HOME (Help Orphans with Milk and Eggs)

HOME is a project started by a volunteer named Kelsey to provide the kids at Tunza in Ngong with chickens and a cow. In the last few weeks, HOME provided Tunza with a cow, which will provide milk, and 100 chickens, to lay eggs that can be sold to earn income and eaten by the kids. Three farm buildings were also built.


To read more about this exciting project, check out the HOME blog here: http://kenyakelseykenya.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

We have once again created a video to show you some of the ways funds were used this year and to thank you for your support.

Hope you enjoy it!

Merry Christmas from Uweza!

Quick update on our Christmas Dinner Sponsorship: thanks to you, 19 families in Kibera received the makings of a special Christmas dinner (rice, chapati, meat, cooking oil, sugar and cookies) today. More details (and pictures) coming soon.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!

Counselors November Report

Click HERE to read the report from the Tunza Children's Center counselors about their work with the kids in November.

Sponsor Christmas dinner for a family in Kibera!

Everyone in Kibera is getting geared up for Christmas right now - this mostly means trying to find their best outfit to wear to church for the day. Most families living in the slum cannot afford to buy presents for each other or even a nice meal. Dinner on Christmas day will consist of the common staple foods, ugali (maize flour that is boiled into a doughy porridge) and sukuma wiki (kale).

We want to try and set up as many families in our HIV outreach as possible with a nice Christmas dinner this year. This will consist of meat or chicken, rice, vegetables, cake and tea. All of this can be purchased for a mere $15!!

Families in Kibera are living in some of the worst conditions imaginable and many can go a whole day without eating. It would mean so much to them to have a special meal on Christmas. If you would like to sponsor a family this Christmas, please go HERE and make a donation, designating it for Christmas Dinner sponsorship.

After Christmas, we will e-mail you a picture of the family you helped.

Spread the word to anyone that might be interested in helping a family in need this Christmas!

Brian goes home!

Today, after two long months in the hospital, Brian finally returned home. The final bill amounted to 62,510 shillings (about $850) and thanks to the help of our generous donors, we were able to pay it in full!

During his time at the hospital, he received three blood transfusions and a skin graft on his leg. A series of tests was done to determine the cause of his frequent health problems (all which came back normal). They told us that he was just really malnourished (and probably anemic) and that if he is just given a balanced diet, he will be okay.

Just as a reminder, here is Brian a few days after he was admitted....



And here he is now!



He now has full use of his leg (prior to being admitted to the hospital, he could not even move it and had to be carried around).



He will continue to return to the hospital three times a week for a checkup until the leg is completely healed. We received so much help and concern for Brian and we are so grateful - you really changed his life and I know he won't soon forget it!

Addendum: I just received a text from Brian's mom that she would like to give me "a vote of thanks for what you have done to Brian because I am sure that minus you maybe he could have died so I pray to God to lead your future." I just wanted to extend that vote of thanks to all of you as well!

Faces of Kibera eBay Auction

Faces of Kibera, one of our favorite organizations working to help the kids in Kibera, (and one we frequently partner with!) is having their annual eBay auction.



Items being auctioned off include:

4 tickets to the Carolina Panthers Game Dec 27th with VIP Pre Game Field Passes

VIP Day for 4 to Giants training Camp 2010 in Albany

Signed Jerseys: Kevin Boss, Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Eli Manning, Steve Smith, Hakim Nicks, Antonio Pierce.

Autographed NY Giants balls: Kevin Boss, Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Eli Manning, Steve Smith, Hakim Nicks.

Signed Ringo Starr Drum Skin

And more!

The goal of Faces of Kibera is "to create and support a community-based facility for orphans outside Kibera. Funds raised will be spent on housing, food, psychological and medical care. We want to make a safe place the children can call their home, a family they can depend on and a hopeful future."

Read more about Faces of Kibera at www.facesofkibera.org. Check out the auction and place a bid HERE!

Tunza Party and the End of an Era

Today, we had a party at Tunza Children's Center in Kibera. The party was for several occasions. First, none of the kids at Tunza ever get a birthday party (and some don't even know their birthday), so we decided to celebrate for everyone all on one day. Secondly, the Class 8 (end of primary school) and Form 4 (end of secondary school) kids just finished their very important exams and we wanted to celebrate their achievements. Finally, starting next week and finishing by the end of this month, all of the kids will be moving out of Kibera to the new home in Ngong.

By December, Tunza Children's Center in Kibera will not be home to any more children and will be closed. It will re-open as a school in January 2010 but Tunza, the children's home in Kibera, will no longer exist. I (Jen) have volunteered at Tunza since 2006 - this is my fourth summer - and it is surreal to think that the home will be gone. Tunza has always played a central role in my trips to Kenya and has been the place where I feel most at home in Kibera. I know it has also played this role for a lot of volunteers.

The move to Ngong is definitely better for the children in terms of hygiene and sanitation and space. The conditions in Kibera were terrible and those in Ngong are much improved. Because the great majority of our work is carried out in Kibera and because the home in Ngong takes a while to get to, our role in supporting Tunza will decrease dramatically once they move from Kibera. We will continue to sponsor the six children from Tunza that we do now and will visit the center from time to time to check up on the kids but it will be next to impossible for us to play a major role in supporting the center. We will also continue to send our counselors to Ngong every week.

It will be a big transition but we have some really great projects in Kibera that we are excited to devote more money and efforts to. We look forward both to seeing a better life for the kids in Ngong and improving some of these projects that we haven't been able to put a lot of effort into, due to the time-consuming nature of assisting a children's home.

Counselors October Report

This past month has been busy for the Tunza kids, with a lot of transitions taking place. They also continue to adjust to life in Ngong. The counselors have really helped them get through this time.

Click HERE to read their report for October.

Support Group Business Start-Ups

Since last October, we have been selling jewelry and bags in the United States made by members of HIV positive support groups in Kibera. These groups meet weekly for various purposes - one group conducts a savings project where they each contribute a little bit of money to a group account each week and another has started a business and a small shop to sell jewelry, bags and other goods.

A large portion of the profits that was made selling these items went directly to the members of the group and was used for things like paying rent, hospital bills, food and children's school fees. Another portion has been used to buy medicine, provide transport to the hospital or cover bills for members when they become sick. The final portion we have decided to start a business start-up project to help the members of the group sustain themselves.





In September, we started meeting with one of the groups, which is composed of 20 members. In keeping with Uweza's idea of empowering, we would like the groups to sustain the project themselves, rather than have us tell them how to operate, so they decided all of the ground rules. They divided into groups of four (five groups total) and wrote up business proposals - their businesses include selling eggs, soap, rice and other items. They drew up paperwork and required each group member to fill out a form and provide a photocopy of their ID. When I asked them what they would do if a group member didn't pay back their start-up money, they all responded that they would "auction off all of their belongings." So it seems they are pretty serious!

We decided to give each group of four people 10,000 shillings (or $130) to start their businesses. The group decided that in order to motivate themselves to succeed, they would like to pay back the full amount to a group account with the addition of 5% interest every month. Once they fully pay back these business start-up loans (to themselves), they can use the money plus interest to improve/further sustain their businesses.

The 10,000 shillings per group was distributed on October 4 and it has now been four weeks. They have reported that everyone is paying back their loan and no one has defaulted. We are very hopeful that this project will succeed and will help these 20 people living with HIV to support themselves and their families.

We met with another group of five ladies today that would like to start a business selling charcoal. They will be opening a group account and we hope to provide them with the start-up funds in the next week.

The jewelry and bag sales are continuing in the United States and we are very grateful for everyone that has bought something and supported these men and women. They are so grateful to have the opportunity to make their lives better for themselves and their children.

If you are interested in purchasing an item made by the groups or in helping us by holding a sale, let us know!

Pictures of the men and women and their businesses are coming soon, we hope, so stay tuned!