Yesterday was the final full day of David's Kenya visit.
 
"In preparing for this trip, we launched a small appeal to fund some items for the supported nurseries such as toys, books and other equipment. Just under £500 was raised and we spent a good chunk of that in the nearest town – Thika - prior to my final visit to Mukuyu Primary School. A van full of new gear arrived with us, and we helped unload boxes into the classroom. The children were thrilled to receive their new reading books, skipping ropes, hoola-hoops and other little toys. We also bought some mattresses for the nursery kids, who often need to take a nap in the late morning, especially when it gets really hot. Until today, they were sleeping on blankets on the floor. Another van is on its way to Oaklands today with a similar consignment.

You can still donate to this appeal here.
 
A good friend of Kipawa, Dave Shepherd, very sadly died last year and his family was keen that donations made in his memory were used to fund some sporting activities. Some of the money they donated was spent today on footballs for some budding Kenyan football stars of the future.

The afternoon was spent mostly with our partner organisation in Kenya, the Macheo Foundation. I met with Marnix, its Director, and others in the team to talk through the past couple of days, the general performance of the programmes over the past year, and our plans for 2018. This included:

• Discussing activities by the new Monitoring & Evaluation team with James & Humphrey – they showed how the AKIDA referral system used by social workers in the field, linking with Business Intelligence software at the office, is being developed to identify need across several themes, assisting with budget projections and helping to demonstrate actual impact for the monies spent. This is a work in progress but we should see some outputs from that work by January.  
  
• A good chat with the new Communications lead, Branice – we spoke about Kipawa’s desire to get more frequent updates from the projects we support in Ruiru. We want to see more regular feedback about the people we are helping and their communities, and how our funding is making a long-term difference. Our donors and supporters can expect to see more of this kind of material in the coming months.
  
• And some time with Julie, who leads the Finance team – on behalf of Kipawa and our donors, I did a mini-audit of the accounts process and systems used by Macheo for its administration of the near £40,000 they spend on our behalf in Ruiru. We spoke about the work they’re doing on unit costs, on accounting for indirect back-office costs (currently less than 5%) and how they’re developing projections for 2018. And she was more than happy to show off her new hairstyle purely to make me jealous…
  

As he dropped me off in Nairobi tonight, Marnix made a few comments to camera about the relationship between Kipawa and Macheo and the goodwork being done (sorry the video's a wee bit dark).

Finally, on the way back to Nairobi today we went to see a young man called Idris, whom some of our trustees have known for nearly 10 years now. Then, he was a 3 year old living in a child rescue centre, left there by his mother who couldn't cope with his special needs - both physical and learning disabilities. He also had epilepsy and needed 24 hour supervision, with no serious effort being made to support his development. 
 
When that rescue centre closed, Macheo took him in and have worked hard on a series of interventions. He got physiotherapy to help with mobility, medication to reduce the seizures and help on daily living tasks like washing, dressing and toilet use. Importantly, they also forged a reconnection with his mother, whom he now sees three or four times a year. 

With financial support provided by some of our trustees, Idris is now attending a specialist boarding school half an hour away from Macheo with other kids of his age and with similar needs. And he's doing well - running around, able to use his hands properly, engaged, saying a few words, and with very few seizures. He remains the smiley, happy boy he was all those years ago - but one with a brighter future ahead. 

A lovely way to finish the trip."

Another busy day, full-on out visiting our projects from 9am through to 7pm today.

Much of it was spent at Oaklands Primary School, which we’ve only been supporting since 2016. It was my first trip there and it was quite an experience. The school sits on a coffee plantation – the land was given to the Government by the owners of the plantation to build a school, which teaches children of the people who work there. The school is surrounded by acres and acres of well-tended coffee plants, punctuated occasionally by small groups of tiny houses in which these families live.

But the situation is far from idyllic. What is already hard work (paying about 300 shillings a day, about £2.20) has been made more difficult by ownership changes, resulting in mass lay-offs and re-employment on casual contracts. Workers are not guaranteed wages throughout the year, or even during the three coffee harvests a year. And when they don’t get work, or seek it elsewhere, they lose access to the houses they in. I was taken to meet one of these workers today, a single mother of five who has a child at the school. She works on the plantation with a nine-month old baby strapped to her back – scared of losing her job and her house.

All of this has had an impact on the children at the school in the past few years too, with absence rates being very high and the performance of the kids attending being below average. Thankfully, the work Kipawa is doing here is making a big difference.

I met with the headteacher Joseph this morning who couldn’t have given more praise for what our donors have achieved here. His clear view is that the food programme (we are doing breakfast porridge and lunch for all the kids at Oaklands) has delivered “a drastic change in performance: for example, there is no absenteeism any more. Two years ago, there were sometimes up to 100 absentees every day, but now it is more likely a handful. And that’s because there is food available”. He also thinks that the KCPE performance will improve this year – from an average of 215 to 250 – and that is because the children are better able to concentrate. Our social workers there – Mary and Moses – agree. They’ve noticed a change in behaviour since the feeding programmes started; kids are no longer lethargic and sleepy but energetic and motivated all day.

We are making improvements to the facilities too. I saw the final stages of the new girls toilet block today, with a solid watertight building in place with proper latrines and a very deep pit. This is not only safer and healthier (for disease prevention) but more dignified too. What was also interesting is that the Government had started building a new boys toilet block earlier this year: but it remains uncompleted on the site, with no reason given for its current state.

At the end of my time there at Oaklands, a young girl called Faith spoke on camera on what Kipawa has done for her and her friends. She can speak for herself:

Later in the afternoon, I had lunch with the 15 students Kipawa is sponsoring through a few secondary schools in the Ruiru area. These young people were identified as they left primary school as being able to benefit from secondary school but whose families would likely not support them financially to do so. The money our donors are sending to Kenya is doing two things for these vulnerable kids: ensuring that a lack of fees, uniforms and other equipment isn’t preventing them from attending school regularly; and it provides wrap-around support from case workers like Monicah who works on the secondary school programme. Monicah spends all of her time checking on the welfare and wider environment of these students, intervening where needed.

The kids range in age from 14 through 17, with the oldest five of them due to sit their KCSE exams (the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education) throughout October and November. Like teenagers anywhere, they were shy at first but were soon chatting away: They were keen to find out about where I live in Scotland, about education in the UK, and the girls in particular were amazed to hear our Prime Minsiter and First Mininster are both female.

Most importantly, they were enthusiastic about their time at school, their interests and their ambitions for the future. And it was terrific to hear one of them really wants to be a doctor; another wants to study electrical engineering; a couple more think they they’d be good social workers. There was some discussion on the way home tonight about the next steps for some of these kids: certainly, we at Kipawa should be thinking about if and how we can continue to support some of these young people should they move into colleges and university.

I have few more trips planned for tomorrow, including going back to Mukuyu School to hand out some new books, footballs, toys and other things. These were purchased today using money donated in a recent appeal. You can still donate to the appeal here:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidWelsh

Our trustee, David Welsh, arrived in Kenya early yesterday morning and had a busy first day:

"A busy day today, starting at 5.50 when I landed in Nairobi. Benjamin, one of the drivers at Macheo (our partner charity in Kenya), picked me up and we headed to Madaraka to catch up with Marnix Huis In’t Veld, who founded and still leads Macheo. It’s the start of the week so things are pretty hectic but we sketched out a plan for the next few days, starting with a visit to our projects at Mukuyu School.
 
I haven’t seen our work at the school since my last visit in 2012 and it was great to see just how much has changed and improved in that time. The lunch programme is going from strength to strength – 800 kids now receive lunch, nearly double the starting point five years ago, with 3 local parents and a dedicated coordinator employed to help run the scheme. The kids seemed more energetic than the last time I was at the school, and Joyce (one of the teachers at the school) told me that she believes concentration during the school day is better than when she started. Importantly, the headteacher – Mr Peter – told me that the kids are performing better too. He is now in his third year there, and has seen a rise in the average KCPE scores in that time. He also noted that one of the children there scored 390 out of 500 last year, the highest for many years.  

I saw at first hand too some of the physical projects we have sponsored and supported in the past few years: the swings and slides we got for the nursery children; the partitioning of the year 7 class into three; the refurbishment of the nursery classroom; the new toilet blocks for the boys and girls at the school.  To see all of this over the course of a couple of hours – and hear the thanks of the teachers and other workers there – was humbling. I can’t stress enough just how much of a difference our donors and supporters have made to this place. It looks different and feels different – a more vibrant, positive place than the one I visited just under five years ago.
 
I spoke briefly to Mr Peter at the end of my time there today: he has ideas for further improvements to the school including further refurbishments and partitions to improve teaching, additional toilet blocks for the nursery children and support for sports facilities. He is also keen that the school forges communications links with schools in Scotland and the UK, at the very least to share an understanding of what life is like on either side.
 
In the afternoon, we visited some of the family empowerment projects that Kipawa supports via the work or our excellent outreach workers Mary and Moses. Today, we met:  

• Ann, who lives in a very cramped one bedroom house with 6 of her 7 children. Kipawa has helped clothe some of those children and given some additional equipment to allow those of school age to attend the local school. We are looking to support Ann with some employment this year too.
  
• Mama Patricia, whose house burned down in the early summer. Mary and Moses supported her getting back on her feet with an initial 5000 shilling payment to set up a fruit and veg stall, which seems to be doing well a few months down the line
• And Rosa, to whom Kipawa gave seed funding in 2015 to set up her own vegetable stall. The initial 5000 shilling funding (about £36) has paid off, with a business now sustaining her family of five.
  

 
A good day all round, with more to follow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today saw a great win for Ted Rodger and Jonny Sharp at this year's annual Kipawa Golf Day at Archerfield Links. Ted and Jonny tied on 44 points with Al Thompson and Oliver Lewis and clinched the hard-fought contest on a count back.

Many thanks to David Jones for organising and all 34 players who took part and helped to raise around £1400 for Kipawa!

It's that time of year again where we head off to Kenya to meet with our partners and to see all the work your donations have been making possible. David will be visiting Mukuyu and Oaklands schools at the end of the month and would love to be able to take some gifts with him. We have had a particular request for toys and other equipment for the nursery classes and would be very grateful for any contribution you can make.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidWelsh

Livvi has asked for donations to Kipawa instead of birthday presents for her 7th birthday! What a kind thought!

Thank you Livvi. Happy birthday!! 🎂🎈

A quite tremendous 7hr 52mins and 100 miles of cycling from David to get him over the line! There's still plenty of time to give him a wee congratulatory sponsor...

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidWelsh 🚴‍♀️🙌🏻

This time next week, David will have finished his 100 mile cycle ride round Manchester to raise money for Kipawa. This is an amazing challenge and if you can sponsor him even just a few quid it will really help motivate him round the course.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidWelsh

Get all the details of the Kipawa Golf Day at Archerfield Links in East Lothian on Sunday 1st October here:

http://mailchi.mp/d5397d309606/kipawa-golf-day-2017

Kipawa's Comedy Night at the Edinburgh Fringe is back for another year!

Come and join us for highlights from some of this year's best Fringe comedy. Previous years have seen stars of the Fringe, Mark Dolan, Laura Lexx, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Stephen Carlin, Yianni Agisilaou, Tom Webb and many others performing. This year's acts will be announced as they are confirmed.

Details here. Bring all your friends for big laughs for a good cause!