Friends of Lenana
Such an improvement!!
I was introduced to Africa and the HHFL by my good friend, Marianne Florijn. My first visit was in November 2007. The project was in its second year and well on its way. I immediately fell in love with the ready smiles and happiness of these children and ever since I have been supporting this project.
In February, 2009 I returned to Nairobi, this time with my hubby Pim in tow. What a surprise awaiting us! Hanne had kept us informed of the changes and improvements that took effect in 2008. But I definitely was not prepared for the changes we encountered.
The entire project had relocated to a fenced in compound within the slum. A new kitchen and eating hall had been added. The hostel and all 26 orphans took up residence in this new place with new beds and bedding. A huge improvement over their last digs! The Tiny Tots Early Childhood Development Center, a happy and colorful school, is here too. The Tiny Tots have a big sandbox and a swing which they adore, but best of all is the field in the middle of the compound where the children enjoy themselves playing football, hockey, skipping rope or practicing their scout drills under the watchful eye of “Chelsea” Peter, their coach.
The art room is a very popular and busy place. Art Director, Duncan teaches the kids how to make drawings, pictures and all kinds of arts and crafts. Simon, a fantastic acrobat spends hours teaching the kids to fly through the air and land safely on their feet!
But most important, was feeling the happiness that these kids radiated. Volunteers and kids alike had a good time and always did their jobs in a very motivated way.
You cannot begin to imagine the good time that we had during our last day when we all attended the farewell party organized in our honor. The scouts proudly showed their skills and drills and raised the scout’s flag. The drama club presented a very original skit which made us all laugh and the little ones sung sweetly for us. Thank you very much again!
Dear Hanne and Ted, this project is really something to be very proud of and Pim and I enjoyed every single minute we spent in the slum with you and the kiddies. We can see and feel how rewarding this must be for you.
We know you are already busily preparing your next move, the piece of Shangri-la in the Ngong Forest, you showed us. We wish you luck and hope you will succeed in securing this plot of land. What a wonderful place this would be for the children! We feel confident that once this happens, you will find the support needed to develop this dream accordingly.
We wish you all the best and hope to come back next year! Asante sana! THANK YOU!
Love to all, Carolyne and Pim Lempers
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
Video for the HHF kids
Check out this fun video that we edited and screened for the kids of the HHF project during the shoot for our documentary Kenya’s Path. We wanted to say thank you to everyone in the project for their hospitality and generosity they showed us while we were filming and thought this would be a nice way to do it. We arranged to show this video in the local church and the reactions from the kids while they watched were just amazing. While this video was made purely to entertain the kids it gives you an idea of some of the amazing images we captured for the documentary. For more information on Kenya’s Path, visit our website: www.kenyaspath.com