Activities
Closing Ceremonies and Christmas Party
Jambo!
This morning, Hanne is off in the slum organizing books and uniforms for the kids. Getting this job done now, before the mad back- to- school rush in January, will save a lot of wear and tear!!
I thought you might enjoy a couple of pics from last Saturday’s closing ceremonies and Christmas party.
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This year the kitchen served about 130 meals–sweet potatoes, veggies, chicken (8 of them) in huge pots, with juice and ice cream. Hanne had the place well organized to seat everyone–the guests were served as well, under the grass umbrella.
After lunch our scouts kicked off the festivities with a flag raising and parade. Very smartly done! The next couple of hours of entertainment included the Rabbits (our tiny tots in pink Ts) performing a play and reciting a verse, our choir, recorders, a play written and performed by our older kids (based on Hanne’s good samaritanship), acrobatics, presentations and recognition to several of our kids and staff . A new and special part of the program this year, thanks to Grant Thomas and his wonderful staff at DOT (Digital Opportunity Trust), recognized our high school students and staff who had just completed a 10 day DOT program designed to teach them life and business skills and ICT. I attended a couple of the daily sessions and can attest that the “lights were going on”.
Undoubtedly there will be more stories to follow on our website. Hope you enjoy the pics! Thank you all for your interest and support. Seeing the results of all of our efforts in real time on the ground can’t help but make one feel pretty good, particularly at this time of the year.
Hanne and I are planning to take the hostel kids out for lunch on the 24th. The rest of the project is now closed until the 29th.
Before I sign off. I was touched by a story on Saturday. The mother of 1 of our IDP kids came to fetch her daughter and 2 nephews from the hostel for Xmas. Her own mother was killed in the 07/08 post election violence in the Rift valley. This woman has been living in a tent ever since. To see the happiness on the faces of these kids at the prospect of spending Christmas with mum/auntie, even in an IDP camp, reminded me of the importance of family.
Wishing you all the best of the Season from Hanne and I.
Ted
It’s Christmas time at HHFL!
Celebrating the holidays
Christmas is around the corner and we are having a blast preparing for the holidays! Usually we do not celebrate very much but this year, for the first time ever, Mama Hanne bought us a Christmas tree and the children have been busy making decorations to make it look more beautiful!
All the children are coming together to make the decorations. Mama Hanne taught us how to make some basic ornaments and we were all very excited to learn from her. We used paper and cut them into different shapes and coloured both sides of the paper. We then stuck shiny material on the paper and hung the decorated shapes on the tree. Wow, the end result was so beautiful and everyone was amazed at the work we had done. Below, on the left, is a picture of us decorating the tree.
We also created a nativity. This is something that we have never heard of. But due to the presence of our dear, loving and innovative mother Hanne, we were able to come up with the amazing feature. She told us lots of information about it. We created it to prepare for the birth of Baby Jesus. It has made our compound very beautiful and we wish to thank our proactive Mother Hanne, Father Ted and all the donors who have contributed to our progress.
We also have a new music teacher who volunteered to teach us Christmas songs. The songs are easy to learn and the children are excited to sing them during the closing ceremony! I think our life is being made better and better as the days go by and we cordially and abundantly thank our donors for their involvement in our lives!!!!!
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Celebrating our first graduates!
Dismas and Kennedy set an example for our children
Well, it appears that our collective efforts are paying off because we recently celebrated our first two graduates and we could not be more proud of them. Dismas Owino graduated with Honours from technical school in Welding and Kennedy Otieno is our first high school graduate.
It is not common place for slum children to have these kinds of educational opportunities. But these two accomplishments prove that our kids are just as capable of and committed to reaching their full potential given the chance.
Like all of our children, Dismas comes from a disadvantaged background but it became apparent early on that he was very talented and extremely good with his hands. I noticed that he was always eager to stay close to the carpentry work being done on the HHF compound and developed a passion for making things. I decided to send him to a local vocational school in Welding to see what he could accomplish. His strong work ethic and commitment to self improvement have been a joy to watch. Dismas will start looking for work locally and we feel confident that, with our help, he will carve a career path that will take him places in his lifetime. He loves his new trade.
Kennedy is another extremely talented and bright boy who recently graduated from high school. Ted and I made the decision to bring him on the HHFL volunteer staff team as a trainee in the hope that he will develop his skills in administration and management. He wants to go to Business School in 2010. I think he would make an excellent candidate as he is smart, committed and good with computers. Not to mention very charming!
Both kids are setting a wonderful example for our younger children and we hope that they will continue to bring inspiration to our group of kids and a tangible sense for what is possible with the right attitude.
This is proving that we can achieve a lot together.
Asante sana! Hanne
Focus on a Helping Hand – What a Difference a Year Makes!
Ron and I spent 8 days at the project in November 2008 and we were privileged to return this November for 3 weeks. We could not believe our eyes when we got back this year. There were so many changes.
The first major change was the hostel all along the right side. Last year this area was occupied by a church and some tenants. The church section was the low-point of the property and on rainy days the church would fill with water. No matter how hard they bailed the water out,
it only came back. There was just no drainage from that area. Now there is a whole line of brightly painted HHF buildings with a concrete sidewalk all along, with built-out sections of closet to give storage and a little privacy between the boys’ and girls’ hostel. There are a couple dozen beds in the hostel but they are only full when the boarding school kids come home for holidays. They keep the area really clean and tidy and there is a well-used lounge area when you first walk in.
Another major improvement over the last year was the addition of electricity. They can now use children’s’ music tapes and CDs in the tiny tots program. The hostel kids can read and do homework after sunset. Nairobi is very close to the equator so sunset is around 6:30pm all the year. Hand in hand with the electricity come the computers. Ted and Hanne brought 2 laptops with them last year and 2 more this year. Ron and I took 2 this year and someone else donated a desk-top computer with a printer for the office. One of my jobs this year was to get Picasa, Word, Excel and the Encarta encyclopedia programs loaded on all these computers. They can do homework on Word and they will surf Encarta for as long as they are able. With Encarta they start out looking for something like a history fact and then follow the links to all sorts of interesting things, like we do on the internet, but without actually being connected. This past week some of the older kids compiled some get well messages for Ron and then had the staff send it as an email. They have 2 digital cameras and a number of them can edit the photos in Picasa and send them to sponsors and the HHF blog.
Ron and I are the only mzungus (white people) that actually eat at the project when we are there volunteering. I like most of the rice and bean dishes but I’m not so fond of the ugali (thick solid corn paste). Last year Hanne worked with the cooks to improve the nutritional level of the meals and Ron and I could tell the difference. There are more greens and carrots added to the sukuma wiki (like a vegetable stir-fry) and most days more than a dozen tomatoes were also added. The tiny tots get a piece of fruit with their ugi (millet porridge) before they head home for the night.
A number of the older kids are now finished high school. It is now their turn to give back to the project. They will work for the next year and these young men and women should become valuable staff members passing on their knowledge to the youngsters. Dismas, Duncan, Simon and Kennedy were a great help to Ron when he was building the office shelving.
It might sound like these are not great accomplishments but some of the activities that we would do at home in an hour take a day or 2 or 3 to get done in Africa. Hours and hours of work have gone into all these changes. Hanne and Ted can be so proud of all their children. You should have seen the project come alive when Hanne arrived this year! Singing and dancing and lots of hugs and tears of joy. It is truly an amazing place.
