Twiga Centre

People ask what the children do when they visit Twiga Children's Centre. Here's the answer.

With music, so make sure your speakers are on!

Home Alone

The Kenya that tourists don't see ... maybe don't want to see.

But it is there, regardless!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/rich_media/kenya_slideshow_feature.shtml

Swing High, Swing Low ...

The Swing

The upright is erected

Then the crossbar is positioned

Marking up

Here we go ...

Testing for strength (or acting like a big kid)

Brian [minor], being light, gets to test the swing

Dennis puts it through its paces

From his expression, I guess it passed the test!

Edwin was next to go ...

and also approved of the new acquisition

Aloys, for all his swagger, was very careful

He doesn't look happy, does he?

Oh, now he does.

Nyachuba is the first girl to have a go.

... followed by Catherine, one of our new girls

Then it was  time to try tandem.

Catherine gives her little sister, Ivy a ride

Brian, of course, just had to use it as a climbing frame.

... while Christine uses the swing

Cliff and Brian

Steve gets a go - eventually

Dreaming

Goals for 2010

A new year, so we need to set goals.

Having had a major re-think last year, we decided that we will continue to give support to our children, keeping them within a family unit wherever possible, whether that be a single parent, grandparents of older siblings.

However, we have three, maybe four families where the children would benefit from residential care. To this end, we have redrawn our plans for building a residential unit at Twiga.

This will comprise two small dormitories, with four sets of bunks in each. The existing hut, which has three rooms will  be converted to that the smaller front room will become the kitchen/office, the small back room will be sleeping quarters for the 24/7 carer and that large room will be the dining/study/leisure area.

We will also need to construct washing facilities and a toilet block - a deep-pit has already been dug for the latrine.

The kitchen already has a 3-ring tabletop gas cooker, which will burn methane from an anaerobic digester that was constructed on site by KCIS last year. 

Local, traditional building materials will be used to keep costs down, but we will still need to acquire poles, cement, roofing sheets, window and door frames, as well as furniture and equipment, such as a generator (or we could be connected to the electricity grid, if we can get a regular income).

-oOo-

In conjunction with KCIS, we have extended our vegetable plot at the Twiga centre, where we are now growing peas and beans as well as kale. We are also trying to grow sugar cane. This is a good source of natural sugar and its due to its fibrous nature, it also keeps the children's teeth clean while they are chewing it.

-oOo-

Last year, we constructed a swing. This has proved to be very popular, so we will be looking at constructing other playground equipment this year - a see-saw, and maybe a climbing frame. 

Well, for the moment, that is it, although i am sure that other projects will appear as the year progresses.

Dare We Hope?

Also posted on the Kenyan community initiative Support blog
We have just received an enquiry regarding our plans to build a small residential unit at the Twiga Children's Centre, something that has always been on the "To-Do" list, but which has never had the funding.
As we had a change of direction regarding residential care of our children, we now need a lot fewer places than originally envisaged. We are going to offer support to family units where there is a capable adult, rather than just take the children into care automatically. But we still have six children who are either total orphans or totally abandoned by parents. These need residential care that, at present, we cannot offer.
 So, last night, I was re-drawing building plans, and sending out requests for costings of materials. I have never constructed a building in my life, not even a garden shed, so I am bound to have forgotten stuff - like window frames and doors, pretty fundamental really!
Luckily, Vincent, the other director has build things in Kenya and is well used to traditional building methods, so I passed my initial workings-out to him.
We are planning on two "huts", each with 4 sets of bunks. The existing hut is split into three rooms, which will become the kitchen, matron's quarters and dining/study area. I have designed in a shower block, but we will need to build toilets. We have already started a deep-pit latrine, so we are wll on the way.
 Using traditional building materials should cut costs considerably, but we want concrete floors and corrugated sheet roofing.
 Of course, we will need to buy the bunks, a unit for each child to keep clothes and personal belongings, as well as furniture for the matron's quarters.
Then there are the running costs, food, wages for the adult supervisor (or matron), electricity (dare we?), clothing, books, etc.
But I will worry about these costs once the huts have been built. Let's cross one bridge at the time!

The Children Cook a Meal

It was Sunday. About 15 children were at the Twiga centre, where they were letting off steam and remembering what it was like to be a child for a while.

But they were hungry. They had been given sugar cane, as much to help clean their teeth as to give them the energy from the sugar itself, but they were still hungry.

We were about to find a couple of volunteers to cook a meal when Aloys (13) said that he wanted to cook, as long as someone provided the ingredients. He was despatched to the local shop clutching a Ksh 200 note and soon came back with kale, tomatoes, onions and a bit of meat - probably goat. We already had maize flour in stock and he set about getting a fire going.

Looking for firewood was just the excuse that two of the younger lads to shin up the tall trees on the plot. These trees don't have branches below about 20 feet. They literally shinned up!

Firewood collected, stones placed to make a fireplace, Dennis, kneeling down to blow the flames into life and Aloys started to prepare the Ugali. Meanwhile, some of the girls were in the hut preparing the vegetables. But what was going on outside was far more entertaining!

Aloys had not placed the stones well and as he stirred the ugali, and it thickened, he could not keep the pot still. Dennis, on his knees, cheek on the ground was still blowing on the fire, but had to jump up to grab the pot to steady it, using leaves and bits of card to protect his fingers.

As soon as the ugali was ready, the girls turfed Aloys out of the cooking area. He was not going to get all the credit for the meal.

Soon, sukuma wiki was on the go and not long afterwards, the girls were serving up.

Baba Mzungu is not keen on sukuma wiki and ugali, so was not served. However, as soon as Aloys finished his meal, he shot back outside, fanned the fire and made himself busy. Soon, he presented Baba Mzungu with two hard-boiled eggs and salt.

The boy is very thoughtful. Having asked Vincent if Baba Mzungu took ugali and being told that he didn't, he had made a meal for one. OK, two boiled eggs is not a lot, but with a budget of Ksh 200 and 15 mouths to feed, it was a nice thought.

But then, that's is what we would expect from Aloys.


Also posted on the KCIS Blog

Generous People Will Make It Christmas At Twiga

Originally posted on BabaMzungu

Since the beginning of 2008, I have been collecting old cell phones for sale in Kenya. Last year, this effort raised enough to buy all our kids a new pair of leather schools shoes!
I have continued to collect cell phones, but they are becoming rarer. So I put out a plea for toys and games, as we approach Christmas - and my departure for Kenya.

Orphaned kids in Kenya don't do Christmas. They go to church, but other than that, Christmas Day is just another day to survive.

Anyway, I just want to say a big thank you to Sophie, 10 years old, who lives in Newbury. She has given up her complete collection of Barbie dolls, 15 of them! Her little brothers gave 4 or 5 cars and a few other bits and bobs.

Anne, also from Newbury, gave us a load of cuddly toys, and some games, such as chess, draughts and card games and a junior Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Mia, a South African, also from Newbury gave us some games and some seed for our vegetable plot.

Our kids at Twiga are going to have one very good Christmas, even if it will be a little early - I will be back in the UK for the day.

But we still need money to feed them (and to build the much needed children's home), so if anyone is feeling generous, or wants to do some fund-raising, please feel free. Donations can be made with the PayPal button in the right margin of our KCIS blog page.

Raising Our Profile in the UK

What do we need? Funds!

When do we need it? Now!

How do we get it? We raise the profile of our parent organisation, KCIS and feature our children.

A reporter from BBC Radio Berkshire in the UK, Nejra Cehic, recently visited Kisii and met Vincent & Abigael as well as some of the children. She recorded a lot of things in Kisii and these were broadcast over two weeks, on 9th and 16th August. They have also put a slideshow on their website, which you can see here.

Let us hope that the good people of Berkshire will respond with kindness.

Things are moving along - at last!

During his visit in May 2009, Baba Mzungu organised the clearance of a plot and the sowing of seed that he had brought from England. We planted cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, leek, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, beetroot and butternut squash.

All the seed has taken and the kids, with help from Vincent are now tending the crops.

We are hoping that because the climate in Kisii does not change much through the year, we will be able to grow vegetables all year round, which will help feed the Twiga kids.

Baba Mzungu is on his way - at last!

Hi Kids

It has been a difficult year for all of us, and for me, raising funds for the next stage of the Twiga project (that's you) has been very worrying.

We still don't have the money we need to do everything we want to do, but at least we can start. This time, we will be clearing some of the land at the plot so that we (that's you) can sow seed for vegetables and fruits that you can then eat.

We will also be looking at making fertiliser, filtering and purifying your drinking water, and if we get time, mosquito control.

If we get time, I want to put a swing on the plot, and maybe make a seesaw for the younger ones.

So, we will be busy, but I am sure you will enjoy yourselves.

Baadaye

Baba Mzungu

To The Kids of TWIGA

This is Baba Mzungu and I can assure all the Children of Twiga that I will be coming out to Kenya ... but just not yet.
As in Kenya, the UK is going through a bad period financially and it is very difficult to raise the money for my trip, but I will do it!
Why? Because, Children of Twiga, we have a lot to do. We are going to start growing vegetables and fruit on the plot. We are going to improve the cottage so that after working on the plot (and no doubt getting very dirty, Edwin, Dennis, Henry, Davis, Aloys), you will be able to have a shower to clean off.
We will be looking at producing electricity, rainwater collection, clean, pure drinking water, warm water for washing, gas for cooking - in fact between us, we are going to improve the plot a lot.
We might even get around to looking at breeding fish to eat, but that maybe for another time - we'll see.
So, Children of Twiga, I will be coming and I will be working hard, with your help.

Oops! Baba Mzungu isn't coming ...

Oh well. It was too good. Everything was in place in the UK for BM to come t o Kenya. He misses seeing his girlfriend on the Coast, and he misses the kids at Twiga. And he misses the warmth of our greetings and the warmth of the climate.

But he has been hit by the cold of the economic climate that is affecting so many countries and has had to postpone his trip for a while.

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.

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.

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.