Our K

enyan KidsOur Kenyan Kids

www.ourkenyankids.com No. 2 - 2015

A Message from the Chair of our Board of Directors

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Our Kenyan Kids I would like to welcome you all to the Spring of 2015. Spring for me is a time for new beginnings, new growth and a

bursting of colours that can only be seen as blessings sent directly from God.

Blessings; what a wonderful concept. As Chair of our Board of Directors I have recently been reflecting on blessings. We are blessed with an opportunity to help others who are less fortunate than ourselves through our actions, through donations and through our voice. Our Kenyan Kids works to help children, one child at a time, to help them meet

their untapped potential regardless of the barriers they face; whether financial, health or a loss of family members including parents to AIDS.

News and Events Transcend film:Wall Street United Church, Friday June 5th at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $10. This inspiring film documents the life of Wesley Korir, a Kenyan marathon runner who won the Boston Marathon in 2012. He was also elected as an independent member of the Kenyan Government. A 5 km run by the Brockville Roadrunners club will precede the film at 6:30. Refreshments will follow and the Kenyan craft store will be open.In the U.S.A.,Wesley Korir and his wife, Tarah, co-founded the KenyanKidsFoundation.org which is dedicated to the financing of secondary education for needy Kenyan children.

Annual Garage Sale: This huge sale of ‘good stuff for a great cause’ will be held on Friday June 12th (10am – 7pm) and Saturday June 13th (9 am – 1pm). Linda James is collecting sale items (no clothes) and she may be contacted at 613 342-7591. This event will also include a Bake Table.

Art in the City:This is a Brockville event being held on Saturday June 27th and Sunday June 28th and a number of artists will be at Wall Street United Church. Our Kenyan Kids will provide a refreshment canteen on both days.

Meaningful Gifts:A donation to Our Kenyan Kids is one way to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, etc. or for In Memoriams. A card will be sent to the person being honoured. You may donate by cheque or online at www.canadahelps.org .

Our Kenyan Kids, P.O. Box 164, Brockville, Ontario K6V 5V2

A Canadian Registered Charity - Registration # 810593012RR0001

Our Kenyan Kids © 2015

Our Kenyan Kids’ new web siteOur website is currently being rebuilt. The new site will continue its coverage of our cur-rent projects, both in Kenya and supporting activities here in Canada. It will also be more dynamic, allowing you to post your comments and receive replies and other information from us.

Just like Rome, web sites are not built in a day, so we will keep the old site on line for the present with its decriptions of our work in Kenya. The old site may be viewed at:

thehowards.ca/ourkenyankids1.comPlease note, however, that the e-mail links on the old site will no longer work. In the meantime, you will be able to get in touch with us at:

ourkenyankids@gmail.com

H appy

Birthday,

Doug !Please join with our Board of Di-rectors in wishing Doug Warren, the Founder of Our Kenyan Kids, a very happy 75th birthday.

I wil l keep walking.(See photos of the event on the following page.)

One of the most successful projects in our fold is Gath-aithi OVC Centre. It is a home supporting 139 orphaned and vulnerable children. Our partnership started when we found them struggling to get up on their feet and start walking. Ever since they started walking, they have never stopped, not even the death of their program manager George Mbugua could slow them down. This shows how a well thought succession plan does guar-antee the future of any institution even when a pivotal pillar is not there. Largely supported by the communities (church, government institutions, and other schools) in the locality, Gathaithi is an oasis of hope for the many children whose future is bleak.

Gathaithi is unique in many ways; the children too, un-derstand that for them to stay on their feet the insti-tution needs to be standing. In light of this, the home organizes an annual walk where the children from the children’s home and host school raise funds to support the institution. 11th of April was the day for the walk. The seven-hour walk traverses seven small towns or vil-lages if you may. The terrain is nothing close to a walk in the park. Located in the Kenyan Highlands, 1500 meters above sea level the terrain is very unforgiving to young kids and old people alike. The hills can be both intimidat-ing and discouraging, but the promise and the hope of a better tomorrow keeps them walking.

I asked the convener and the chairperson of the chil-dren’s home board, “why walk and make the kids walk for so many kilometers?’ His answer was, “the commu-nity needs to know that there is something they can do, however little. They need to understand that the stu-dent’s future is guaranteed by our collective efforts to-day, and unless they see the kids, they will never believe we exist.” There is an African saying that says ‘haba na haba hujaza kibaba.’What that means is, ‘a little here and a little there fills the tin’. Indeed, the home managed to raise around CAD $4300. This figure can fool you to think a few ‘loaded’ people who came together and donated the money. However, it was the $0.143 from the women at the market and other people running small businesses in the villages with just enough to survive who gave up their lunch to feed a child.

Though we were in pain at the end of the day, all the effort was worth it, because with every step we took it was a step closer to a child’s dream. This reminds me of a person in Canada who donates CAD $10 and thinks it is too little to make a difference; to that, I end with this quote by Dalai Lama XIV. “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in the same room with a mosquito.” Your efforts are priceless, never tire of doing good.

For now, I will keep walking to give someone a chance of walking tomorrow.

Josphat Kageni

Information from the Annual General Meeting held on 30 March 2015

ACTIVITIES IN KENYANairobi Children’s Rescue Centre: Salaries for 8 workers.

Christmas party for children. Dettol.Hope House Babies’ Home: 17 Adopt-a-cots. $2,911 general

support (includes special donation).PLWA/Selenium Project: 3 support groups at Embu, one at

Gilgil. Income Generating project – Goats at Kagumori.Kawangware Tailoring Project: Teacher’s salary. Rent.Sanitary supplies.Education: Sponsorship of 3 high school students and 2 special

needs studentsKambui School for the Hearing Impaired: Sponsorship of 7

students. Food donation. 2 computersGathaithi OVC: Food. Medical supplies – Jiggers. Sanitary

supplies. Irrigation system for greenhouseAmazing Grace Children’s Home: Food.

CANADIAN ACTIVITIES4 open meetings. 12 Board meetings.Presentation to NCWCDO annual meeting.Presentation at St. Lambert United Church.Monthly e-Newsletter. 2 News Digests.Media exposure: R&T; EMC; Cogeco Cable.Fundraising

10th Anniversary Gala Meaningful GiftsGarage Sale Change Challenge JarFashion Show Starfish CampaignStore – Kenyan crafts Rita’s dollsMaitland Garden of Hope Food and Fees CampaignJune’s ‘milk bag’ bags

Our Kenyan Kids - Statement ofOperations to December 2014Revenue:

Donations $45,890Fundraisers (net) 12,953

Total Revenue (net) $58,843Expenditures:

Education costs $5,389Nairobi Children’s Rescue Centre 11,261Kawangware Tailoring Project 7,989Hope House Babies’ Home 4,651PLWA/Selenium project (delivery) 887Kagumori Goat project 1,241Gathaithi OVC 5,986Amazing Grace Children’s Home 5,511Misc. food 1,093Program Delivery Kenya (salary,office rent, miscellaneous) 15,175Total Canadian Administration(insurance, printing, postage) 2,804

Total Expenditures $61,987Deficit for 2014 ($3,144)Total Cash Assets (31 December 2014) $25,159

Fundraising walk for Gathaithi in April 2015

Photo Gallery