Things have slowed down significantly since the girls went to school... After all this running around in the couple of weeks preceding the start of their 1st term it was a welcome change.
I had a little more time to plan the new project. I have started the research for the location and have been offered a place for (almost) free... I just need to arrange for the deeds which will cost me around £300 which is around 10 times cheaper than buying the land already owned by someone... I just have to keep things on the quiet side as I don't want someone to suddenly start creating problems for me - since I'm white people might think that they could get some money by threatening to create problems with the land... Things are moving really slowly (as most of the time they are in Kenya...) and my patience is being really tested at the moment but since I do not have lots of money to spend I have to just put up with it...
In the meantime I still have my 3 kids to look after :) And also - as soon as the girls' fees are settled - there is another girl in a great need of help, she is 11 years old I think, quite sick and not attending school for quite a long time... She is being looked after by her relatives (the grandfather and the rest of his family) and they have been asking us for help for quite some time now but I do not want to take on yet another child until the 3 kids in our care are all settled with what they need.
I went to visit the school for Hamza and got the list of things he will need whilst there - I will be bringing him over after the midterm - he should arrive at the new school in w/c 6th of March. I am going to Nairobi next week to collect him. I believe going to a school at the coast will be much better for him as he comes from Mombasa and is finding it quite hard around Nairobi as the culture there is very different from what he knows... It will also be easier for us to ensure that he keeps in touch with his relatives (which all leave in the Coast province) and he will be able to visit his mother during school holidays. It is very important to ensure that the child keeps the bond with the parents (especially in Hamza's case, having already lost his father when he was very young) and the rest of his family. After all, my main aim is to ensure that he is looked after well and attends school, which was not happening while he was staying with relatives. He is very bright and I am sure he will do very well once there is more stability in his life. When we moved him to Nairobi, after only one term he was already number 4 in his class... Hamza missed out on a few years of schooling and this is also an issue when looking for a school for him as not everyone would accept a child that is older than the rest of the students in the class... Luckily for us, The Arid Zone Primary School did not cause us any problems because of his age.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alison for sponsoring Hamza's school fees for this year and Stephen & Janet for donating money to ensure I can purchase the uniform and other necessities Hamza will need for school. The response & support I have been receiving recently has been absolutely amazing and motivates me to work even harder to help more children.
This is where the new project will become very useful as, apart from providing help to the local community, I will be able to have a small rescue centre where the children we rescued from difficult situation will be able to stay while we are arranging schools for them - at the moment this is quite a challenge as the children's homes are not as helpful with this as they could be... Also, the children that we deal with are not necessarily orphans so putting them in children's homes is not really benefiting them. This is why we chose to send the 3 children to boarding schools - while they have a place to stay, they are also in an environment which is encouraging them to study and also teaches them how to be independent at the same time.
A couple of weeks ago I finally spoke to Juliet - I was very excited about the phone call and even though we only had 15 minutes to talk, it was really great to hear how the girls were doing (Evelyne was not able to come to talk as she was in the middle of washing her clothes but Juliet passed on the msg from her).
Juliet told me that they were both doing well and they liked the school, even Evelyne - normally very quiet - was being much livlier lately. They joined some clubs within the school, one of them being a reading club, which makes me very happy as I was really trying to encourage them to read more, now they are asking if I can get them more books :) Juliet was telling me that the maths in Form 1 is very difficult and she is really struggling with it - which did not surprise me at all, actually I knew she was going to say that as maths was her weakest subject in primary school... There are 20 students in their class which is pretty good as normally there are many more students per class in Kenyan schools... One thing I was not aware of when I took them to school 3 weeks ago was that they were supposed to be given pocket money to purchase some snacks every morning to have with their tea... For some reason nobody told me that and the matron did not call me either when she realised that the girls had no money with them... Now I know about it I sent them some money to last them until Thursday (around £1 a week each is enough for them to buy sthg small every day) when the mid term begins. I am very excited about seeing them - I am going to Nairobi on Wednesday so I can go and collect them from school on Thursday :)
The main issue that I am still left with is the school fees for the girls - they still remain unpaid and until this is settled I cannot help any more children... We have applied for help from government for Juliet (we were only allowed to put through just 1 application...) but haven't had the decision on that yet... I am worried that when I go to collect the girls next week, I will have some problems with the school management... I should be able to give them around 5000ksh but that's not even a quarter of what needs to be paid... the total fees for both girls are Ksh33,000 in total which adds to around £300 for the first term... for term 2 & 3 the fees are £250 per term (for both girls - £125 each per term)... If anyone reading this is able to help me in my struggle to educate the 2 girls, please do get in touch - anything you can afford helps as it all adds up eventually to the amount that we need.
I will try to post some photos of the girls in their uniforms next week when I see them.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Hillside Girls High School - 1st Feb 2011
So the day finally arrived and it was time to take my girls to school... As planned we got up very early to ensure all was ready in time. We were quite lucky actually as a friend of Juliet offered to take us in his taxi - which is quite a thing because the school is quite far away (over 1 hr drive - and on a matatu much much longer) and we had 2 big metal boxes and 2 buckets to carry...
We still needed to take a bus first and I was quite surprised to see the girls falling asleep (I mean I know we hardly slept for 2 nights running but it was 1st day in high school so the curiosity and excitement should have kept them awake...;) but when we met with the taxi driver - Tony and set off for Kiambu all of a sudden they became much more energetic and kept looking out the window curiously.
Before getting to our destination we stopped at the nearest town and I bought them some sweets, salt, sugar, peanut butter etc... so they could have some treats in the next 2 months :) I really hope the matron allowed them to keep it.
We arrived at the school and completed the formalities - I was very worried as we have not paid anything towards the fees, we only had enough money to pay for the uniforms... The director however was fine with that as she knew we were really struggling but we had to promise to pay at least part of the outstanding amount soon.
After that it was time to say good bye to the girls who were met by the Form 4 students to help them carry their boxes and to show them to the dorms... The girls were really sad to see us go and Juliet didn't want to let go of me - she didn't cry though which was great as otherwise I would have probably started too ;)
I really wanted to take a photo of my girls in their new uniforms but the skirts were too big for them and needed to be adjusted to the right size... Hopefully I will be able to go and visit them and take some photos then...
So now I am on my own - it seems really strange - for the first time I had nobody waiting for me at the bus stage and was walking home alone... Even the guys selling cakes etc along the way were asking me if I took the girls to school and that's why I was alone...
I still have a task of getting the fees - which adds up to £300 for 1st term (for both of them) and I also need to find some funds for a boarding school for Hamza - Juliet's brother, who was also staying with us... I am going to visit a school next week and I was told that the fees for that particular primary school is just £60 for whole year (on top of that he will need some personal items & uniform, just like the girls) so the expense is much lower as it is primary school not a secondary one... I believe that a boarding school would be good for him and he is very excited about this. In the meantime I am arranging for him to go to a day school) as I dont want him to just sit at home while he could be studying.
If any of you are able to help with my quest to educate my 3 children, please do get in touch with me, we are really struggling at the moment...
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| My girls are ready for school :) |
We still needed to take a bus first and I was quite surprised to see the girls falling asleep (I mean I know we hardly slept for 2 nights running but it was 1st day in high school so the curiosity and excitement should have kept them awake...;) but when we met with the taxi driver - Tony and set off for Kiambu all of a sudden they became much more energetic and kept looking out the window curiously.
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| Daniel helping Juliet to carry her box |
Before getting to our destination we stopped at the nearest town and I bought them some sweets, salt, sugar, peanut butter etc... so they could have some treats in the next 2 months :) I really hope the matron allowed them to keep it.
We arrived at the school and completed the formalities - I was very worried as we have not paid anything towards the fees, we only had enough money to pay for the uniforms... The director however was fine with that as she knew we were really struggling but we had to promise to pay at least part of the outstanding amount soon.
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| On the way to school - very excited :) |
After that it was time to say good bye to the girls who were met by the Form 4 students to help them carry their boxes and to show them to the dorms... The girls were really sad to see us go and Juliet didn't want to let go of me - she didn't cry though which was great as otherwise I would have probably started too ;)
I really wanted to take a photo of my girls in their new uniforms but the skirts were too big for them and needed to be adjusted to the right size... Hopefully I will be able to go and visit them and take some photos then...
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| Eveline & Juliet were welcomed at their new school by Form 4 girls |
So now I am on my own - it seems really strange - for the first time I had nobody waiting for me at the bus stage and was walking home alone... Even the guys selling cakes etc along the way were asking me if I took the girls to school and that's why I was alone...
I still have a task of getting the fees - which adds up to £300 for 1st term (for both of them) and I also need to find some funds for a boarding school for Hamza - Juliet's brother, who was also staying with us... I am going to visit a school next week and I was told that the fees for that particular primary school is just £60 for whole year (on top of that he will need some personal items & uniform, just like the girls) so the expense is much lower as it is primary school not a secondary one... I believe that a boarding school would be good for him and he is very excited about this. In the meantime I am arranging for him to go to a day school) as I dont want him to just sit at home while he could be studying.
If any of you are able to help with my quest to educate my 3 children, please do get in touch with me, we are really struggling at the moment...
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| Me and my two daughters :) |
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Getting ready for school
The day of reporting to school was approaching very fast and I was getting very stressed as I did not have any funds for the shopping (before going to boarding school there are many items that need to be bought, i.e. blankets, buckets, shoes, tracksuits, etc... and of course books). And now it was not just Juliet who was supposed to start school but also Eveline (I think it would be absolutely terrible to just take one of them and leave the other one out...). The sponsors we originally had for Juliet have not been in touch for a very long time and the funds that were left from what they sent few months ago were only enough to buy 2 sets of uniforms... So I am so grateful to Stephen and Janet for their continuous support of my efforts here - a week or so ago they transferred some money to help out with running expenses and I decided to use it on the most urgent matters, which of course was the school expenses for the girls. On top of that I also received more money from Pam which was heaven sent as it meant I had enough money to at least get all the items the girls needed to take with them.
On Monday morning we got up really early as we knew it would be a very busy day. The girls were supposed to wash their clothes on Sunday (I don't really like doing this sort of work on Sundays but this time it was necessary) however, there was no water here that day (where we are staying there is a big problem with water supply - again today there's been no water) so before setting out to town there was some housework that needed to be done first.
We first went to get the photos done for Eveline (we needed 2 for the school admission form - I did Juliet's when we were in town on Saturday). I had an important meeting at 12pm about my new project so we had to rush but we still managed to get the school shoes, the sport shoes, blankets and majority of the other items from the list before running for the meeting. We were very lucky as I was able to leave all of the shopping with Jane at her office so we didn't have to carry the huge bags across town with us, especially that after my meeting we had to go to yet another area to get the medical check for the girls (another requirement for the school - mainly to have a confirmation that girls coming to school are not pregnant). As normally this is done for a fee, we went to our friend's small clinic (a charitable organisation run by a retired Kenyan nurse) as she offered to do it for free. By the time we were finished there, it was already after 3pm. We had less than 2 hrs to complete the shopping and collect the bags from the office before it closed. We really had to rush as there were still some items we needed to get, like books, tracksuits, bedsheets, metal box (to keep all of the items in - every boarding school student must have one to keep their belongings in it). At that point I was sure we would get the tracksuits in one of the shops we went to in the morning but when we went there again they no longer had the size for Juliet (she is very petite). That really put the spanner in the wheel for us as it was 4pm and we had very little time to find all that was still missing. We were almost running trying to find the tracksuits but we were not lucky - they were either far too big or of very bad quality... We walked (actually - run) for miles across town but we did not find it. All that time I also kept thinking that we must get to the bookshop by 5pm otherwise we would really be stuck. We just made it there but they did not have one of the books... It was almost 5.30 when we finally got to Jane's office to pick up our shopping - by that time I was so exhausted from all the running I wasn't sure if I could continue. The girls were just as tired... But we still needed the tracksuits for Juliet, the English text book, some t-shirts and other small items... And we also needed to collect Eveline's photos... We had no choice but to start moving again. We all had to carry a huge bag each filled with stuff - it was all very heavy and we had to carry it on our backs. I felt like I was the Father Christmas ;) The girls were laughing that I was really becoming a Kenyan carrying my shopping this way and people on the streets were really staring at me as it is not very common for a white person to carry such amount of stuff and walk with it - I'm sure they were wondering why we were not taking a taxi... ;)
We walked for a bit but the bags were really heavy - I decided to stop at a chip shop, got some food for my girls, left them to look after the bags and went to collect the photos as I did not want to carry all the bags there and back again as it was not on the way to get the bus home. On the way I noticed that the book shop I was hoping to get the missing text book from was already shut - it was 6pm... That also meant that if we didn't get the bus very soon, we would not get back home before dark...
When I collected the girls, I decided to head for the bus stage. We really needed to get back home soon. Luckily, there was another book shop on the way and I got what we needed from there. Before reaching the bus we also found the rest of the missing items, including the tracksuit which was a real relief for me. As I was really stressing over the missing stuff, I even forgot to get some food for me... It was 6.30pm and I did not eat all day... I just had about 1l of water - which also wasn't enough and my head was hurting as a result. I was happy though that we got what we needed - the mission was almost accomplished, we just needed to get a metal box for Eveline (I already promised Juliet to give her the one I was using in Ruai).
We were all shattered but happy as we sat on the bus waiting for it to fill up. However, all of a sudden everyone started to get off and I noticed that there was another bus next to ours offering a cheaper fare which is why everyone was switching... We had to do the same as it would take ages for our one to fill up since the ticket was more expensive. We jumped off and run to the other bus (you have to be fast so you can get to it before it fills up). Juliet is very skillful in "wiggling" her way through the crowd and very soon she was already on the bus. However, Eveline and I did not manage to get on and the bus started to move - I got very worried that it was full and it was about to drive off with Juliet on board with no money so I was shouting to the conductor that my daughter was there with no money for the ticket, hoping that either he would let us on or at least let Juliet get off... People were looking at us funny as obviously they were wondering how my daughter could possibly be on the bus as there was no other white person there! ;) Then the bus stopped and more people were getting on - at that point I was determined to get on and again I had to push some people off, telling them to allow my daughter (this time it was Eveline) to get on. Again - even more funny looks but I didn't care - at least we were all on the bus and I really wanted to get home as soon as possible as we still needed to pack, cover the books etc...
Unfortunately we did not reach home until almost 9pm because there was a huge traffic jam on the way out of town... In one way I was happy I could just sit for a while doing nothing and get some rest but on the other I knew that we still had so much to do and we did not get Eveline's box... And I still haven't eaten or drunk anything... Also, the manager from the orphanage where we are staying was waiting for us with few boys at the bus stage for ages... I felt terrible because of that - I really don't like to make people wait, especially if they are trying to help me - there is no way we could have walked back home alone (and it was really great to share some of the bags so carrying them home was much easier :)
While I was sitting on the bus I was laughing to myself about the looks we were getting while carrying the huge bags as well as the way we got on the bus and people wondering who my daughters were :)
Juliet and Eveline were really happy with the shopping trip though - I did try to economise but at the same time I wanted to get good quality items to ensure that they last them for long time, especially shoes (they were quite expensive for Kenyan standards - they cost £10 each for real leather - and the girls really like them - the shoes are from Bata - the main footwear manufacturer in Kenya with a very good reputation).
The same thing with the blankets - I didn't buy the cheapest as the girls will be washing them often and I want them to last and keep my girls warm (at night it gets pretty cold in some parts of Nairobi and where the school is it will be even colder).
We stayed up until almost 2am preparing everything. And the alarm was set for 6am following morning - the day of going to school...
THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS
your help has been invaluable to me & my girls
On Monday morning we got up really early as we knew it would be a very busy day. The girls were supposed to wash their clothes on Sunday (I don't really like doing this sort of work on Sundays but this time it was necessary) however, there was no water here that day (where we are staying there is a big problem with water supply - again today there's been no water) so before setting out to town there was some housework that needed to be done first.
We first went to get the photos done for Eveline (we needed 2 for the school admission form - I did Juliet's when we were in town on Saturday). I had an important meeting at 12pm about my new project so we had to rush but we still managed to get the school shoes, the sport shoes, blankets and majority of the other items from the list before running for the meeting. We were very lucky as I was able to leave all of the shopping with Jane at her office so we didn't have to carry the huge bags across town with us, especially that after my meeting we had to go to yet another area to get the medical check for the girls (another requirement for the school - mainly to have a confirmation that girls coming to school are not pregnant). As normally this is done for a fee, we went to our friend's small clinic (a charitable organisation run by a retired Kenyan nurse) as she offered to do it for free. By the time we were finished there, it was already after 3pm. We had less than 2 hrs to complete the shopping and collect the bags from the office before it closed. We really had to rush as there were still some items we needed to get, like books, tracksuits, bedsheets, metal box (to keep all of the items in - every boarding school student must have one to keep their belongings in it). At that point I was sure we would get the tracksuits in one of the shops we went to in the morning but when we went there again they no longer had the size for Juliet (she is very petite). That really put the spanner in the wheel for us as it was 4pm and we had very little time to find all that was still missing. We were almost running trying to find the tracksuits but we were not lucky - they were either far too big or of very bad quality... We walked (actually - run) for miles across town but we did not find it. All that time I also kept thinking that we must get to the bookshop by 5pm otherwise we would really be stuck. We just made it there but they did not have one of the books... It was almost 5.30 when we finally got to Jane's office to pick up our shopping - by that time I was so exhausted from all the running I wasn't sure if I could continue. The girls were just as tired... But we still needed the tracksuits for Juliet, the English text book, some t-shirts and other small items... And we also needed to collect Eveline's photos... We had no choice but to start moving again. We all had to carry a huge bag each filled with stuff - it was all very heavy and we had to carry it on our backs. I felt like I was the Father Christmas ;) The girls were laughing that I was really becoming a Kenyan carrying my shopping this way and people on the streets were really staring at me as it is not very common for a white person to carry such amount of stuff and walk with it - I'm sure they were wondering why we were not taking a taxi... ;)
We walked for a bit but the bags were really heavy - I decided to stop at a chip shop, got some food for my girls, left them to look after the bags and went to collect the photos as I did not want to carry all the bags there and back again as it was not on the way to get the bus home. On the way I noticed that the book shop I was hoping to get the missing text book from was already shut - it was 6pm... That also meant that if we didn't get the bus very soon, we would not get back home before dark...
When I collected the girls, I decided to head for the bus stage. We really needed to get back home soon. Luckily, there was another book shop on the way and I got what we needed from there. Before reaching the bus we also found the rest of the missing items, including the tracksuit which was a real relief for me. As I was really stressing over the missing stuff, I even forgot to get some food for me... It was 6.30pm and I did not eat all day... I just had about 1l of water - which also wasn't enough and my head was hurting as a result. I was happy though that we got what we needed - the mission was almost accomplished, we just needed to get a metal box for Eveline (I already promised Juliet to give her the one I was using in Ruai).
We were all shattered but happy as we sat on the bus waiting for it to fill up. However, all of a sudden everyone started to get off and I noticed that there was another bus next to ours offering a cheaper fare which is why everyone was switching... We had to do the same as it would take ages for our one to fill up since the ticket was more expensive. We jumped off and run to the other bus (you have to be fast so you can get to it before it fills up). Juliet is very skillful in "wiggling" her way through the crowd and very soon she was already on the bus. However, Eveline and I did not manage to get on and the bus started to move - I got very worried that it was full and it was about to drive off with Juliet on board with no money so I was shouting to the conductor that my daughter was there with no money for the ticket, hoping that either he would let us on or at least let Juliet get off... People were looking at us funny as obviously they were wondering how my daughter could possibly be on the bus as there was no other white person there! ;) Then the bus stopped and more people were getting on - at that point I was determined to get on and again I had to push some people off, telling them to allow my daughter (this time it was Eveline) to get on. Again - even more funny looks but I didn't care - at least we were all on the bus and I really wanted to get home as soon as possible as we still needed to pack, cover the books etc...
Unfortunately we did not reach home until almost 9pm because there was a huge traffic jam on the way out of town... In one way I was happy I could just sit for a while doing nothing and get some rest but on the other I knew that we still had so much to do and we did not get Eveline's box... And I still haven't eaten or drunk anything... Also, the manager from the orphanage where we are staying was waiting for us with few boys at the bus stage for ages... I felt terrible because of that - I really don't like to make people wait, especially if they are trying to help me - there is no way we could have walked back home alone (and it was really great to share some of the bags so carrying them home was much easier :)
While I was sitting on the bus I was laughing to myself about the looks we were getting while carrying the huge bags as well as the way we got on the bus and people wondering who my daughters were :)
Juliet and Eveline were really happy with the shopping trip though - I did try to economise but at the same time I wanted to get good quality items to ensure that they last them for long time, especially shoes (they were quite expensive for Kenyan standards - they cost £10 each for real leather - and the girls really like them - the shoes are from Bata - the main footwear manufacturer in Kenya with a very good reputation).
The same thing with the blankets - I didn't buy the cheapest as the girls will be washing them often and I want them to last and keep my girls warm (at night it gets pretty cold in some parts of Nairobi and where the school is it will be even colder).
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| My girls - very tired but happy with their shopping |
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