Premier Program

All is well here in Kenya as we are concluding the month of September. We closed with a great Ubuntu day that we introduced last month. We contacted the local leaders and came up with trash collection and clean up as our goal for the Ubuntu day this month. The turn out was great, we had over eighty volunteers who came early to join us in the efforts. There was lots of joy as we went through the town with rakes and other tools held high and a song led by the women and the young men who were present. We attracted quite a good number of people who also promised to be there next month when we get together. It is amazing to know that people are willing to do what they can to improve their environment and all they need is someone to lead the way. We are glad that CTC is leading the way joined by other stakeholders in the Town. The town council sent representatives and did a lot of work with us not to mention their appreciation of our willingness to join hands with them to keep our town clean. Global connections from Limuru were not left behind. They came all the way from Limuru with volunteers who wanted to do something worthwhile, while visiting our country Kenya. PCYI are enthusiastic about the idea as they have endeavored to do community work too. The disabled community group kept their word, “we want to give back to the community” and those who could work came to help us. Another group from IDP’s camp came to join us in the efforts. Thanks to all of them who came up to support this wonderful endeavor.

Ngeya primary school has received the relief food for this term and the cooking has started again. The kids are happy that they can have a meal and not go hungry all day. The environment club is proud to contribute to their nutrition as the garden has been doing well and they are able to spice up the maize and beans with onions, cabbages and Sukuma wiki(kale) sometimes as the garden is still producing. We hope to increase the size of the garden so that we can grow more and improve these kids diet. The trees at Ngeya continue to do very good and the kids’ still water them generously every week. Not so long now and Ngeya will enjoy some shade from the hot Sun as those trees continue to grow tall. We are glad we are doing something now and not waiting until tomorrow which might never come.

We are still very hopeful for the malaika mums program. Not only are they working on the available orders for the bags, but they continue to learn new things. Soon they will be able to make dresses and hopefully start doing some uniforms for the schools around. We continue to encourage them to work hard and they are not giving up.

The Rafiki program has not been left behind. They are working on a newsletter with the help of other clubs in the school like journalism club and the environment club. We are trusting that their efforts will yield to something great and informative for the rest of the community in the schools.

On Shosho Shamba, it is now official, we have five grandmas’ to work in the garden, and are very excited as they started today. They are working so hard to revive the grandma’s garden and restore the beauty on this plot. The program is working great as the rest are working on some baskets to polish their talents and start selling them to those who love the kiondos. We will see where this venture runs into as we continue to work on it. What they make now will be featured by Autumn Magiera in Kansas at a trade fair she has organized. Keep her in your thoughts as she puts ideas together to make the trade fair a success.

Last but not least, SEP continues to like our malaika kids program. Talking to Caroline last month she reiterated that our kids are happy and very well taken care of while in our center. She has been working in Kenya with Special Educational Professionals for a long time and has seen many programs that are run in the country. She thinks our program has the potential of becoming the premier program here in Kenya. We are working hard to keep the standard and continue to give the love and care needed by our Malaika kids. There are about eighty other kids who would wish to come to our center, not to mention those from the neighboring villages who have been referred to us although we are not a boarding facility. SEP comes for assessment of all disabled kids in Maai Mahiu on the 9^th October. We have sent the word out and we expect a great turnout. The goal is to identify the kind of issues that have not been addressed and those that might need immediate help when we would be ready to add to our number. Keep us in your thoughts as we endeavor to support the needy and the need in this town.

Jeremiah