in a supportive community based on discipline, teamwork, sharing and mutual respect.
Thank you Angela and friends for caring. Karibu! You are always welcome.
Little Wachu’s story
Little Wachu and her mentally challenged mother joined our program in January 2008 after living on the streets for 2 years. Mama Wachu’s desperate mother and family never gave up hope of finding them. In Nov/09 their prayers were answered and little Wachu now has a loving and caring grandmother who comes to visit her at our compound at least once a month and brings us fresh produce from her “shamba” (farm).
Little Wachu was close to death when she reached us. She suffered from extreme malnutrition, worm infestation and epilepsy seizures. The mother could not give us much detail or information. She could not even remember the birth date of the child. Her size and mental state led us to assume she was around 3 years of age. It turned out, she was nearly 7!
Proper medical care and good nutrition has resulted in a total turnaround for this child making her a bundle of energy and activity. But her patterns and behavior alerted us to the possibility that she was mentally challenged like her mother. A professional assessment confirmed this.
As the housemother I was initially opposed to the idea of sending her to a boarding school for the mentally challenged. I tried to find a nearby special school that would address her needs, but luck was not on my side and boarding school became the only option. The dreaded leaving day arrived and the Grandmother and I took her there. She took to the place like duck to the water. Seeing her in her new crisp uniform looking smart and smiling broadly was a blessing and I knew this was the right choice. I left with a happy heart!
There are not that many schools for special need kids in Kenya. These schools are very expensive and placement is tight. But luck was on our side and Wachu was accepted. Here her wild energy is channeled and she is taught discipline and has to adherence to basic rules.
I could hardly wait for visiting day! What a wonderful surprise awaited me, the smiley and contented face of Wachu! She recently was allowed to join the classroom and is eagerly learning to formulate her first words. We all are looking forward to her return for the holiday month of August and to hear her speak rather than shriek!
Some musings
As I wander around the Project, I often take pictures. Here a few I took last week.
We have budding artists, “little Brian” and Steve pictured here, painting the side of our cook house. You have seen Brian before. He lives with Steve in our hostel. Steve and his sweet little brother, Muli, lost both of their parents to HIV/ Aids within the past 24 months. We are working hard to ensure they feel welcome and loved and part of their new family.
Silas, pictured below on the left, at the gate to our Project, is a gem! His son, Boniface, is an A average Form 1 high school student. We took Boniface into the Project this year as he wouldn’t otherwise be in school. What fine young man he is, thanks in large part to Silas’ love, care and discipline. Silas also cares for his wife at home. She is mentally challenged. Everyday Silas walks 1 ½ hours to our Project and volunteers—he mans the gate and keeps an eye on the comings and going of the kids. I love this guy and we often talk.
“Mama Brian” pictured below on the right — looked so beautiful in the late afternoon sunlight. She is an HIV+ widow. She regularly helps with the kitchen and washing when she is feeling up to it. Her 3 sons, “Big Brian”, Christopher and Farris are all in the Project and are becoming fine responsible young men.
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What art is teaching our kids
Every day is learning time for me. I see different things everywhere I go in the slum. I feel I am changing and becoming different from other slum residents. Their waste materials have become my working material, what they take for granted I take seriously and as they get used to ghetto life, I’m doing away with it. This is what the HHFL project is doing for me and our kids.
As the Art Director of the HHFL the success of our art program depends on me. This is how my simple thought combined with the enthusiasm or our kids, practicality and hard work turned into an amazing work of art. The teachings in our project emphasize standard and the need to clean our environment. The word recycling is new to us and the whole concept is just starting to catch on.
Therefore, I decided to direct our kids’ attention in this direction and for the next couple of weeks, we spent a great deal of time collecting and sorting through garbage. We collected phone cards, sweet wrappers, empty cigarette and juice packages, old cloth, bottle tops, old mats, broken tiles and much more. To this we added stones, sand and sawdust found in our own compound. The only bought materials were a sheet of plywood and 2 litters of wood glue!
Finally we were ready for the real fun to start! It took us 4 days to arrange and stick all these ‘useless’ things onto our plywood sheet. As our art work started taking shape more and more slum residents started gathering to witness our progress. Ted, Hanne, Marianne (who visits us every year) and even Benson (our new BOD chairman) spent more and more time admiring the work and encouraging us. It was so amazing!
We all were very happy and proud with the end result – a lovely red, yellow and green flower that graces the art room. This beautiful piece of art isn’t only a bright red flower, but is also serves as caution and encouragement. It speaks of possibilities and has taught people that they can help safe the environment by re-using waste. It taught us that you can save money as you do not have to buy everything to create something beautiful. It also encourages creativity, team work and in the case of the cigarette packages we learned about the dangers of smoking. The warnings on the packages taught the kids that smoking can give lung cancer, something they didn’t know before.
All of you reading this blog are invited to come and visit us at Lenana. KARIBU..Welcome!
Duncan Muindi, Art Director HHFL
Christmas Pageant and Fashion Show!
This was the day that the Hannehowardfund/Lenana family was eagerly awaiting for and will never ever forget. We had been working very hard and preparing for this event for over one month and finally the day had arrived. It was thrilling and breath taking at the same time and we were all a bit nervous, specially when the guests started arriving. Only invited guests were allowed into our compound, but the slum residents crowded our gates and stood on the roofs to see our show. Each and every person enjoyed it to the fullest.
This event, for the first time, was to be produced and hosted by the kids on their own. My older brother Kennedy and sister Alice were the masters of ceremony and did a very good job. Kennedy especially loved the microphone. Teacher Nancy provided a very nice sound system for the event. I did not like speaking into the microphone that much, but managed to do so. At first every person was eager for everything to start immediately, but we also felt very anxious. The Tiny Tots were the first to start and presented a skit. Oh! they looked like little angels playing in heaven. After their skit they left everyone’s mouth open in amazement.
The events took place one after another and everyone enjoyed every part of it. Our drama club, the HHFL Parrots presented a wonderful play written and directed by our Scouts and drama leader, Teacher Peter. It was funny and very entertaining and we all applauded very much. The dance group let by my sister Alice brought lots of cheers from everybody. Simon, a new comer to our project, delighted all of us with the new HHFL acrobatic team. We never thought that our boys could do all that difficult stuff without hurting themselves. The highlight was our fashion show. Wow!!! Did our girls look beautiful as they walked down our improvised gang plank, the boys were cheering wildly.
We also had an art exhibition. All the people thought that experts had made the stuff being exhibited, but they later came to know that the good work came from us, the kids that attend Teacher Duncan’s Saturday Art Program where we learn all these different techniques and ways of engineering and building stuff from recycled materials. It is lots of fun! The event was closed by the Scouts marching through our compound in a very synchorinized way and the raising of the Scouts flag. After that we munched on snacks and ate delicious foods cooked by our talented cook, Mama Margaret. The food left everyone licking their fingers. We even had ice cream!
After the event, the kids and all the parents and other guests were dog-tired and left feeling satisfied and happy. All this happened due to the assistance of the sponsors we have and mother Hanne and father Ted. We really express our gratitude to them all for letting us have a place in their hearts. We are already starting to plan next years show and invite you all to come! Karibu!!! (welcome).
We have a swimming pool in the slum!!
We were lucky in the month of July to have a donation of a small swimming pool! Swimming costumes is a vocabulary that is not known in the slum so during the swimming days the children carry with them a spare panty and shorts for the boys. All they do is undress and jump into the swimming pool with their inner wares! The first day was full of confusion, water in the slum is a rare commodity. A twenty liter Jeri can cost ksh.3! In their entire life the children had never had a chance to get immersed in water. Some were afraid of drowning. To the daring ones it was a God sent chance to, for once, play with water without having someone scold them!
After some time they got used to the idea and at least no one one is afraid of drowning now. Though the young ones still can’t understand what exactly a swimming pool is. They refer to it as the ‘lake’ or ‘river’. But they really enjoy being in water.
Thanks to Sonia, our dear donor and dedicated volunteer, for this fabulous addition to our home! This was the most exciting present we could have received!
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