Our newest trustee, Clare Jones, will be visiting Kenya later this month to meet with out locally-based partners and see the work that Kipawa has been funding this year. This will be Clare's first visit to Mukuya School and to Kenya and she is very excited to experience for herself the important work Kipawa is doing there. 

Once again, our good friend, Lindsay Given, has been collecting good quality, used, children's shoes in Richmond, Surrey and we are delighted to be taking over 300 pairs with us this year! We have also asked what other gifts we might take with us and have been told that reading books, sports and art materials and clothes for the children would be much appreciated. So, we've set up a Virgin Money Giving page specifically for this, and any donation you can make, however small or large, will be spent in Kenya to provide some of these useful supplies on our trip.

The link the the donation page is below. Please contact us if you would like any more information about this trip. And watch this space for updates, photos and news from the visit.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=kipawavisittokenya&isTeam=true

This article by Zoe Flood and Louis Quail in the Guardian newspaper today describes the desperate situations some people in Kenya find themselves and their families in. Kipawa works in a different part of Kenya, but this article explains how important feeding programmes in schools and other health and social work interventions are for getting children to attend school, allowing them to concentrate when they are there and helping their families to escape the extreme poverty they are living in. 

Thanks to Kipawa's generous donors, we are able to provide breakfast and lunch to all the children in Mukuya school in Kenya. We also provide, among other help, deworming medication, sanitary towels, counselling services, family empowerment assistance and, for some, sponsorship to attend secondary school. We have also helped to improve the school environment by improving several classrooms and building new toilet blocks. With your help, we are really making a difference to the lives of the children we work with. Thank you.

Read the full Guardian article here:http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/01/kenya-mothers-children-eldoret-dump

This video clip sent to us by our partners in Kenya, shows the new girls' toilet block and the refurbished classrooms funded by Kipawa last year. Among other projects, we have committed to funding further classroom refurbishment this year. Work on these new classrooms is due to begin in April and we will post regular updates on progress.

This article from the BBC shows how vital the work that Kipawa is doing in Kenya is. The report shows that Kenya is in the bottom 10, worldwide, for the number of children attending school. 

The feeding programme established by Kipawa in Mukuya school means that the school roll there is now well over 600. The counselling, family empowerment and other health programmes mean that children who might have dropped out of school are helped to stay in school and benefit from their education. 

Read the full BBC story here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25811704

If you can give anything, however small, to help this vital work, please donate here through Virgin Money Giving.

Kipawa founder and trustee Kirsty Welsh describes her recent visit to Mukuya school to see first hand how our donor's money is helping the children of Riuru:

"After a pretty hectic run up to our trip, my brother and I were dropped off at Edinburgh Airport at 4.30am with 150kg of bags full of all the donations and supplies so generously provided by Kipawa donors. A friend had arranged for KLM to give us extra baggage allowance but we exceeded even that!

After a brief stop in Amsterdam and an 8 hour flight we arrived in Nairobi at 9pm to a remarkably organised Kenyatta airport considering the summer fire had impacted most of the airport. Maaike and Chenge from Macheo had kindly come to collect us and before long we were on our way to Thika. After a good night’s sleep we set off for Mukuya School accompanied by the Macheo team, Maaike and Faith, who told us that the school were very excited about our visit and likened it to Christmas – I’m not sure we were going to live up to this expectation! As we drove along the dirt road to the school I was surprisingly emotional returning to Mukuya, as the school we talk about so much came into view.

We met with Mr Peter the Headmaster in his office and discussed the good progress that’s been made, before beginning our visit by checking in on the nursery classroom block which we funded the refurbishment of earlier in the year. By any Kenyan standards this is now a bright, lively classroom full of kids sitting at their tables keen to learn and play. I had been shocked to see young kids trying to play and learn in rooms with piles of rubble and crumbling walls so it was great to see such a transformation. We also gave out some of the smaller shoes that were generously donated by folks from Broomfield House and Marshgate Primary schools in Surrey, Lilypad Retail in Biggar and others.

It was great to meet Margaret, the new social worker funded by Kipawa, and Karen, our counsellor, and talk to them first hand to understand what they do day-to-day. When they showed us into a small, dark, bare room, which had been a storeroom, furnished with 2 plastic chairs, they told us how grateful they were to have a space to work in. The thought of Karen counselling vulnerable kids in this space immediately showed us that whilst we had made progress this year there is lots still to do and we must make sure that in 2014 there is a safe, warm, light place for the kids to go for counselling and support. A lot of the classrooms aren’t in much better shape with crumbling floors, no windows and 4 or 5 kids sharing a 2 person desk while trying to study for end of year exams. 

We briefly popped our heads into each classroom to say hi and were greeted warmly; again it was particularly nice to see both Class 4s in a much better environment than before, in their newly renovated classrooms. 

In true Kenyan style, the school had planned a presentation for us and as we walked out towards the garden in the middle of the school the 600 kids started singing. No matter how many times I experience this I don’t think it will stop taking my breath away as we were led to sit at the front with the headmaster. After the children had sung some songs and made some lovely speeches about how grateful they were for Kipawa’s support we presented a few of them with gifts for the school – books, stationery and sports equipment. One pair of football boots went to a boy who had had a poor attendance record at school. Since involving him in the school football team he has turned into a great role model with perfect attendance and is encouraging his friends to do the same. This has also sparked an idea that we can use sports and other activities to incentivise the children to attend school and inspire them to do well. Following the presentation it was great to see all the kids line up and enjoy their lunch, after all that’s the foundation of what we do – the feeding programme is what brings the children to school and allows us and the school to really start helping them.

As we were leaving, Margaret introduced us to Morgan, a boy in the nursery class who she had tracked down after he had stopped attending school due to ill health. After his parents separated, Morgan's mother could not afford to take him for ongoing treatment. Thanks to Margaret’s support, he has now resumed treatment and is being referred to Kenyatta National Hospital for an operation in January. Whilst the family still faces a lot of problems, at least we have been able to ensure he accesses the treatment he needs and is restored to good health. In 2014 we hope to fund Margaret to go beyond the school grounds and help pupils and vulnerable families by supporting them in whatever form that takes – accessing medical treatment, supporting parents or referring them to appropriate organisations.

We left Mukuya happy to see so much progress and full of new ideas and made the short trip to Ruiru Township Secondary School where five of Mukuya’s former pupils are now studying thanks to Kipawa sponsorship. After meeting with them and their teachers it’s clear that they value their education as it’s not something that they thought they would be able to carry on with. As we were interrupting the school day, we stayed for just a short visit but long enough to hear what our sponsorship means to them. We would love to help more children like these fulfil their potential by sponsoring them through secondary school.

My trips to Kenya will always give me a great perspective on our problems in the UK and make me more committed to supporting the children we work with in as many ways as I can. It certainly has given me the drive to undertake the next phase of planning and fundraising knowing its having so much impact." 

As you can see, the children of Mukuya School were very pleased to receive the shoes so generously donated by Kipawa supporters, and delivered when our trustee, Kirsty, visited this month.

Many thanks to Lilypad Retail for their very generous donation of new shoes and to Lindsay Given and Clare Thompson and the families of Marshgate Primary School and Broomfield House School for the fabulous collection of used shoes.

Every pair of shoes will help a child living in poverty in Ruiru, saving their families money and making the walk to school so much easier.

A fuller report - and more photos - from Kirsty's visit to Kenya will follow soon!

Kipawa currently funds feeding and health programmes at Mukuya Primary School in Ruiru. In Kenya, primary education teaching is free for children around 6-13 years old. Not all children in Kenya benefit from Secondary Education though. 

There are some free government-funded schools, but these are scarce in rural communities and are often only for the very brightest (based on Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) test scores). This means those with potential have to find fees for so-called 'Harambee Schools' (partially-funded) or totally private schools. Inevitably, there are dozens of children like these even in Mukuya who will need additional financial support to progress beyond primary school. Kipawa already supports a small number of young people in secondary school but there are many more who could benefit.

Below are some profiles of children (provided by their teachers) likely to benefit from sponsorship allowing them to attend secondary school. 

Just £20 a month would cover the fees and other costs to allow one of these children to move on to secondary school and potentially break the cycle of poverty that affects their lives and the lives of their families.

Please contact us if you can give £20 a month and would like to sponsor one of the young people described below. If you'd prefer to make a one-off or other regular donation, you can do that here.

IBRAHIM WAIRIUKO

Ibrahim is in class 8 and lives at Gitothua village in Ruiru. He lives with his both parents and he has 8 siblings. Ibrahim loves school and is very ambitious about going to secondary. But his parents have no permanent work: his father has alcohol issues and his mother’s main income is from fetching firewood and selling to buy food for the children. Ibrahim helps his mother in her work when he is not at school.

ESTHER WANGUI

Esther lives with her mother in Gitothua village, the only child at home (her sister is grown up and living by herself). Her mother buys rejected bread and sells it for their living. They live in a single rental house. One of the first beneficiaries of the sanitary towel programme, she is attending school more regularly now and putting lots of effort into her studies and wants to join secondary school in 2014 but finances will be difficult.

SUSAN WANJIRU

Susan has faced a lot of challenges in life. She lives with her parents in Gitothua village and is currently not at school but working as a home help. She did her final examination in primary school last year, and although she scored marks that could have taken her to secondary, her parents had no money to pay her fees. Given a chance, she wants to to go back to school and continue learning with her classmates and friends.

WILSON MALUNDU

Wilson is in class 8 at Mukuya School. He is a very jovial boy and most of the time you will meet him smiling, despite his home situation: his parents are casual laborers and they are not stable enough financially to send him to secondary school. His sister dropped out from secondary school a few years ago in Form 2 and his parents never got the fees together to take her back to school. He remains optimistic.

MARTIN KIMANI

Martin is also in class 8, and last term scored over 200 marks.  He wants to go to secondary school next year but is worried that his parents are not for the idea as they claim to have no regular income. His father is a mason but gets works only rarely and his mother has no any source of income too. Martin is a football player and he has a team he joins in the village when he is not in school. He appreciates the feeding programme in the school, as he is very comfortable in school than home where they go without lunch.

PATRICK IRUNGU

Patrick attends Mukuyu Primary School, and is working very hard: he too is determined that he will score marks that will enable him to join secondary school next year. Initially, he was somehow depressed as there was a very big fight when his parents were separating. His mother managed to go with the children and they are living in a different home in a rental single house. Since then, he has been going through counseling sessions at school, and is happy that the programme has also provided feeding in school and as their mother cannot afford much at home. Together with his only sister they have made school a second home.

CHARLES KAMAU

Charles is a very hard working boy in school. He lives in a slum in a village called Matopeni with his parents who are very poor and 12 siblings. His mother collects scrap metal and empty bottles of which she sell to get food for a day without minding for tomorrow; the father is has no job. Charles is 17 year old, and this does not match with the class he should be in - he should be finishing secondary school at this age. His education has been affected by many challenges from home. He has taken a very strong decision to learn despite of his age, and sees it as a way out.

SAMUEL NDERITU

Samuel is in class 8, and has been working hard to score marks to join secondary school next year. He lives with his parents in a village called Hilton where his mother is a casual labourer in a coffee plantation: his father has no job. They live in a single rental house where the cash they get from the scarce job is used to pay the rent and get food.  Samuel is a big boy and when he is not at school, he also works as a labourer and earns some money for the family. He likes dancing, acting and also playing football.

NAOMI  WAITHERA

Naomi is working very hard as the end of the year examination is nearing and she would to get the marks that will enable her to join secondary school next year.  Naomi is a partial orphan. She lives with her father who was a watchman but whose role was terminated abruptly.  The father as the only breadwinner does what he can to make sure the family of 6 siblings gets food and pays for the single rental house they are living in.  All these duties towards one person makes Naomi feel that there won’t be a chance for her to join secondary school.  She is very happy to have joined Mukuyu primary school as this is where she gets a lot of comfort in food, sanitary towels and mostly counselling which has helped her move this far as regarding the death of her mother. She is the one taking care of her younger siblings in washing them, and cooking for them, she is like their mother.

REGINA WARINGA

Regina lives in Hilton village with her mother and four siblings. Only two of the siblings are provided for by a father, so Regina and the rest are left out. This makes the feeding programme very important for her, as well as the sanitary towels and counseling which has brought her this far. She is working very hard in school as she would very much wish to continue with her studies to see if she would a have a bright future.

BRIAN WANYAMA

Brian lives with his uncle in a village called Gitothua with his uncle, after the death of his mother in March. According to Brian, he is supposed to be in secondary school but he has been on and off school due to problems at home, but he is still sure that he will make it to secondary school for him to have a bright future, and to take responsibility for his family in future.  He is not sure that the uncle is willingly going to take him to secondary school as he has been telling him that he has a lot with his own family.

TERESIA NJERI

Teresia is a very humble girl in Class 8, and lives with her parents in a village called Wataalam. She works hard in school and she is a good performer. Her parents are in a very bad position financially and so this girl and her siblings have largely got their food at school. Her older sister was in secondary school has already dropped due to lack of fees, but Teresia has not lost hope of getting there at some point. She likes playing volley during her free time and netball too.

CATHERINE MWIKALI

Catherine is in class 8, and lives with her mother in a village called Gitothua. Her mother goes to coffee estates to pick coffee and what she gets covers food and rent.  She has two siblings who are in school too and they all get to benefit from the programmes provided by Kipawa like feeding sanitary towels. She is putting a lot of effort into her academic work as she would like very much to join secondary school next year.

VIRGINIA NYOKABI

She is a pupil in Mukuyu primary school in class 8. She had had some challenges in life: at home, her father was convicted of theft and her mother doesn't work. Virginia is the first born in the family and is expected to help out with the family. From the counselling sessions, she now has the reason to put more effort in her studies, and hopes that a way out will be found on how she will continue with her secondary studies.

STELLA KAGENDO

Stella lives in a village called Wataalam with her mother who is depressed according to the family members (her parents are separated and there was also a fire tragedy that burnt everything in the house). These issues made Stella drop out of school in form two and take care of the family up to now, but after assessing the situation, she feels that she can go back to school and continue learning if a well wisher could pay for her fees.

MERCY WAMBUI

Mercy has had a few troubles in life. Her home situation is not stable financially: the man married to her mother does not recognise the three children the mother had before they married and only takes care of the two children they have together, a boy and a girl who are in nursery school. This led to Mercy not joining secondary school as the mother could not raise the fee - she has been a house girl for the last year and she has found it not rewarding. She is looking for a well wisher who would take her back to school, where she promises to work very hard.

STEPHEN MUNYA

Stephen lives with his older brother – they were orphaned and initially under the care of an elderly grandmother.  His brother is married and they have one child but they live amicably as a family. During a visit in August 2013, Stephen was bed-bound due to a complication from a circumcision ritual. All the costs of food and medicine were borne by his brother who is a casual labourer. Stephen is a good performer at school and is working hard to improve the grades that would make a secondary education possible. He would still need sponsorship to make that happen. 

Today is World Toilet Day! 

Globally, 2.5 billion people have no access to a clean toilet. In developing countries, diseases related to poor sanitation are very common especially among young children. Clean toilets, if used properly, can prevent diseases like diarrhoea. Diarrhoea is believed to kill 1 child every 20 seconds in developing countries. 

And, did you know that women menstruate on average for 3000 days in their lifetime? This requires space for washing and cleaning. Especially for adolescent girls, clean and private toilet facilities at school strongly influence their performance, and increase the chance of attending school and completing their education.

Kipawa has provided a new toilet blocks for girls and boys at Mukuya School, as well as sanitary towels for the girls. This is having a real, positive effect on the children's education. Thank you for continuing to support Kipawa and making this vital work possible. 

Happy World Toilet Day!