A blog at last....!!

I just can't believe that it's 8 months since the last blog----sorry!! Everything is really really going full steam ahead at the Rescue, Therapy and Personal Development Centre since June of this year. The Child Labour Elimination Programme is really successful and we have withdrawn 800 children from the Worst Forms of Child Labour. 600 of these children have returned to Primary School and the other 200 entered Vocational Training in the areas of welding, mechanics, motor bike maintenance, hair and beauty, tailoring and dressmaking. 170 children have graduated in those areas and there are 30 children currently in apprenticeships. Vocational skills are being developed but also in our Centre we are providing a Life Skills Programme for the children and they are really enjoying it.

At the moment I am in Ireland promoting a 5K Run/Walk which will take place on 22nd Sept. This event is supported by Mayo Athletics, Claremorris Athletic Club and Fit 4 Life and the funds raised will go directly into the Rescue Centre to provide much needed support for our wonderful children. Each time we have a group session the children are given a treat of juice and mandazis which they really enjoy. It is the treat of the week for them and wow do they appreciate it. They are really wonderful children and appreciate every bit of support they are given. Their timekeeping, attendance and performance in class is improving every day not to mention their self-esteem and confidence. We have so many things planned where they will develop their creativity and talents. It's really exciting. They sing and dance every day and are making many friends.

Just before returning home to Ireland we came to the rescue of 3 boys aged 16 and 17. The three boys are total orphans and have no adult support in their lives. One boy used to walk 15km each way to his apprenticeship every day, he did not have a bed to sleep in and often went a few days without food. Thankfully we were able to provide accommodation for them, bought a few mattresses, blankets, soap, towels, basins and the basic things they needed and now they will have 3 meals each day!!!

I met with them on the Saturday before I returned home and they were looking so neat, tidy and smiling, smiling smiling and were so happy.. I explained to them that we were able to do this for them because the people of Claremorris gave generously to the plight of the less well off children in Kitui. The boys really want to thank everybody for the support that is being given to them ---Asante Sana/ Thank you so much. I will put up some photos that I hope you will enjoy.

You know you can come to the assistance of the children by taking part in the 5K Run/Walk in Claremorris on 22nd Sept. at the Claremorris Athletic Track at 11a.m or by donating through PayPal on the website wwwkidsofkitui.com Every cent is so important for us to provide for the less well off children in Kitui.

Ok. That's my news. Thanks a lot. Will be back soon.

Janet

A NEW START

Arriving with our gear

                                                A mattress at last

 

 

Settling in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to our new home

 

Smiling and happy again

 

It's all go!!! getting ready to open our new Rescue, Therapy & Personal Development Centre

What a busy few weeks, not even time to blog, sorry. We have secured a beautiful place for our Rescue, Therapy & Personal Development Centre  and we can get to work there very shortly.  It is such a wonderful feeling to have this place because last week proved very difficult form the point of view of space.  Children were being prepared for returning to school and initially this was happening through group sessions and space was at a premium in our busy office at KDC. Now the task of setting up the Centre.  Lots of shopping to be done, furniture, curtains, equipment, educational supplies, cups, plates, cutlery and so on and so on and that's when the bargaining will go on over prices!!!! You can just imagine 'cause our budget is tight.  Needless to say we will be going slowly at first but the initial step has been made and we are up and running.
Stay posted for more news, photos and videos.
Janet

oh, what a mistake, wrong post

Hi there,
Just got things a little mixed up, created a new blog under name WAYATI by mistake.  Sorry!!   anyway here is some 2012 news. 

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Welcome to a buzzing 2012 from Kitui

The wonderful year of 2012 commenced for us in KDC office with a 2 day reflection and planning session which was a really good start to the New Year. It was amazing to see what had been achieved during the previous year with regard to all the projects and also looking at the challenges that we faced last year.
 The drought was the most most pressing because it meant that the people living on the margin had no food and were suffering from poverty, finding it so difficult to put food on the table and send their children to school.  This really has put a lot of pressure on the Child Labour Eradication Project as we are only able to cater for specified numbers and believe me there are so many more to assist.  The cost of living has really increased in Kitui and the funds made available to us are for the purpose of prevention i.e. enabling families to resend their children back to school is an enormous challenge.  The same thing applies to the children that  have withdrawn from child labour and we find very often that the parents want the children to work, even though it is illegal, because they will be able to bring some money home. It's a vicious circle and  to assist with this type of difficulty we have Self Help Groups, Table Banking, Mini Enterprise training and support for the families and guardians.  All of these supports are enabling the people to become self-sufficient slowly but surely.

 Yesterday I visited one such group who come together and allocate a % of their saving to the total orphans by helping with school fees and uniforms.  Their generosity is so wonderful and they do it so willingly.

This morning I met with some ladies who make some beautiful jewellery but the challenge for them and us, as a support group, is to access the markets, find agents or wholesalers to buy their products. The main markets are in Nairobi, Mombasa and Malinde which are huge distances from Kitui. IF YOU KNOW ANYBODY WHO CAN ASSIST US WITH FINDING A MARKET ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Have a look at the photos !!!!

Next week I will be accompanying the monitoring staff when visiting the students who have returned to school, chatting with them and looking forward to getting their views on being back to school or in apprenticeships. I am very well aware of some difficulties students are facing and fully realise the need for our Centre where we can assist the students to prepare for the return to school or vocational training.  Presently we are sourcing a premises to rent to facilitate this urgent need.

So now you see that this is a busy time for all of us in KDC with existing projects and we also have more projects coming on stream.
Stay with us for the next news bulletin  and ALL THE VERY BEST FOR 2012.

Kalumu with her Jewellery

Muarumbani seed necklace

Olive green Muarumbani necklace

Beautiful bangles

Ring necklace

Ring necklace

Kalumu's beautiful work

Ngangali necklace

Janet working with Community Facilitators at KDC office

Janet

Janet H, Janet Mumo, Alex Muthoka at work

Christmas present giving at Wikililye

Take a look at those gorgeous children who were so happy to receive gifts of food for Christmas and join with them in their joy.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

Coming to the end of 2011 with the Christmas presents for the children

It's been a while since the last blog and where to start now!!  Maybe it better to start with the last event which was the giving of  Christmas presents to the orphans and vulnerable children in the area of Wikililye, which is about 4kms from Kitui. The presents were food parcels consisting of rice, flour and cooking fat which cost about 800 Kenyan Shillings which is approx. €8.  178 children got a gift and the event was sponsored by Kitui Development Centre.
 We had good fun preparing for the event ,loading up the jeep with huge bags of flour, rice and cooking fat and heading off to the shopping centre where the children were patiently waiting for us. Of course there is ceremony around every event in Kenya with it being started with a prayer followed by a few speeches, the chairperson and the representative of the sponsoring organization.  I had the privilege of representing KDC and giving my speech through a combination of Swahili(the little I have) and English and then the distribution of the gifts.  A long list had been drawn up and the children were called one by one and presented with the gifts. It was so wonderful to see the happiness on their little face and we got some wonderful photos also,  they will appear on the gallery later when I succeed in accessing assistance with that . Food is so scarce and just imagine the delight in the children for this food and these children are ranging between 4 and 12 years of age !!!!  It's a different world for some. So that was the Christmas gift giving for some of the orphans and vulnerable children, many of whom have been born with HIV.
Please do not forget that you can assist us by donating through Paypal on our site.  Any monies we receive will be so much appreciated so please give whatever you can for our most vulnerable children in the world.
I wish you a very happy 2012.  Bye for now.
Janet

All systems are up and running

Kitui is so green and beautiful at the moment, it's the rainy season.  People are really busy cultivating in their shambas leaving the town quite and without the wonderful buzz that is usually associated with the town of Kitui.
 Life at KDC is also very busy. I officially returned to work last Monday morning and it was a wonderful day, a very important one for us also. I visited the office early to catch up on events and happenings and by 1.00 pm our work began.  We started with a Board of Directors and Staff Meeting where all of us were briefed on project progress and about new projects coming on stream. We finished at 7.00pm and then followed with the hosting of our very good German friends and donors, Kindernothilfe.  They were briefed on projects and progress together with planning for a field visit to the Water Project and the Poultry Production Project in which they have a particular interest. The social aspect of an event like this is always wonderful and our evening finished approx. 10.30pm.
The following morning, Tuesday, we undertook the project inspections and afterwards had a progress report which was a really good one.  Our guests had a wonderful opportunity to see first hand what goes on and also to meet and talk with the beneficiaries of the projects.  Seeing is really believing!!! You also will be welcome to visit our projects and assist us with them.
Yesterday, Thursday, I met with the Community Facilitators involved with the Child Labour Eradication Programme and they are making really good progress.  The prevention side is going very well,  enabling 1,000 children to remain  in school and also others to return to school  by supplying them with tuition fees, uniforms and school materials.  Primary school is free to students but tuition fees/extra classes provided by teachers must be paid by the students and in some cases if they cannot afford the fees the children are chased away from the school, ie. not allowed to attend for normal school hours.  On the withdrawl of children from child labour there are more challenges.  800 cases have been identified, some 50+ are now  in vocational training in areas of Mechanics and Beauty Therapy. There are a further 60+ awaiting placements and we have quite a number of children undergoing counselling before placement is possible. Applications are being processed for the remainder.
Our biggest challenge in the area if withdrawl is the issue of change in parental attitudes towards education and self sufficiency coupled with counselling and educational  facilities.  So much progress could be made in those related areas and so much time saved if we had our own building to undertake such educational and therapeutic activities.  We have the skilled personnel available to facilitate.


If you can in any way support us either through personal donation, organising events to raise funds, putting us in contact with people or organisations who may be willing to assist us or in whatever way you feel we could benefit please contact me Janet at hinchionj@gmail.com
We would be very greatful for any assistance given to us.

Today I had planned to visit Wii,a location outside the town, and meet with the women involved in Table Banking.  This is a self help group focusing on saving and borrowing in order to improve their standards of living, develop small businesses and eliminate their poverty. Unfortunately this was not to be as last night I came down with a tummy bug and sparing you the details!! my energy is depleted as you can imagine.  This was disappointing not only for myself but for the group, however there is next week. I suppose the plus side is the fact that we have electricity today and I have no excuse to postpone blogging.  During the rains we suffer frequently from power cuts and it adds to communication problems and slows down the whole progress of the day., anyway life goes on!!!
Looking at the diary, next week promises to be a very busy and active one, with many group meetings to attend to as well as the office work!!!  The staff on the programme are brilliant and congratulations to them for their commitment and dedication to making this programme a success despite the daily challenges.
Hope you enjoyed reading about our progress and challenges and please encourage your friends to check out our site www.kidsofkitui.com  and also remembering that you can assist us through Paypal.  Your contribution will be so welcome no matter what the amount is.
Till next time, take care and stay safe.
Goodbye.
Janet

Yipee!! a new website www.kidsofkitui.com

Check out my new website and read about some of the activities that I'm involved with in Kitui. I'm jetting back to Kenya early Sunday morning and it will be all go from then on, lots of things waiting to be done.
Thanks to all who have helped with the website, hope you enjoy it. www.kidsofkitui.com

Temps in Kitui are about 28 C but don't be too upset they also have the rains presently and everything comes to a standstill with the rains, no electricity, no internet so please forgive me if I miss out on blogging, I promise I will really do my best!!!


kwaheri , goodbye till the next time