April is a great time to check in with the kids! School is out so it provides the perfect opportunity to make home visits. Homes are called bomas which usually consist of a tin roof over various cobbled-together structures with a dirt floor. The best bomas have a garden. Making a visit to a boma provides a better picture of the children’s needs. When a child reports they have plenty to eat and they are “fine” but can’t explain why they are not making it to school – a home visit can show if they are living with an elderly or sick relative and in some cases on the street.
We quickly became aware that the food program where it was established was a success but it needs to be expanded. We have three families receiving full food assistance: Mercy Muthoni, Hannah Kagure, and John Wainaina. This year we will add Anna Nyagothi and Agnes Rumwria. Hanna Kagure was place on the program after we discovered the 11 year came home after school to break rocks to sell for food money while also taking care of an elderly grandmother.
Hand in hand with our family food program is the lunch program provided to our students at the Kamathatha primary school. Eight of our students: Joyce Njeri, Dennis Mathenge, Agnes Rumwria, David Maina, Anna Nyaguthi, Hannah Kagure, Martha Wangici and Anastasia Wairimu have a hot lunch of ugali (hot corn porridge) beans and cabbage. Field trips and outings are also a great way to connect with the kids. It provides a chance to talk about family, hopes and dreams. While Christian from Eco-Sys was visiting from Hong Kong we brought our eight students from Kamathatha on a picnic. It was a blast! We brought bananas, coke, white bread, sausages, chips and yogurt. A lot of it sounds like junk food but when most of the time these kids eat “ugali” at every meal our outing was a big treat!
If you would like to receive our Newsletter, please go to our contact page and let us know. My next trip to Kenya will be in September and I look forward to sharing an update with you when I get home in December!
Best Regards,
Susanne
WOW! Auntie Susanne the website is great! I’m putting a link to it on my Facebook account, spreading the word!
Looking forward to seeing blog posts soon! :)
Susanna Danna AQ……..Congradulations! Now get to stay posted on all of your doings while you are gone, instead of guessing. What a grand project. Wishing you, the children, your world partners all the very best and great sucess… Let me know what I cando to help….love Grizzly Tracker
Susanne,
Congratulations for all of the good work you and your team is doing with and for these kids.
Best,
Ellen Burton
Susanne, I see that my Agnes is in your blog. Is she doing alright? Can I send something to help with food for them? Sorry I am behind, (you know what I mean.) She is so cute, but I’m sure my picture is outdated. Can you send me a recent photo of her, please??? Ask her to draw me a picture before you come home, OK?
It is so great to hear of all the good things happening there. Wish I could zip on over there and help.
Hugs to you,
Nafula
To Susanne and the Wana Duma family,
Thank you for the great website for tracking all of your ‘doings’. It is especially wonderful to get to see and vicariously experience the kids, their families, and their part of Kenya. Please keep up the personal stories of these wonderful children along with your adventures and what you need to continue to grow. Know that you have people all over the world who love supporting your efforts and these special souls!
Aloha from Hawaii, Kerry
Please give a special Jambo to my David. I would like to write to him. Please tell me how I can best do that.
Kerry