491 participate in the 2021 (virtual) Kenya Marafun

 

As the sun rose at 6.30 on Saturday morning, 26 June, the Sunshine Boys were flagged off for this year's (virtual) Kenya Marafun. It is one of the highlights of the year for the boys, and their way of helping us raise funds. Accompanied by Sunshine Centre staff, the boys raced around a 5 km course on the roads near the Centre. The boys were supported in Kenya by students and staff from Naivasha Technical Training Institue and Bishop Wambari Girl's Secondary School, bringing the total number taking part in Kenya to 435. Although visitors from other coutnries could not travel to Kenya to take part, 56 others took part in England, Wales and USA (three dogs enoyed particiating, too!). The event raised funds to pay for food, education, staff and hygiene products.

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Have laptop, will study!

Ben Ndichu left home and went to live on the streets in 2007 when he was 10 years old, driven by poverty at home. His mother worked hard to earn enough to feed the family, but his father, who was a carpenter, was an alcoholic who contributed little but problems to his family. Ben and his four sisters and brother were unable able to go to school and lived in slum conditions.

After he left home, Ben remained on the streets of Naivasha for two years. At night he was cold, and he spent each day scavenging for food from the remains of meals thrown into dustbins by hotels. He lived in fear of being bullied by bigger street boys.

One Saturday in early 2009, as Ben was roaming the streets as usual, he approached a passer-by and begged for food. The man gave him 100 shillings (about £1) and told him to go and buy some milk and mandazi (Kenyan doughnuts), and to come back with the change and share his life story. 

Ben did as he was told. The person he was talking to was Rev Simon Kinyanjui, the director of our Sunshine street boys’ rehabilitation Centre. Having heard Ben’s story, Rev Simon offered him a place at the Centre, and once he had settled, enrolled him into the local school to resume his education. Ben loved football, and was soon a key member of the Sunshine Centre team.

He completed school in 2019, but, like most young people around the globe, Covid disrupted his education and he had to wait until February this year before commencing a vocational training course in leather and tanning technology at Kenya Industrial Training Institute in Nakuru. The photo shows him heading off to start his second terms, complete with a laptop that is essential to access on-line lessons and information.

Rise in Covid brings renewed disruption and hardship in Kenya

 - our team in Naivasha re-starts the emergency aid programme as Kenya locks down again

An emergency pack of flour, fresh vegetables, cooking oil and soap brings a smile to the face of former street boy John Mbugua as the latest Covid restrictions come into force in Kenya.

On 26th March, Kenya's President Kenyatta ordered travel restrictions across 5 major counties and closure of hospitality businesses and places of worship, coupled with a halt to all in-person learning in Kenyan schools, colleges and universities.

The former street boys we care for at our Sunshine Centre, who had just settled back into school were sent home. Their parents, many of whom have lost their sources of income because of the restrictions, faced the impossible burden of feeding their boys for at least 7 weeks until the restrictions ease.

Our team in Naivasha immediately re-started the emergency aid programme which was so successful last year in keeping the boys and their families well-fed, and ensuring the boys stayed at home rather than drifting back into street life. 

Mastin, Achaya, Nelson, Mary and Augustine safely home in Kinamba with their emergency food and hygiene pack.

In April, our team reached 112 families with emergency packs, a total of 678 individual beneficiaries. We increased the size of the packs to try to make them last until the Covid restrictions are lifted.

Our school kitchen was pulled down when the road was widened

 Most of the children who come to Church on the Rock School live in narrow streets of tiny one- or two-roomed houses made of corrugated iron sheets. There is no piped water, and most have no electricity. The school meals we fund boost the children's health and encourage the children to come to school to learn.

School director Ruth Ndetei reports on how the first term of the 'new normal' is going:

The children are enjoying their meals at school. I took the photos on two different days - during the rice meal day and the "githeri" (beans and maize) day. As you can see, we have a new cook. Her name is Josephine Nyambega, and she is also a parent at the school.

We are preparing the meals from our office upstairs and serving them in the classrooms because our kitchen was pulled down due to road expansion. The compound is a little smaller, but we only lost the kitchen and the small classroom that was next to the road.

Thank you for your support. At the moment we have a total of 330 pupils at the school, and the meals are a great help to the children. Please let your donors know that the donations they give are making a big difference. God bless. 

I'm safe...I'm at university

 

The disadvantaged young people we support in Kenya have stayed safe during the Covid crisis. As universities, colleges and schools re-open, they are now re-starting lives which have been on hold during the lockdown.

Mike Okwara has taken a big step on from the Tumaini Children's Home in Mombasa to study computer science at Chuka University (photo above left).

Former street boy Samuel Njoroge (right), started his purchasing management course at Taita Taveta University while Eric Chege (middle) was thankful he could at last resume his interrupted economics and statistics course at South Eastern University.

Read more in our Jan 2021 newsletter....

Christmas aid packs for families in Nairobi slums

 

When the Kenya government closed all schools in March to combat Covid, the 350 students at Church on the Rock School in Nairobi's kwa Reuben slum no longer had access to their free school meals.

For many poor families living in this informal settlement, school lunches were their main meal for the day. With no end to the schools closure in sight, we launched an emergency aid plan in August last year to help 100 of the poorest families, and to support the teachers who were going without pay.

With the school scheduled to reopen in January, the final round of monthly packs was issued on 23rd December, in time to bring smiles to the faces of the children (and their parents) for Christmas.

Over a period of 6 months, the staff at the school issued 529 packs, helping keep the children healthy and ready to return to school.

Grace's dream is back on track

Ever since leaving the care of our Tumaini Children's Home, Grace has wanted to be a teacher. But her dreams were put on hold when Covid 19 shut down schools and her Early Childhod Development and Education course was suspended.    

But she is happy now that she has been able to resume her studies (complete with obligatory face mask!). She has one more year to go before she realises her dream of teaching reception year children.