Krismasi Njema

The children and staff of Twiga Children's Home would like to wish all our friends, followers and supporters a

Very Merry Christmas.

Baba Mzungu is Coming

This is probably not as exciting as Santa Claus to the children, but I fear that Father Christmas will not be coming this year, not because the children have been naughty, but because food is too expensive and we cannot afford anything else.

And I know that when David arrives, we will all be very busy starting up the farm, designing water treatment systems and starting an education programme to reduce malaria in our area, and maybe planning the building of our new orphanage.

But I am sure that he will take time off on a Saturday or Sunday and give all the children at Twiga one BIG party!

Now that's something to look forward to, isn't it?

Christmas is Coming

Oh dear. The kids are beginning to ask if they are going to get presents this year.

Last year, because of the elections and the subsequent violence, causing food price rises, they didn't get any - not until the people of Woolton Hill and Highclere villages in southern England held an appeal. The kids, all the kids, got a new pair of school shoes. The also had two parties in March, with food and games.

This year, the global economic crisis has forced the cost of food up again. The price of maize flour, the staple food in Kenya has risen 300%, so it looks as if, once again, there will be no presents under the tree this year.

Luckily, the children understand this. They know that we are struggling just to make sure they have at least one good meal a day, shoes on their feet, a school uniform so they can get an education.

They also know that they are luckier than some. At least they are fed, they have shelter, they have clothes, they have schooling, they have medicine if they are ill. Not all Kenyan children are so lucky.

But it doesn't stop them from asking if they are going to get a present this year. They are, after all, children.

... and a Friendly Name

Since the amalgamation of Mercy Gate CCH and KCIS, I have been worrying that KCIS Child Support Centre is a bit "cold" as a name for a children's home. It is a joyless name, and the kids there are full of joy.
So, I was talking to Vincent yesterday and mentioned my concerns. I put forward the idea that we could have an animal in the name and eventually settled on a giraffe.
So, the "friendly" name for the KCIS Child Support Centre will be Twiga Children's Centre.
[For those who do not speak Swahili, Twiga is a giraffe.]

... and a new Logo

OK, we have merged, changed the name and now we have a logo!

This will slowly be appearing the Child Centre website as well as the KCIS website

But bear with us - this is a lot of work

Our New Name

Having merged with KCIS, and Mercy Gate now being an integral part of the organisation, we have changed the name.

We have decided that we want to offer more than just a home for the homeless. There are children who are abused, used as child labour, children who have still not found their families after the post-election violence, and we want to include them under our umbrella.

So, the new name for the children's home is KCIS Child Support Centre. It may not be the mos imaginative, but we hope it tells any child who needs help that we are there for them.

Merger

Read into this what you will, but David, from ACIS, who supported our children's home has decided to form a new non-profit organisation, Kenyan Community Initiative Support, with Vincent, the director of the home. This new organisation will be based in Kisii.

We have decided to merge Mercy Gate Champion Children's Home with KCIS and the home will be given a new name. The kids are the same, the people who run it are the same, but we will have a far stronger affiliation with KCIS, which will give far more official support to the home.

ACIS and Mercy Gate as organisations did very little for the home. Only David from ACIS really took any interest, so when he decided to form KCIS with us, it seemed like a better idea.

The directors of KCIS are also the owners of a small but growing business in Kisii, Kenanda-Steggall Exports, which will put money into KCIS and we hope that this will make KCIS less dependent on donations, which are becoming few and far between, which is not surprising, given the financial difficulties in the developed world.

Newsletter

We have decided to produce a newsletter that will document some of the things happening at Mercy Gate, anecdotes, news, etc.

We are hoping that eventually, some of the older children may be able to contribute, but that is for the future. In the meantime, we are in full swing to get our first issue out.

It will be circulated over the Internet to friends of Mercy Gate Champion Children's Home.
If you would like a copy, please contact David

More of our Children

To see more of our children, you can go to the link to another blog, Kenyan Community Initiative Support.

Our Children

We have about 35 children in our care. This number changes from time to time. Some of the children are placed with us because their parents are ill. When they are better, the children are returned to them.


Here are a few of them.


Davis, born 1999


Davis's father died in a road accident in 1999 the same year that Davis was born. His mother is unable to look after Davis or his older sister Vannessa as she has no income.

Davis has a permanent smile on his face. He works well at school and is developing well.


He likes to make things, a recent achievement was a truck that is able to empty its load by operating a lever.


Vanessa
Vanessa is Davis's sister. She is about 11 years old and very shy.

Obviously, her situation is the same as for Davis.

Kids are kids the world over.

Josephat and Benta were playing in the compound the other day.

Benta was cleaning Josephat's wound (a small scratch on his hand) and declared that she was going to be a doctor when she grew up (she is 5 years old).

Josephat immediately decided that he was going to be a pilot - not when he is grown up, but when he gets home from school - Josephat is four!

He is going to get a plane and take all the orphanage children on a trip - after school!

He then ran around the compound, arms outstretched, flying his plane, as any little boy would.

Kids everywhere, no matter what their circumstances are , or which country they live in, have the same dreams.

These two little children with their dreams could have been from any First World country, rather than from an orphanage in a provincial town in rural Kenya.

Davis, who is 9, has shown that he has an engineering mind.

He has built a tipper truck from an old plastic container. This toy really tips the sand out of the back, just like the real thing!

A visit from a mzungu (ACIS)

It was arranged long ago, but eventually, the man from England, who is the UK representative of African Community Initiative Support and his Nairobi colleague, Dominic Muindi, finally arrived, hot, tired and hungry.
After a wash, a meal and copious amounts of tea, we took the two visitors to one of the annexes where some of the children live.
The kids, five of them, were sitting waiting for their supper when David mzungu walked in on them. The youngest child, Josephat, fell off his stool in surprise!
He soon recovered and ate his meal sitting on the lap of this strange being.

The following morning, the five kids and our two visitors met at our home, where all the kids wanted to try David's hat and have their pictures taken. This done, we all went to the orphanage plot, where eventually about 25 kids congregated. David had brought smoe small gifts for each child that had been collected by the people in his villagein England and these were distributed. David had also brought two frisbees which were an immediate hit with the children, especially the boys.