Thursday 2 June 2022

It’s always a tough day when we go on home visits to see where the school children live and also the giving of donations that we have brought to Kenya with us.

Every trip, we have the opportunity to visit the school childrens homes and the tough conditions that they live in on a daily basis. Many children, some under the age of 5, walk for over an hour to the school everyday to hopefully get a good education. From seeing the five homes, it’s just heartbreaking on the lack of water and electricity that these families have. The shock factor still gets to me every time. Many of them, have five or six people living in a 8 foot by 8 foot mud hut, with a single bed. But they take extreme pride on their homes, keeping them clean, tidy and very welcoming. 

In between the home visits, I gave approximately 100 prescription glasses to a random stall holder on the streets of Nakuru in Kenya. My first trip since becoming an entrepreneur of my own. I want them to be given an opportunity to expand their business and earn money for their family.

Like home visits, every year we bring donations of clothing to our schools for the children. This year we have been very generously allowed two suitcases, weighing 23kg each by British Airways. They also gave us an extra 10 suitcases between our volunteers as we are a charity. I was fortunate enough to be allowed an extra case, meaning I had three suitcases!

Class by class, volunteers gave bags full of socks, underwear, trousers, tops, skirts and some even had hats! Although it is so amazing to see them in their Adidas, Nike and Primark outfits, it’s also heartbreaking knowing that we need to do this every year, to make sure they have suitable clothing that a lot of their families can’t simply afford.

During a break in work, I decided to teach a class. I took the eldest year and talked to them about the importance of talking to family, friends or teachers about how they are feeling, especially if they were feeling low. Between two children, they all shared a copy of my book, ‘The Mental Health Moles’ that I wrote last year and altogether they read a few of the chapters out loud. It was a beautiful and humbling moment that meant so much to me and from the feedback that I had from the children later that day they got a lot from my book and discussion.

We met a young man who used to attend West End Academy a few years ago. He is now a trained Plumber, which is a testimony to the school. He told us that he will be security for the evening, but will also apply the water fittings to the kitchen. The school is supplied water every Monday and Friday, so to complete our work, we will hopefully be able to see the kitchen fully functional tomorrow.