there’S No place like NyumbaNi

For more information or to make a donation, go to www.nyumbani.org.uk

NewS From our projectS iN keNya

Welcome to our Autumn neWsletter Which is pAcked full of Wonderful stories of nyumbAni. We hAve the Winning poem from A villAge public speAking competition, Written by A student in the villAge, A dAy in the life of sociAl Worker, neWs of visits And volunteers And fundrAising And even A pArty in one of the villAge cluster houses! - helen mArshAll

November 2014 Registered Charity No. 1072191

Registered Charity No. 1104396

newsletter

BY CELEStE SHIRVANI

“you will love it” everyone had said. But I was

beginning to wonder with ebola and violence

seemingly so close. But when Sister Mary was

there to greet us at the Nairobi airport, how could

I have ever had any doubts. I was privileged to

join the Lawson family and Hon. Jeremy Hunt on a

whirlwind tour of Nyumbani’s various operations

on a recent three-day visit to Kenya.

Nyumbani Home (the orphanage) is a place of

hope and joy and love, even when you visit the

home’s cemetery so full of young souls who

perished in the early days of the AIDS pandemic.

Thanks to the amazing work of Nyumbani, there

are so many more who not only live, but who now

go on to leave the home and are continuing on to

higher education.

you may have also read Sister Mary’s recent article

about our visit to Nyumbani Village. The Lawson

High School children could be our own – I could

pick out students who reminded me of myself at

that age as well as my children. How similar and

yet how different their lives are to our own. But

most memorable and inspirational was the Lea

Toto Centre in Kibera. With no formal medical

training or business school degrees or consultants

to hire for advice, this is a model of efficiency,

caring and results. There are 9 slums in Nairobi

with Kibera being the largest (1 milliion residents),

where the Lea Toto staff provide educational,

medical and social help to families affected by HIV.

These staff members are truly amazing in what

they achieve and their impact to the families with

whom they work.

I was told at the Nyumbani Village that the

children “have everything they need” which

brings us comfort and hope. Our challenge is to

ensure that they, and all of the Nyumbani children,

continue to do so now and to secure each and

every Nyumbani child’s future. What struck me

was the marvellously positive spirit of everyone

we met and also how globally appealing Nyumbani

is. There were volunteers from all over the world –

this is a global cause of which I am so proud to be a

part. So what was the verdict, you might ask? I did

love it – every minute – and am already planning

my next trip back.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask if you would be willing if not doing so already, to sponsor a child. We have over 850 children that are not sponsored at the Village and many more from Lea Toto communities. Sponsorship of just £15 a month would guarantee a child’s education and welfare and give them the chance to succeed in life. The Kenyan new school year begins in January 2015. Our target is to make sure all our school children are sponsored. Please get in touch as sponsorship can be easily arranged Helen.marshall@numbani.org.uk

Five years ago my life was very different.

My life changed when I came to Nyumbani village.

My life changed for the better.

My life changed for forever.

This village is an institution where children without parents are taken

in to be cared for. They also care for the old grandpas and grandmas.

The orphans are taken here in order to gain education, love, care, and

support.

My dear brothers and sisters, can you imagine what would have

happened to this large group of orphans that live in the village, if they

were not taken into this institution? Most of them they could be in gangs,

or even thieves.

My dear brothers and sisters, don’t you know that most of them could

have already been killed or committed suicide themselves? Most could

be prostitutes, not only in their villages, but also in the big towns and

cities and this may lead to being infected with HIV/AIDS, or STIs.

My dear brothers and sisters, Nyumbani has rescued many lives of young

orphans. We, as children of Nyumbani come together as one family and

say “Thank you, thank you, thank you for supporting us.”

We, as Nyumbani children, say because of Nyumbani village we can

become better people.

We can feel love in a family.

We can make it in life.

Walking around the village late at night in my first week I

stumbled across an impromptu party in cluster 19. Some

children were drumming while others were dancing with

deflated basketballs balanced on their heads. I instantly

got a vibe of togetherness and the cluster had a real fun family feeling

about it.

This dance session was followed up by an excellent group performance at

the cluster dance festival the following weekend, and their hard work was

rewarded when they were awarded second place, earning themselves 3

chickens.

Cluster 19 then spent the rest of the month planning a feast to celebrate

and eat their prizes. everyone in the village was invited to contribute,

and all the staff and volunteers donated something. Some staff provided

soda, some biscuits, others flour, and we gave them 3L of cooking oil. The

party took careful planning and was rescheduled several times until the

cluster was fully prepared. This was a cluster that knew how to throw a

good party!

The day of the party eventually came, my final Sunday in the village, and

we were very excited to be invited to attend. I went down during the day

to see how preparation was going and was impressed with the teamwork

I observed; about 20 children had set up a very efficient chapatti making

production line!

We ate dinner before going, as we didn't want to deprive the children of

the food they had worked hard to earn and acquire. However this decision

turned out to be a big mistake as upon arrival we were treated as guests

of honour and presented with plates piled high with food. They had

cooked chicken, rice, cabbage, and chapattis, and they also had sodas and

biscuits. The food was delicious but we were all stuffed and felt a little like

Bruce from Matilda as we knew it would seem rude to leave any food.

what NyumbaNi village meaNS to me

cluSter FocuS!By AMeLIA SOuTHgATe - WHO ReCeNTLy SPeNT 6 WeeKS VOLuNTeeRINg IN THe VILLAge

By CAROLINe MuTINDI - WHO WROTe THe WINNINg POeM IN A ReCeNT NyuMBANI VILLAge PuBLIC SPeAKINg COMPeTITION.

After the meal there was a dance performance, which was amazing. children

and shushes danced, sang and drummed and they welcomed us all to the

party individually by singing “we are happy, we are happy today, to see you

‘Amelia’, to see you ‘Amelia’”. After this there were speeches from everyone

present and prayers. It was such a fun evening, and really lovely to see a

whole cluster working together to be such good hosts.

My name is Ángela de Hoyos-Limon.

I am from Spain and I am currently

working in Nyumbani Village as a

social worker. I was employed in

January 2013 having spent the previous five

years volunteering at the village.

Nyumbani Village has almost 1000 children and

100 grandparents. At the moment we are 5 social

workers and each of us is in charge of 5 clusters.

every cluster has 4 houses and every house has

around 10 children. I am in change of cluster 1 to

5 with 19 grandparents and 167 children.

every Monday morning the department has a

meeting, where we share what each of us did

during the previous week and plan together our

goals for the coming one.

Tuesday is the day for food distribution. As a

social worker, I go to visit all the families and

confirm if they used all the food that they

were given the previous week. I go with a food

requisition form and check that the food is being

used in the best way possible. I also check on the

HIV + children who may require a special diet as

part of their treatment.

every day I visit the houses, sometimes

during working hours to visit the

grandparents, other times I go after 4 pm

when primary school children come from

school. I sometimes visit after work from

8-8.30 pm up to 10-10.30, to make sure that

everybody is well and I try to help if there are

any issues within the household.

I am also in charge of College students. So far

we have 68 children in tertiary education. I am

especially busy in May and Sept when there are

the intakes in the Colleges.

I assist them with the income generating

activities –they make beautiful baskets and

carvings. every year, children in form 4 (the

last year in the school) are reintegrated in their

communities as they also prepare to go to

college. As a social worker, it is also my job to

visit families outside the village. This is often

very difficult and seeing where the children

grew up before Nyumbani really highlights the

extreme poverty that they experienced. I really

value what Nyumbani Village does for them and

I can often see them really changing, even if just

with a smile that was not there when I brought

them here.

every day is similar in a way and very different

in another. Always I meet the same people but

notice as their lives change, they change in

themselves. It is very nice to see the children

growing healthy, happy and also doing well in the

school. All the age groups have their challenges

but they all need to be loved, cared and listened

to. even though I have to deal with some difficult

situations, I finish my day very happy that I was

able to see them, talk to them and laugh with

them.

BY ÁNGELA DE HoYoS-LIMoN - A SoCIAL WoRKER IN NYuMBANI VILLAGE

FuNdraiSiNg updateBrookham school officially handed over

a cheque to Mike elms at an event that

was celebrated by a special assembly for

the whole school. Brookham had chosen

Nyumbani as their charity of the year -

and raised money through a vast array

of fundraising activities. The event was

also featured in the local newspaper.

a day iN the liFe oF NyumbaNi village 2014 Slum

Film FeStival

Founded in 2011 in Nairobi, the Slum Film

Festival is a community-based annual

film event featuring stories from, by,

and about people living in urban slums

throughout Africa. It is both a celebration

of the creativity of filmmakers living and

working in slums, as well as an opportunity

to promote – through a week of outdoor

screenings – a diverse range of films within

communities with limited or no access to

cinema.

The 2014 Slum Film Festival awards

ceremony was held in Nairobi on October

18th.

We are delighted to announce the movie

“About Ndugu” which was filmed at

the Nyumbani Village, won the 2014

Documentary Award.

Daniel, the star of the film, was there to

receive the award along with a few other

delighted guests from Nyumbani.

Last December, Alison Stedman, former

president of Montrose Rotary Club, came

to the Inverkeithing High School Interact

Club to speak to us about the incredible

work being done at the Nyumbani organisation

in Kenya. Little did we expect to be on the plane

heading to Nairobi eight months later, ready to

begin our voluntary mission.

We were informed that our task before we left was

to raise £3,000 in funds to gift to the Nyumbani

organisation. Though this at first seemed like a very

challenging sum to raise, we eventually managed

to smash this target by raising over £4,000. This

is with many thanks to the very generous help

of our local community and the Rotary Club of

Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay. When we arrived at

the orphanage, we were given a tour of the facilities,

allowing us to see exactly where our funds were

going to: the Nyumbani Diagnostic Laboratory.

This is a very well respected medical centre which

focuses on HIV/AIDS diagnosis and treatment. The

money we had raised is going towards buying new

TB testing equipment for this laboratory.

Nyumbani is split into three parts: the children’s

home; the self-sustaining village, which is a 4 hours’

drive east of Nairobi; and the Lea Toto outreach

clinic in the slums of Nairobi. For part of our trip,

we spent 5 days in the Nyumbani village where

we carried out a variety of volunteering activities

including food and cleaning distribution, seed

planting in a nursery, helping with the livestock and

working in powder production. The main project we

contributed to was the construction of traditional

mud walls around the cooking areas outside the

houses, acting to shelter the fires from the high

winds. Whilst we were staying at the village, we were

able to make a donation of clothes, toys, stationary

and books etc. that have been gratefully received as

a result of the kindness of family and friends; acting

as a gift from our community to theirs.

On returning to the children’s home, we spent the

next few days painting the inside of a cottage in

which 12 orphans live with a “mama”. This was a

very rewarding task for the group, as seeing the

smiles on the children’s faces once we’d completed

the cottage was extremely gratifying.

On the whole, our two week trip was an eye-opening

experience- one that will live long in our memories.

We have each learned from both the experience

itself and from the amazing and interesting people

that we met. It has given us an appetite for travel

and for giving back to those less fortunate than

ourselves.

For the latest updates on the projects please join us on Twitter! And follow us on facebook

www.twitter.com/nyumbaniukwww.facebook.com/nyumbani.hcf

Please visit our newly designed website www.nyumbani.org.uk

Trustees and Board MembersSimon Philips, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Baroness Morris of Yardley, Mike Elms, Simon Cleaver, Alex Williams, Anna Gowdridge, Peter Wilson, John Langley, Sally Patterson, Celeste Shirvani, Andy Hunt, Andrew Law, Ameet Vohra, Denise Vohra, Jon Southgate, Kunal Ghandi, Larry Sullivan, Sarah Elms.

For more information, please

contact Helen Marshall at:

helen.marshall@nyumbani.org.uk

www.nyumbani.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1072191

Sixth Form group viSit to NyumbaNi

By RACHeL CLegg

I hope you enjoy reading the updates

in this newsletter, much of which

would not be possible without your

continued support and backing. If you

would like more information or would

like to get involved please do get in

touch. Helen.marshall@nyumbani.

org.uk

lateSt updateS

Please help us to find sponsors for over 850 children in Nyumbani. £180 which is just £15 a month pays for the annual cost of an education for one child. We strongly believe that a good education can give a child the tools they need to pull themselves out of poverty in the future. The new school year for Kenya starts in January 2015, please help us ensure that all our children are able to go to school at the start of term. Helen.marshall@nyumbani.org.uk