The Good Life Orphanage

Future Plans

2009-05-15T07:39:00.003Z

So now we have 31 children at the orphanage. The first three houses are complete, and the builder has scheduled for the fourth and fifth houses to be built between September-March, we can’t start until then as it’s impossible to carry out building work in the rainy season!

Following a visit by Ron and Sue Hayes in February, and after deliberations with our Committee at home and our Trustees in Kenya it was decided that these last two house will be especially adapted for disabled children. Many thanks to Ron & Sue for this and many other ideas they came up with to ensure the success of the orphanage. We value visitors feedback as it is an essential part of our development of the project.

Looking at Gracie and Michael now, seeing how strong, healthy and happy they are is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff at the orphanage. Obviously with any new project there has been teething problems, and we have unfortunately had to replace members of staff, but things are progressing very well.
Caleb who arrived at the orphanage with Moses and Joshua in April 2008 in a sorry state, he was badly beaten and malnourished, is now a happy young boy, yes he is always in trouble but he is just like any other five year old boy.

Both Kevin and myself often say that without the support of friends, family and now an ever-increasing group of people who are willing to help us it would be impossible to operate the orphanage and we really mean this from the bottom of our hearts. The staff, children and ourselves cannot put into words just how important and life changing your help and support is to the project.

Yes, we all are making a difference!

Helen's Story

2009-05-13T14:56:00.004Z

Here is an email I received from Jackie regarding little Helen who we picked up from a rescue centre in Mtwapa in November 2008, we noticed she was well cared for and did not appear to be in the usual disheveled state as the majority of children who come to the orphanage. She would only settle with Kevin & Samson and screamed when a woman approached her.

"Dear Mary,

Yesterday, I received a Court Order from the Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court at Kilifi for Criminal Case no. 1019 of 2008 ordering me to hand over the child name Angela renamed Helen to the mother, one Perris Dhahabu and Police Corporal Rukia of the Mtwapa Police Station. Before handing over the child to the mother, I had a talk with her and you will not believe the circumstances that child had to go through.

Her husband had disappeared from home for about three months, when he came home one day she was sleeping as she was not feeling well. He told her that he was leaving her because he had married another wife. She asked him what would happen to the children as she did not have any money to feed the (Helen and her brother) He told her that he was leaving with them. As he was their father, the mother agreed. What she learnt later from her son (about five years old) was that the “step mother” used to mistreat them and beat them up a lot; they used to sleep on the floor etc. Apparently, the step mother would not mistreat them when the father was around but she complained a lot that Helen would not shut up, she kept crying.
The father instead of taking the child back to its mother decided to go to the Police Station and concoct a story that he had a fight with his wife then she threw the child at him and ran away. He also said he did not have any relative where he could take the child to and he did not know where his wife had gone to. So the Police had to look for a place to take the child.
When the mother recovered, she went to see how her children were, she found the boy neglected with many wounds on his arms and legs. When she asked where Helen was, no one would give her an answer so she decided to go to the Police Station to report that she did not know where her child was. At the Police Station, she was put in for 24 hours and taken to court in Kilifi for abandoning the child. The case was mentioned and given a hearing date but she could not be released so she was locked up at the Shimo La Tewa Prison because she did not have any money to pay for a bond. Anyway she contacted her sister who looked for money to pay for her (after some months). Once out, she started looking for her child and was later told that the child was sold to some “mzungu” by the Police Officer. At a hearing in Court, that is what she told the Court so the Police Officer had to be summoned to Court and produce the Child. I suppose she told her part of the story and we were thereafter given a Court Order to release the child to her mother. The Husband, by the way, has disappeared. They do not know where he has gone to but the Police are looking for him. Helen has been reconciled with the mother.

It all fits together, we were wondering when Helen came how she preferred men than women, it became clear that maybe it was because of the way the step mother mistreated her – but this is just my opinion.

We took them home – Mtomondoni in Mtwapa area, at least we know where Helen is.

Regards,

Jackie"

Helen has been reunited with her mother, it is a terrible system that allows this to happen but at least she was well cared for and loved in the four months whilst she was at The Good Life Orphanage !!

St Patrick's Day Celebrations - Manchester 2009

2009-05-08T14:43:00.002Z

A beautiful Sunday in Albert Square in Manchester, the place packed with people enjoying a good day out celebrating St Patrick’s Day, The Good Life Orphanage committee and families were there as well.

Catherine putting her excellent organisation skills to work again ordered lots of nick- nacks for selling on our stall with all the proceeds going to the orphanage.
It was a great day, seeing old faces and promoting the orphanage, we are fast becoming known throughout the North West with people recognising the charity from recent press releases.

Then to attract more people to our stall, Sean & Eddie played some traditional Irish Music, we even had a very sprightly old lady doing some Irish Dancing.

Then an angel aka Mary Grady took the bucket around the Beer Tent, a brave lady and persuaded them go hand over even more money.
Thank you to everyone who made a donation or bought something, and a big Thank You to Pius on the neighbouring stall for looking after us all and lets not forget Mairead & Margaret, who said they were full of hot air!!

1 Year on at The Good life Orphanage

2009-05-01T08:58:00.005Z

Here we are back in a sunny/rainy Kenya, there has been no rain on the coast since late September so people are praying for the rains to come, every piece of available land is being dug over and prepared.
Life is progressing well at The Good Life Orphanage, our children are doing great and are so happy, it is amazing to see. We have a few new additions and one of the children, Helen, has been reunited with her mother who has been very ill but is fine now.

Elvis arrived from the police station in Mtwapa, he was found abandoned under a mango tree and is about two years old, he is a lovely happy little boy and could tell us his name so we now have an Elvis!!! Mary was picked up from the streets by a Good Samaritan and taken to the local police station, again a beautiful young girl about fourteen months old, she has just started to walk this week.

Juma and Zanibu are Rami’s older siblings, Kevin brought Rami back to visit his extended family and discovered his brother and sister living in another orphanage where they could not even give them one proper meal a day. After speaking to the District Children’s Officer it was agreed that they would be fed and looked after properly at The Good Life so they arrived last week.
And last but by no means least Abdulla, the eldest boy from the family in the village where their mother had passed away has been reunited with his three younger siblings. At eleven years old he is outside our criteria for admission but we felt the need to bring the family together was far more important so we bent the rules slightly.

Even though the majority of the children arrived very dishevelled and malnourished they adapt so easy and within a few days are running around playing with the other children. They are all taught to have good manners and be respectful by their House Mothers and Aunties, it is wonderful to witness the changes to their lives and we have everyone who supports us to thank for this transformation.

A quick planning update

2009-01-26T10:45:00.003Z

Just a quick email today to let you all know about the plans for this year and next at the orphange. If you download this file you can easily see where we are right now, and what is to come over the next 24 months with your help!

We are very busy planning the next fundraising event on Saturday 7th Febraury. Hope to see you all there.

2008 At The Good Life Orphanage

2009-01-06T11:36:00.002Z

2008 did not start out too good for us, with the post-election violence we could not travel and after a very successful 1st Annual Charity Ball we were itching to return to Mombasa. In February we ignored the Foreign Office warnings and headed back to Kenya, well Mombasa was as laid back as ever, only sporadic violence here and there, we were up & running again. The only downside was all the visitors who planned to come over to help us did not feel that it was safe enough and cancelled their plans.
Thankfully when we returned back to Mombasa in November our visitors started arriving, first Damian & Helen came for one week, they loved playing with the children and spent lots of their holiday at the orphanage. Damian showed them how to play football and we even let him pretend to the children that it was ok to support Bolton Wanderers!!!

Next was Pat, Marie & Anne from Dromore, Co.Tyrone. Pat came out and built the furnace and Marie was on-hand for the opening of Maguire House. Anne was very generous and bought us our first cow, Red Annie, who is having a calf in February and will produce 15/20 ltrs of milk each day then for the children. Marie and Anne accompanied me to pick up orphan children from the village and also a baby girl called Fionnhulagh from Coast General Hospital. They were moved to tears by what they saw and how the people cope. Marie and Pat are also sponsoring the education of a young girl Cynthia at Mikoroshoni Primary School.

Then John & Edna arrived on 8th December, again lots of time spent with the children in the orphanage and they fell in love with Kenya big time !!!We went to Coast General Hospital to pick up Patrick, a little baby boy about two months old, Edna was completely smitten with this lovely little boy. Oh we forgot to mention John caught a big fish !!!

All in all apart from the usual tummy upsets and the ever frequently calling Mombasa Express, we think our visitors really enjoyed their stay.
Our latest visitors have been some of the crew from the First Choice Hoildays flights, Phillippa Hindle who knows Suzy & Luis visited the orphanage along with Zoe and Lee, she were so impressed that she has set up a Face Book Site and we had another five visitors last week,Kandy, Elaine, Nicci, Vicky and Carl, as they saw our children love to have visitors as they sing and pose for photos at the drop of a hat.

Asanta Sana for all your visits and support in 2008, you will be made very welcome in 2009 as well xx

What no NHS !!!!

2009-01-06T11:23:00.002Z

Life is not easy for the typical family in Kenya, as we have discovered. On the 14th December we realised that although little Brenda had been attending a nearby clinic for a chest complaint it was getting worst, she was struggling to breathe. Brenda’s mother had AIDS which affected her mind & as a result she beat Brenda as she ate soil when she was hungry, she is about 2.5 years old and her little face and body is covered in scars from the beatings she received. Unlike the UK there is no NHS here so it is matter of going to different hospitals trying to get the best treatment. As she was so poorly the only hospital that was willing to admit her was Nyali Paediatric Hospital and although we knew it was expensive it was her only chance for survival. She was diagnosed with acute pneumonia and as soon as the doctor saw her he voiced his concerns about her survival chances.
Early the next morning Salim who had arrived at the orphanage with his brother and sister on 4th December was admitted to the same hospital with heart failure. Salim was struggling to breath; his liver & kidneys were not working properly so his body was just suffocating with fluids. What was going wrong. the children were well fed and looked after but two children in the space of 24 hours going down with life threatening chest complaints was very unusual to us. After a long discussion with the resident pediatrician he explained that during this time of the year there are so many airborne bacteria that a high number of children die, we thought that this only happened in the rainy season.
After a few days the children were getting better and Salim was asking to get back out to the orphanage, then on Sunday they agreed to discharge the children, again a massive shock for us, nothing could have prepared us for the actual bill about £850 for the two children and they demanded payment before they would discharge the children. We had arranged a meeting with the main doctor there the previous Wednesday who had given us up to 50% of the normal rates but proper medicines are very expensive over here. So here we were with a medical bill that was the same amount as the monthly salaries for all our staff at The Good Life Orphanage but if the children would not have gone to this hospital they would have died, so we knew we had to get the best treatment for them.
Coming back to get the cheque book to write out a cheque for these cost and wondering just where we would get the money from when I opened an email from Dennis the Heat Teacher at our local Guardian Angels school saying they had raised money for the orphanage instead of doing the normal shoebox collection, this covered the bill with money left over, the Lord does work in very mysterious ways !!!!!!! Here are some photos of Brenda & Salim taken on Christmas Day, as you can see they are fighting fit again xx

Christmas Day at The Good Life

2009-01-03T14:59:00.004Z

Christmas Day 2008 was an alternative way to spend the day, instead of a Vigil Mass said by Father Paul at Guardian Angels Church in Bury, we went to the Cathedral in Mombasa centre, well the homily, which Father Paul is an expert on, was something about joiners and painters, we could not make any sense of, but This is Africa.Then onto the orphanage for our Christmas Dinner.

Well the children all had new clothes on, donated by our dear parishioners and people from Dromore, they looked so smart and Jackie & Miriam had cooked a wonderful Byrini, we had asked for no bones in our which is a sacrilege in Kenya. They used the bones to make a Pilau to accompany the Byrani. The children were so excited, they were sucking lollies which they dipped in the curry and insisted you taste it. What a difference sitting on a Swahili Mat eating Byrani for Christmas Dinner.

We put on the original DVDS we took from Day 1 at the orphanage and the children were amazed to see themselves on the big screen, Joshua did not speak or move for 15 minutes.

We had brought second hand toys donated by Guardian Angels Playgroup and they were wrapped in Christmas paper, each child a toy, Paul Wood from CAPS had given us toy mobile phones and Damian & Helen had bought footballs so you can imagine the happiness on each child’s face when they opened their presents,

We really missed our families but seeing the little faces opening the presents made us realise just what a difference the donations and hard work are actually making to these children.

An Early Christmas Present for Collins & Rachel

2009-01-03T10:50:00.003Z

In Mombasa for Christmas and the New Year sounded a great idea at the time but with Christmas Day fast approaching we were really missing our children and our new grandchild. It is completely different over here, yes the sun is shining and most local people go to the beach on Christmas Day but believe it or not we really missed our Manchester Christmas, not the running around the shops like a headless chicken but the time spent with friends and family, after eight weeks in this hot Kenyan sun you really do appreciate the wonderful lives we live back home.
On Christmas Eve we received a call that a brother and sister needed rescuing from another orphanage where abuse was rife, the authorities were trying to close it down as the person overseeing it was being arrested. We went to a terrible house in Bamburi where the Collins aged about 9 years old and his 5 year old sister Rachel were crying, they did not know what was happening. We picked them up, brought them to the local health centre for a check up and the routine malaria and AIDS test, both were negative, Thank God, and off we headed for the Good Life. Although Collins is a little older than our admission criteria of 0-5 years, we could not leave them in that terrible place. Miriam the House Mother for Maguire House was there to meet them, they were very quiet and their faces were blank.

Next morning Miriam showed Rachel her new outfit for Christmas Day, a beautiful red dress & bolero, her face broke into a smile and from that moment onward she has transformed into a happy little girl. Collins has spoken to Miriam at length about the abuse that happened at the other institution but as Miriam says with Gods guidance and the child counsellor’s one-to-one sessions he will overcome the terrible sights he has saw. Rachel will be starting our own little school on Monday 5th January and Collins has been admitted to a good local private school. So all is looking good for this brother and sister!!

Latest Additions to the Orphanage 01/12/08

2008-12-03T12:32:00.005Z

A phone call on Monday 1st December could never have prepared us for the day ahead. The Department of Children in Kilifi has two orphaned children who needed rescuing immediately, off we set for the Vyambani Area which is about 30 miles from the orphanage in the interior. We met the village chief as he needs to give hs blessing to the children coming into our custody, first surprise not just two children but a family of six whose father had died four months previous and the mother had died in childbirth on 19th November, the new baby boy died three days later.

The village people were trying to look after them, we were taken into the jungle about 20 mins from the village to their house and at the side was the grave of the mother & the new born baby, three boys, 11, 4 & 3, and three girls 8. 6 & 2 years old. We were told by Department of Children that we could only take the youngest two, then we were told by the chief that we could take them all apart from the 8 & 6 year old girls as they were going to another orphanage, after animated discussions with the Department of Children, they agreed we could take the three youngest children, then the heartbreaking part we had to tell the oldest 11 year old boy that we could not take him as he was too old for our orphanage.

The chief asked us then to take he five children to the courts for committal orders & we had to leave the older boy behind in the village, a lot of tears from us but the children were just so excited to get into the minibus, they had never been in a car before & never saw a road, when we went over Kilifi Creek Bridge they were screaming with delight, we then had to take our three youngest & give the older girls to the woman from a girls orphanage. The three little children never cried just climbed into the back of the minibus and we continued our journey.

Onto Zion Clinic ,which is also run by a charitable organisation from Sweden, for the usual malaria & AIDS test & Thank God they were negative, so we now have another three children in Maguire House, they only speak their native tongue & when they saw the TV in the communal area last night they were asking what is this??

It broke our heart to split the family but as the village people said they will help look after the big boy & it is easier to feed one mouth compared to six. Things like this make us really appreciate what we have and also thankful that by the support we receive, we can help these poor children by giving them a chance when all else has failed.

Back in Kenya

2008-11-30T23:41:00.002Z

Hello to everyone from a very hot & sultry Mombasa, Kevin arrived back on 23rd October and I followed on 13th November, just in time to be Best Man & Best Maid at our friends Nico and Christines Wedding on 15th November. It has been a very hectic time, we are amazed at the support we are receiving from everyone in UK, Ireland and Europe. The money raised makes it easy for us to do our job out here and make a safe secure home for the orphan children.

We opened Maguire House on Friday 28th November and thanks to a donation from Damian & Helen we had a party for everyone, the children had a wonderful time. Our visitors from Dromore, Co. Tyrone, Pat, Marie & Anne did the honours and cut the ribbon on Maguire House, named in memory of Kevins' father Jack so it was also an emotional day for the family.

Luckily as a result of our donations we could afford a much needed minibus which was also handed over to the orphanage on Friday. The recreation area is now complete, it is dedicated to the late Ann Powell, a TV was delivered on Friday and the children spent the evening watching The Jungle Book, they were in awe as many had never seen a TV.

As we always say your donations are making a massive difference and over the next few weeks you will see just how important they are !!!

Fund Raising at Guardian Angels

2008-08-12T12:18:00.002Z

Again Guardian Angels Parish has supported the Good Life Orphanage in different ways over the last two months.

A special end of term mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School celebrating 150 year anniversary of the apparition of Our Blessed Lady to Bernadette at Lourdes ended with the unveiling of two new statues, Donna singing Ave Maria and a presentation of a cheque of £225 to Mary Maguire for The Good Life Orphanage - Thank You

On the final day of term Debbie O'Boyle along with Year 5 pupils from Guardian Angels School presented Sharon with a cheque for £510 which they raised by doing all different things including selling balls for the orphanage- Many Thanks to You all.

John & Monica Cullen were given books by their son & daughter-in-law, Peter & Sue, they arranged a book sale in the Parish Centre & made £126, great work & thank you John & Monica for your continuing support.

Lucy O'Boyle ran The Great Manchester Run and raised £100 - Well Done Lucy

Also a special thanks to Andrew & Jill Smalley - we appreciate your help & support.

Oh What a Night!!

2008-08-12T12:00:00.003Z

We are very lucky to have a wonderful Parish Priest, Father Paul Cannon & his very efficient secretary/organiser/jack of all trades, Sharon Beech. Along with other members of Guardian Angels parish they organised a wonderful evening on 27th June with Mr Jimmy Cricket.

Jimmy and his entourage, wife May, daughter Jamie, Peter and D.J. Jimmy Nicholas aka Elvis arrived a Guardian Angels and gave a wonderful performance, all free of charge.

The local ladies made tasty canapés and the bar staff made alcoholic & non-alcoholic cocktails. Everyone was made to feel very welcome and generously supported the raffle.

Again every penny raised is in the bank ready to go direct to Kenya and with support like this we know the orphanage will be a great success.

Fund Raising in Northern Ireland Part 2

2008-08-01T20:12:00.003Z

Since the beginning of our project The Northern Ireland Contingent have gave us unwavering support. Just recently Vincent managed to get another unbelievable donation from DAFA, which will be wisely spent developing our building project.
Roisin and Fionnulagh O’Neill were busy fun raising again and donated some of their Birthday and Holy Communion money to the orphanage. They also organised a Holy Communion Disco which raised £80. Thanks again girls. Their mummy Donna and Granny Marie rallied all their friend & family and on the 12th July packed bags at the local ASDA in Omagh raising funds for the orphanage.

As we have stated many times, every penny goes direct to Africa, nothing is deducted along the way for airfares or administration, so every penny raised in Tyrone will be spent on the project !!

Pride of Eireann Awards - Manchester 13/06/08

2008-08-01T19:51:00.002Z

Whilst Kevin was in Kenya, I attended The Pride of Eireann Awards at the Palace Hotel in Manchester on 13th June 2008. It was a brilliant night and I was absolutely amazed to receive an award for our charity work at The Good Life Orphanage.
We are so lucky to have a wonderful committee here in Manchester who supports us, Anne-Marie O’Malley, Catherine O’Gara, Karen Kilroe & Mike Flynn are our backbone and without their help we could not succeed in making our dream reality by building The Good Life Orphanage.
A special word of thanks goes to our dear friend Joe Casserley from The Full irish Radio Show who nominated us for the award. See you in Kikambala soon Joe.
Also to Eamon, Colin, Tim & last but by no means least Kay Flynn for listening to us chatter on about how to raise the profile of The Good Life Orphanage. Thanks for your input as well as the scones & jam from Anne-Marie & Catherine's mum- makes the meetings run soo smoothly!
Please go to www.bernieobrien.com to view photos from the night

Kevin's Surprise Visit June 2008

2008-08-01T18:43:00.004Z

A last minute change to the design plans of the community centre meant Kevin paid a surprise visit to the orphanage in late June. He was amazed at the progress of the children, the vegetables, the chicken and the new buildings.

Jackie, the orphanage manager, had everything running like a dream. House-mothers Grace and Jane with the help of our lovely house auntie Purity had the houses spick and span. The biggest transformation was the children, Moses, Caleb and Joshua are healthy, happy young boys. Jane, Gracie and Naomi are demanding little divas and babies Michael, Paul, Roisin and Kay are coming on a treat. A lady from the local village Jocelyn is also employed to help the house mothers and she is doing really well.

The one-acre plot is now producing vegetables and fruit for the houses and whilst Kevin was there the local women came in and killed some chickens, their payment was the head and feet of each chicken they killed!! David and Onesmus are doing a great job.
To see such positive changes makes everything worthwhile and every person who has supported us so far can see just what a difference their donations are making.

Asanta Sana from everyone at The Good Life Orphanage

The Williams Family

2008-07-04T15:26:00.002Z

On Monday 19th May, our local parish Guardian Angels had arranged for a viewing of the new 27 minute DVD we had taken whilst in Kenya. We were very pleased to see everyone and very surprised by the special presentation they had arranged for Kevin & myself. The Williams' Boys, Leon, Ben and Jack had completed the 1km Run the previous weekend and gave us a cheque for £200, it was a wonderful achievement for the boys who came along with Mum, Dad, Grandma, Grandad and Uncle Chris to present the cheque. The boys worked very hard telling each and every person they met about The Good Life Orphanage.

A special Thank You to Mum Terese who thought she would be walking around the 1km with Leon but ended up running it as well. Also congratulations to Dad, Tom , and Uncle Chris who completed the 26km run for Cafod.

Asanta Sana to you all !!!

New Queens of the Car Boot

2008-06-30T13:00:00.002Z

We have had to relinquish our crowns as “Queens of the Car Boot”; the Co. Tyrone contingent has taken over. Marie, Donna, Rosemary, Emma, Roisin, Fionnaulagh & Sinead are the new queens. They have surpassed our feeble attempts and are now very experienced & successful Car Boot Queens!!!

A special thanks goes to Pat Watters whose new garage is now Marie’s stock room for the car boots. There are clothes, children’s toys, prams, shoes and lots of bric a brac everywhere. Also Anton who arrange the display for the jewellery, which attracted lots of customers.
Well Done to you all xx

1st Official Visitors 14th May 2008

2008-06-22T22:01:00.005Z

Because of the post election violence tourists have stopped visiting Kenya, there is a very serious knock on effect as many charitable projects have very little financial support, an email from Jackie told us different!! Our Ist Official Visitors were two very important & lovely people.

We are very lucky to have met some very good friends via Trip Advisor website, Edna & Brian Elliott hail from Plymouth. The support a local orphanage near ours The Lioness Cubs but still found time to visit our orphanage with food and gifts for the children and staff.

People like Edna and Brian are hard to find and we count ourselves very lucky to have their friendship.

We were amazed to receive these photos, it shows the progress of the children and our farm project.

Asanta Sana to Edna & Brian

Fund Raising in Northern Ireland

2008-06-22T13:53:00.002Z

Whilst we have been busy in Africa, our very strong support network has been raising money for the project through many different & diverse ways!!
Firstly Eamon & Audrey Maguire used their own interest in traditional Irish Music and dancing to organise a very successful night at St Patricks Hall, Dromore, Co. Tyrone. Never mind the endless rain & hail they sold all the tickets and showed the short DVD of the orphanage so far to get even more money.
Marie Watters & daughter Donna O’Neill tramped the streets of Tyrone selling tickets for a beautiful painting of an Easter Lily to raise funds again. The draw was made on with local councillor Anne Quinn.
Last but by no means least Vincent Maguire who organised a Gala Night in The Mellon Country Hotel outside Omagh. The MC was Gary O'Brien from TV Chanel 'At the Races'
The forum consisted of Ferdy Murphy, trainer...Timmy Murphy, jockey. John Carr, Champion Hurdle winning trainer and Ireland's top amateur Jason McKeown
Also present were legendary gambler Barney Curley, Mr Barney Eastwood; world boxing champion Dave Boy McCullagh, Tryone manager Mickey Harte, Tyrone footballing legend Frank Mc Guigan and a host of local personalities.
The night was a great success with a phenomenal amount of money raised.
It is the hard work of these people that ensure the development of the project and without them raising the funds we could only carry out limited work in Kenya.

Heading Home

2008-05-20T12:55:00.003Z

Friday 2nd May 2008, 9.15am local time, getting the plane at 7.30pm from Mombasa to Nairobi connecting to Amsterdam and onto Manchester, please come to Coast General Hospital where four babies are ready to be discharged into your custody at the orphanage. Nico, one of our Kenyan trustees had spent the previous three days working with the local children’s department making sure everything was in place for the release of the babies. There was just four more signatures to get from hospital personnel but unfortunately the lady who signs the release forms first & sets off a chain of signatures was in a meeting, Caroline the young social worker went from office to office getting everything in place and at 3.15pm we were allowed into the nursery to pick up the babies.

Little Kay is only 1.7kg, a premature baby who was abandoned in the hospital when the mother realised the baby was in poor health but a proper little girl she has battled and now is gaining weight.
Roisin a 17 day old little girl who was abandoned shortly after birth but due to the timescale between the birth and when she was found by a good Samaritan, she has been traumatised but thank God she is doing well.

Baby Paul, aptly named after one of the best footballers in the world, Paul Scholes, a lovely little boy abandoned shortly after birth and about two weeks old. We have very high hopes for this young boy, a professional footballer maybe.

And finally Komoto, a beautiful young girl who celebrated her 1st Birthday on 3rd May at the orphanage. Komoto was born with a large growth on her skull, her mother left her shortly after birth and she has been in Coast General Hospital since, no other home would take her due to the birth defect. She cannot sit up but her new housemother Jane is spending time exercising her lower back and legs. Over the next six months we will have a neurologist examine Komoto and hopefully there maybe some surgical procedure to remove part of the growth. Either way she will spend a very happy, peaceful life in the orphanage being well looked after and receiving love & affection from her new family in Flynn House.

With only one hour to go Kevin managed to edit the DVD and catch the flight, pressure and stress but all worthwhile. We have returned now to Manchester & feel relieved that there are now ten children in the orphanage enjoying a new life. This has only been made possible with the generous donations and unbelievable support we have received from each & every one of you. ASANTE SANA

A Typical Monday in Mombasa

2008-05-20T11:41:00.003Z

A Typical Monday in Mombasa

What started as a shopping trip for office stationary in Mombasa ended with another three boys in our orphanage. A phone call from the Department of Children to come immediately to their offices where three young boys, Moses 5 years old, Caleb 3 years old and little Joshua 2 years old, had been removed from another orphanage where they had been very badly treated. The boys were in a terrible state, malnourished with malaria. The authorities had closed the other orphanage and the boys had not received a meal for the past 48 hours.

Jackie, our manager, cooked the boys a lovely meal of beef stew and ugali which they woofed down. They were very scared and disoriented but had a little play on the swings and slides. We brought them to the local doctor the following morning who took blood tests which showed chest infections, malnutrition and malaria. After a struggle the boys received injections and medication to cure their conditions.

Their little bodies were marked and when Jackie enquired, Moses told her how they were beaten and burnt by the people who ran the other orphanage. Unfortunately some establishments use the children as a means to get money from tourists, the dirtier & thinner the child, the more money they get. People do not realise they are being conned and often make substantial donations which are just spent foolishly, never on the children or the orphanages.

After five days the boys are more settled but still very wary of men. Moses has started the local school and by all accounts is a very bright intelligent boy. It will just take time and hard work to gain the boy’s trust but our team are very committed and with the help of a child counselor we will ensure they receive whatever help they need.

The First Children!

2008-04-28T08:55:00.002Z

Are you sitting down, yes after weeks of going from one government department to the other we finally got our first two babies today, the court hearing started at 9.00am & we got the children out of the hospital at 4.10pm, never knew there were so many pieces of paper to be signed, we then asked for our papers relating to the children, a one page Court Order & a letter from the Department of Children telling where the children were found by Good Samaritans, that's all they know.

Gracie is a six month old girl who is malnourished & needs TLC, Michael is a beautiful baby boy about 8 weeks old we think, they don't know when they were born so it just a guess by their size. It was a very humbling experience going into the hospital to pick them up, two sometimes three little babies in a cot, they don't cry because no-one responds to them so they just lie there & look up at the ceiling, they are so helpless. There are other orphaned abandoned children in the hospital but because there is no budget to feed them, they only get two small cups of milk per day, imagine a newborn baby trying to feed from a plastic cup because there are no bottles.

Thanks for the prayers, they were answered!

It Has Been A Great Week ...

2008-04-04T12:39:00.003Z

It has been a great week, all the prayers you have all been saying for us have been answered, after a shaky start on Monday with trying to make sure everything was in place, the Department of Children Inspection team of six along with six other people from neighbouring orphanages came yesterday, they could not believe the project and the concept we are working on. When the youth officer saw the acre farming plot he was delighted as he said as in many countries people emphasise on becoming doctors, lawyers or bankers but no-one encourages children to work the land and be able to be self sufficient on what their surroundings have to offer. When we explained about our plans to encourage the more academic children to continue their education & the children gifted with their hands to learn a trade he was delighted, as the less academic gifted children in this country are just pushed to one side.

When they arrived Peter (a trustee) and Matron Josephine did the grand tour, they met the House Mothers & House Auntie, the girls had the place spotlessly clean and made everyone feel very welcome. Then after about an hour of looking around they interviewed Peter, Josephine, Kevin and myself about what we wish to achieve & what way we are going to run the orphanage. The most unusual question "How many children will be sharing clothing"?, when we said every child will have their own towels, bedding & clothing they were amazed! They enquired about the admission criteria and the children being 0-5 years, we said that although we know there are many orphans we feel that the younger children can benefit more from our project if the grow up within it from a young age and they agreed with our plans. At the end they said the orphanage will be registered in Kenya as a Charitable Children's Institute and we have to contact them on Monday to see when our first children are being admitted.

What a relief, we now can concentrate on the most important thing, bringing these poor little orphans into the orphanage & giving them a better life & thats what it is all about. We will make sure each orphan comes directly from the Department of Children & we have a committal order with each child's background & their parents' death certificates. Our Matron, Josephine, seems very capable so she will deal with the day to day running of the project, over the next four weeks we have lots of paperwork to get in place, needless to say Kevin is now planning a few days fishing as his typing skills leave a lot to be desired and he has worked so hard on getting the buildings and plot into shape, the matron has allowed him a few days off - believe it or not she told him off the other day for driving too fast and rising dust, she is a very brave woman!

Soooooooo Hot!

2008-03-20T11:08:00.001Z

We are amazed at the progress on the orphanage site over the past two weeks. After our initial worry about hold-ups because of the post elections violence, everything has more or less gone to plan.

The special blue sheets for the house roofs have arrived and the houses are on target for being complete on 17th March apart from the last coats of gloss paint on the walls so they can be wiped down. The roofing sheets for the stores/offices are going to be another three weeks so we have decided to use alternative ones, as the main store area needs to be utilised for food supplies as soon as possible.

Although we were told that the electricity supply could not be connected for at least another month, we used our contacts and the electric poles were erected on Friday. The trenches have been dug through the compound for the ducting so we should have water from the borehole on Friday next week.

David, our Farm Manager, moved lock, stock & barrel with his family last Thursday to two rented rooms near the orphanage whilst his little house on the compound is being built. David, Janet & their three children & his orphaned niece climbed into our car to start the one hour journey from Mombasa to the orphanage, they then realised they had forgotten the chicken which Kevin had to put in the back of the car along with the children, it’s a little different moving house over here, no Pickfords to pack & unpack the boxes. They are overjoyed and are looking forward to living the simple life in the country. The children are attending the local school and David is working very hard preparing the land. The trees have been removed and the local farmer has ploughed the land. The manure is being delivered this week by donkey & cart. Kevin & Jill Beale who live in Vipingo are giving us banana plants to start off our vegetable & fruit area.

The local fundi have begun to build the play area, with the main feature being a wooden elevated area with a makutu roof for shade for the children. We have ordered the slides & the men onsite are making the swings, climbing frames & seesaws; it will be heaven for the children coming into the orphanage. A large tree has been left in the area around which we are making a seat where the House Mothers can sit & chat.

The next four weeks are vital now as we are in the final stages of preparation for the first children being admitted to the project. We are very excited and apprehensive as we hope our dream for a better life for these children will prove to be a success.