Some news

Hey Everyone!

So things have been going really well here in the last few weeks, but it still has been hard to manage all the ideas we are having. We have had some help in our organization from some students studying here in Nairobi and it really has been a big help lately. Let me first start with the updates on what we have been doing, and then move on to talk about some things we really want to start up soon.

First off, as Jen said about Cyrus last week, he is really improving quite well. I walked into the orphanage yesterday to be greeted by him walking around by himself. As Jen said though, he is still only able to see shadows and shapes, and a very small amount of blurred vision, but his progress so far has been amazing and we are still hoping for the best. In fact, he goes back to the eye doctor today so we will see what they say and keep everyone informed. I wanted to thank everyone again for their generosity in stepping up to help Cyrus during these last few weeks, it has really been amazing the amount of care and support we have been receiving for his cause.

Secondly, on Friday of last week, we sent our FIRST EVER 1st grade sponsored students to one of the best public schools in Kenya. They were not reporting to class, but they had to report in full uniform to the headmaster to make sure they would be prepared to return in January 2009. The boys were so EXCITED to wear their new uniforms and go to the school where they will be studying in a few months. We took 5 boys, who had graduated pre-primary school in December of 2007, but there parents could not afford to take them to primary school, so they instead remained behind at Jamii. But next year, with the help of your sponsorships, they will join their classmates for an amazing chance at a better education. On Friday, we arrived at Jamii Children’s Center in the morning to prepare the boys and they would not stop grinning in their new uniforms. It was great to see them walk with such pride to Olympic Primary, their new school, where we know soon they will be excelling in their studies.

We have been continuing to do home visits in our health program, as well as the support groups have been going very well. In fact, in a few hours 80 of the support group’s bags from their craft making will be arriving in America! Along with the over 500 pieces of jewelry already in America, we are going to start selling these things soon, so stay tuned.

We have so much planned for Uweza and partnerships between the members of Uweza and the communities in Kibera, it’s a very exciting time. We are currently registering as a nonprofit in Kenya so that we may be dual registered in both Kenya and the USA, and once we can achieve this registration we will be able to buy land for our new school! We are right now in the process of negotiating some spots of land we have found and cannot wait to get this project moving. The three teachers from the community involved in the start up process have really been amazing, and we have been having regular meeting with them to make sure everything can be put in place, for a possible opening of UWEZA ACADEMY in January of 2010.

Additionally, this week we will be building a chicken coop to allow for the occupancy of 50 CHICKENS (to start). We will be using this project get eggs that we can give out to our HIV+ patients for extra nutritional supplements during home visits.

Additionally, we have been looking into some other community projects, such as the installation of solar energy for our current projects, such as the orphanage and the school to save on energy costs and reduce the bill. We also are trying to get together an office in Kibera, that might act both as an office and a computer training center at a free or low cost to children in the community of Kibera. We have had some help with friends in the past few weeks proposing these ideas and offering help to initiate them, so we are SUPER EXCITED about the coming months. But these are all very new ideas, and are going to take a lot of planning and support, so please continue to stay in touch with us!

More news soon! And thank you everyone who has been making this work such a success in this past year.

Meghann
Uweza Aid Foundation