A team from Christ First Church, Watford funded a new water tank and fresh paint for dormitories...then visited Kenya and rolled up their sleeves to help.
The 260,000 litre water tank will capture and store rainwater so that the 500 children at Karai Primary School, Naivasha have clean water to drink and to wash their hands.
There is no piped water to the school which relies on infrequent deliveries of poor quality water from a nearby borehole.
"Thank you for helping our school," said Mr Githau, the headmaster. "You have truly blessed us and our children."
70 former street boys from our Sunshine Centre attend the school which is attended by children from the local community.
As well as helping build the rainwater storage tank the Christ First team provided funds to paint the 10 dormitories at the Sunshine Centre.
The UK visitors gave the local craftsmen a hand, helping to lay stones and mix mortar for the water tank, and painting the dormitories an variety of dazzling shades! The team's visit coincided with school half-term holidays, so the Sunshine Boys who are at high school lent a hand too, led by Bonnie.
The UK team took time to find out about the lives of our former street boys. They made a memorable visit to meet Frederick Kabete's great-grandmother, Nyambura (pictured in front of her house with Frederick in school uniform, and one of his sisters). Although she is 85 years old, Nyambura still works at the quarry crushing stone with a hammer. She earns between 30 and 60 pence a day which she uses to help Frederick's 5 siblings.
One of the highlights of our visit was the walk from the Sunshine Centre to the Lake Naivasha Crescent Camp (our luxury ‘glamping’ accommodation) where the Sunshine Boys enjoyed a refreshing swim in the hotel pool.
Other highlights of included:
1. Meeting Cyrus Waweru who is the first former street boy at the Sunshine Centre to be awarded a degree. He has just graduated from Mt Kenya University with a 2.1 degree in Business and Information Technology.
2. Naomi Amwayi (on the right with the cake) has just started a diploma course in hospitality and catering. We first met her in 2000 and cared for her at the Tumaini Children’s Home in Mombasa for many years.
3 With the help of grants from local Rotary Clubs, we have established a library and computer room at the Sunshine Centre.
Our social worker Simon Kuria said: “The novels will help us develop a reading culture among the boys that will improve their English. We will also help the boys to learn basic computing which is a key skill when looking for work in Kenya.
