Events  &  Visits  
There is always something happening in Maisha Mema, and we want to share some of the things with you.  The cooperation and events concerning Mamlaka Hill Chapel has it's own page (here), but any other event or special visit will come on the page you are visiting now.  We hope you will enjoy seeing and reading about it!
 

Visit by Bømlo Folkehøyskole, November 2011
It has become a tradition that Bømlo Folkehøyskole [a type of relaxed school for 1 year inbetween Secondary and University in Norway] visits Maisha Mema in November.  This time they came with a record number; 30 students and 3 teachers / assistants.  Maisha Mema is among the projects they support in Kenya and Uganda, and we appreciate the visit! :-)

The students enjoyed singing and dancing in Clubhouse by the children there, and also entertained the children with singing and dancing, or was it movements? :-)  In late afternoon / evening the students came to Doonholm and interacted with our children here.  One very popular event for the small children was to be carried on the shoulders.  Some times it's ok to look down on others :-)  Thanks for coming, and welcome back to Soweto and Tigoni next year!

 

Visit by Andrew & Co, October 2011
The United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi has for some years used Maisha Mema as a place where their students can do some of their social commitment.  The idea is that whatever background the students have (and some come from rich families), they should taste "real life" and be able to see life from the ground also.  All the students therefore have to be placed in a children's home or similar program where they can wash clothes, dishes, floors and otherwise help out.  And they have to do 90 hours of this :-)  Some of these students also surprise the children with gifts, and Andrew (far left on the group picture) had organised for all the children to get gifts.  Christmas came early this year! :-)

 

Visit by Solborg Folkehøgskole, 1st October 2011
Solborg Folkehøgskole in Stavanger is a yearly visitor with one or two classes.  Since they this time were so many, one group visited our Clubhouse in the Soweto slums and the other our family in Doonholm.

Jane doing one of her favourite things; playing with hair :-)  Many of the girls like to play hair saloon, especially with "white hair" since that one is so soft :-)  The students also played games with our children, and bonding is always a goal!
 

Visit by Bergeland Videregående Skole, 1st October 2011
Bergeland Videregående Skole (a secondary school in Stavanger) was visiting us 1st October, and came both to Clubhouse and Doonholm.  We appreciate the contact! :-)

Øyvind, the teacher in charge, explains a point, while one of the kids in Soweto performs with her whole heart.  The Bergeland delegation pictured below.  Welcome back!

 

Visit by Raising Seed, September / October 2011
Raising Seed (http://www.raisingseed.ch/) is a Swiss aid organisation working with children.  We are happy to be associated with them, and welcome you back any time! :-)

Lots of singing and happiness!
 

Visit by St Olav Videregående Skole, end September 2011
Representatives for St Olav Videregående Skole (secondary school) in Stavanger came visiting in end September.  We appreciate the contact, and hope we're seeing more to you later! :-)

Lots of interaction - just like the kids like it!

 

Visit by Unity College, August 2011
Hair-dressing and beauty students from Unity College in Buru Buru came visiting Clubhouse in October.  Several of our children have attended or are attending classes there.  The kids in the Soweto Club House really appreciated getting their hair washed, cut, blowdried, applied chemicals and plaited.  And Karimi, one of our workers, also got some pedicure - see her big smile! :-)  A fun day, and a chance for the students and our children to interact.  Thanks again for coming, and you are of course very much welcome back!  :-)

 

Visit on 4th June 2011
A group of people, some of them from Mamlaka Hill Chapel where we attend church, came visiting on 4th June.  They brought food stuff to make chapatis, and also helped making them.  This is a favourite food for very many people here, and our children love it! :-)  For some of them, it became a long waiting for their favourite food, but as the saying goes; "He who waits for something good doesn't wait in vain" :-)  Thanks for coming and making a nice day for our children, and welcome back! :-)

 

Visit to Munyao's farm, June 2011
We have good friends in the Munyao family, and just bfore they travelled to New York for 4 years, they invited us to their farm not far from Machakos.  We had a very nice time with them there, and really appreciate them as friends!  We'll miss you when you are abroad, and look forward to when you come back!

 

Visit by Solborg Folkehøgskole, March 2011
Terje Todnem, a teacher at Solborg Folkehøgskole in Stavanger, comes every year with his class, and so also this year.  They visited Clubhouse - here assembled to listen to Maria's orientation about our work in Soweto, and later our family in Doonholm.

They also took a number of the children in Soweto for an outing.  Mamba Village is a very popular place!  Some dancing in the restaurant sharpens the appetite!  Touching - and holding - a baby crocodile is also exiting!  And a pose for the photographer (it was Fred who took the pictures in Mamba Village) is a given thing :-)  Solborg created a superb day for the kids, and we really appreciate!  More please! :-)

 

Trip to Paradise Lost and Village Market, December 2010
Most children like outings.  And the time for outings in Maisha Mema is normally December holiday.  This year, the outings were to Paradise Lost in Kiambu for the youth, and to Village Market for the children. 

 

Visit by Bømlo Folkehøyskole, November 2010
We were visited by a school class of 20 - all girls! - from Bømlo Folkehøyskole [a type of relaxed school for 1 year inbetween Secondary and University in Norway] with their teacher and assistant during the weekend of 5th to 7th November.  The school has several projects in Kenya and Uganda, but is also supporting Maisha Mema.  And although we don't have the biggest living room, it still fits 40-50 people when available benches, chairs and floor space is utilised  :-)  But outside it is of course possible to play games!  We say: Welcome back! :-)

Stundents - and teacher Kjetil with a cap - watching Maisha Mema Clubhouse children sing and dance.

Kjetil presenting his class, followed by a couple of Norwegian songs.  The "kuku"-song is a must for a Norwegian group when coming to Clubouse!  This is a Norwegian song beginning with "Jeg gikk en tur på stien..." and the chorus basically consists of making the sound of a certain bird; "Ku ku, ku ku..."  Our children in Clubhouse are convinced this must be the Norwegian national anthem since every Norwegian knows it... :-)
 

Visit by Bergeland Videregående Skole, October 2010
Bergeland Videregående Skole [Bergeland Secondary School] of Stavanger, Norway, sent a delegation of 2 students and three teachers on a fact finding tour to Maisha Mema from 21st to 29th October.  They have several projects in Nairobi, but are now focusing on providing support for building the second Clubhouse in Soweto.  We bonded very well, and we are sure their presentation to the students and teachers of Bergeland when they came back to Stavanger, was superb!  :-)

Anja learned Kenyan rhythms by children in Clubhouse - and was good!  Caroline at left is also a very good girl in playing the drums.

Home visit is always tough - the contrast to Western life is just so enormous...  But having visited a home, and then coming back to Clubouse, gives an understanding of why we do what we do in Soweto!

The students and teachers also had a meeting with our social worker, Florence.  There are always many questions about the Clubhouse, the philosophy behind, the children, the running of the place, economy and plans for the future.  With wind blowing straight through, Anja was more occupid with the curtain just when we took the picture, but is present in the two pictures above... :-)  We hope a group will come next year also!
 

Visit by United States International University students, July 2010
Sunday 25th July, students from United States International University (USIU) visited our family.  They wanted to encourage and advise the children, but also brought sodas, biscuits and food stuff.  Thanks!  And hearty welcome back! :-)

On the picture we also see one of our housemothers, Flo, to the left.  And this is also one of the rare moments that Jonny is in the picture and not behind the camera... :-)

 

Trip to Giraffe Centre / Mamba Village, July 2010
Saturday 24th July, we went with the small children to Giraffe Centre and Mamba Village.  This was a fun day both for children and grown ups!  :-)

In addition to the small children, also Jaja, Florence Kibicho, Marianne and Jonny (photoes) came along.  Jaja is presently in attachment as part of College.  Florence is our social worker.  

It's in fact very easy to imagine that these creatures have survived the span of millions of years!  They lived side by side with the dinosaurs, and they haven't changed much since then...

Bouncing castle and boat ride are also winners  :-)  The day was completed with chicken and chips at a restaurant on the way home.  Top!  :-)
 
 

Visit by Nanset Tensing in July 2010
Nanset Tensing is a choir that is rehearsing in Nanset church in Larvik in Norway.  They have for a long time planned to go to Kenya to visit YMCA and Maisha Mema, and came in July 2010.  In addition to having a tensing gathering at Naivasha, they also interacted with the children of Maisha Mema.  We do hope they also come back!  :-)

In Soweto, the choir of course sang, but also danced line dance.  This is very popular!  Our children also performed, of course, and it seemed like Nanset Tensing and Maisha Mema children were mutually impressed by each other.  They had gotten 250 t-shirts printed with a Maisha Mema logo, and Freddie, the pastor of Nanset church, handed over the t-shirts to our social worker Florence.  Thanks a lot!  Nanset also visited our family in Doonholm, performed the line dance, sang, and interacted very well with our children.   

Nanset Tensing also performed in our church, Mamlaka Hill Chapel.  This was also very good, as we like to present talented visitors!  :-)

Visiting Mitchell's tea farm in Tigoni is something we do with most visitors of ours.  But very few of them will line up at the veranda and sing!  :-)  Fiona and Marcus, the hosts at the tea farm, were both impressed and happy to hear the choir sing!  :-)

 
 

Impulse Promotion Ltd visit, May 2010
Saturday 29th May, Clubhouse in Soweto was blessed with visitors from Impulse Promotions Ltd. They played two matches against Maisha Mema children, which of course Maisha Mema won :-) and handed over a lot of food stuff, clothes, detergents, books and sanitary towels. We appreciate very much both the gifts and interaction, and welcome them back any time! :-)

 

Unity College visit, April 2010
Unity College from Buru Buru came visiting Clubhouse on the 24th April.  Several of our children have attended classes there, and this time it was the hairdressing class coming.  Quite a number of the kids in Clubhouse got the hair washed, cut, blowdried, applied chemicals and plaited.  In addition to creating awareness to the college about what we are doing in Soweto, it is also a fun time both for students and children.  Thanks for coming, and very much welcome back!  :-)

Blowdrying and cutting - kipara! (no hair left...).  On the picture below, Susan, whos is educated from Unity College and a kid of ours from Soweto, applies chemicals in Lillian's hair, another of our kids from Soweto and now in Form 3.

 

Unga Drive, April 2010
Students from Nairobi University came visiting Clubhouse on Good Friday.  They interacted with our children, had a motivational speech and a drama, and brought over a ton of unga (flour for making ugali - a kind of stiff maize poridge).  The flour was distributed among the families where we support children in Soweto.  Thanks for coming, and very much welcome back!  :-)

The flour was temporarily stored in one of the

classrooms - and nearly filled it!

 

 

Students and children in a group

picture - all smiles!  :-)

 

Visit by Solborg Folkehøgskole, March 2010
Students from Solborg Folkehøgskole in Stavanger came visiting in March.  This is a yearly event, led by their teacher Terje Todnem.  They of course both visit our Clubhouse in Soweto and our family in Doonholm :-)  And the students also took our morning children in Soweto (around 19 of them) for an outing - giraffe center and a luch.  Thanks!  Unfortunately, Jonny had to leave for Norway and not many pictures were taken.  But here are students and children from our family enjoying life together:

 

Camp, December 2009
Always a winner, Maisha Mema also arranged a camp for Maisha Mema children this year.  Below are some pictures from the departure from Doonholm (pics by Jonny Mydland) and from the camp (pics by Rebekka Lykke Ringgaard)!

The bus passed by Doonholm to pick up children from our family, and then proceeded to Machakos where the camp took place.

Learning is also part of a camp, but a brilliant sunset also!  Football and games, - and friendship! - are also important ingrediants of a successful camp.

Fred - our newly wed worker from the Soweto Clubhouse, is quite fit.  But the tour he went with the children was a challenge to some of them.  Promoting physical and emotional fitnes is also part of our work!
 

USIU visit, August 2009
Three students and two lecturers from the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi came to our home in the beginning of August to hand over equipment to Maisha Mema Children's Home.  A gas cooker, water tank, bed linens, blankets and pillow cases, towels, jiko (to cook on), chapati irons and a pressure cooker were among the things we got.  The students are having their social responsibility practice with us, and we are happy to cooperate!  Many thanks for giving to the children!

Elisabeth handing over til gas cooker (above), Lillian Njoroge the pressure cooker (under, left) and Michael Nguyo bed sheets and blankets (under, right).  The pressure cooker looks like it can produce delicious meals, doesn't it? - depending on what is put inside, of course :-)

 

Askøy Videregående Skole, October 2008
Students from Askøy Videregående Skole (High School) - Håkon, Espen, Martin and Fredrik - visited us together with two teachers - Veronica and Stein, in second half of October.  They were coming to help us extend the Clubhouse in Soweto, but also to learn about the Maisha Mema in order to report back to their school.  We had a wonderful time, and bring some pictures from various activities:

Håkon ponders his next move.  Even though these students are carpenters, they do have to learn the basics about other disciplines too - like masonry.  This is the underground of the new toilet block in the Soweto Clubhouse!

Espen and Fredrik make sure the benches in Clubhouse are ok.  Some of them had gotten quite bad after much use, but what are carpenters for? :-)

 Stein works at the perimeter wall.

Lunch the last day in Soweto - students, teachers, workers and Mr Mbai, the building leader (right).

A couple of the kids admires a world map together with Veronica.  The map was donated by the Askøy group.

 

Pål (left), Maisha Mema's contact person in the Bergen area in Norway (see under Who We Are) makes a point in Clubhouse.

Espen and Ng'endo check out some snaps.

 

Satisfied?  Yes!!!

   

 Students, teachers and the family in Doonholm all together.
 

Splash, October 2008
The undisputable most fun thing our children are doing, is to go swimming.  No problem spending the whole day in the pool!  When a Norwegian group visited (see Safari 2008 for more pictures!), we all went to Splash.  After the swimming, everybody (except the Norwegians...) went to a place in town to have chicken and chips.  Top treat for the children!

Richard, new in the family from June 2008, enjoys a pool for the first time in his life.  Tabitha is more accustomed to the joys of swimming, but had to try out the rings also - both at a time!

 The place is not called Splash for nothing... :-)

Joy enjoys life with Gro, and Gunhild has a perfect touch with the rings!  Øyvind, behind left, must have blown the budget for films after the first day of the safari...
 

Cultural Day in the Soweto Clubhouse April 2008
During holidays, Maisha Mema has started to arrange special days for the children in the Soweto Clubhouse.  Also the children in the Doonholm family normally come for these days.  In April we arranged a Cultural Day in Clubhouse in order for us to be proud of being Kenyans and to see the diversity of our heritage - especially after the clashes in January and February.  We wanted to stress the importance of being Kenyans rather than just coming from individual tribes.  That does not mean that we should not remember our tribal culture.  We therefore also arranged for a display of traditional clothes, the children were dancing traditional dances, singing traditional songs etc.  Together, all the tribes and all the people in them make Kenya what it is.  The day was a great success!

Even though we don't have any Maasai in the program (and that's purely accidental!), the Maasai outfit is a popular one!
 

Visit 22nd December 2007
Three Kenyan families, one of them from Mfungamano church (Nairobi Chapel), came visiting us Saturday 22nd December.  To visit children's homes or similar institutions has been a tradition for them the last few years.  This way, also their children see that they are privileged.  They also brought a lot of food stuff.  Thanks!  We enjoyed the visit very much!

Same hairdresser?

The food stuff surely helps on a tight budget!  Thanks!

 

In just a couple of weeks we experienced two group photoes with kind people.  Not bad!

And of course: Welcome back!

 
 

Christmas Camp 16th to 20th December 2007
It has been a tradition a few years now for children from Soweto Clubhouse and children from our family to go for a Christmas Camp.  Especially for the Soweto kids this is an experience they don't want to miss!  In addition to seeing new places, it is fun, fun, fun!  But also some serious stuff.  Like learning life skills.  Thanks to those who contributed economically to the camp and made it possible!

 

From this year's camp in Tala.  The younger children plays an indoor game.

 

From the December 2006 camp in Machakos.  Swimming is definitely one of the most popular activities we can offer!

Kwame, one of our workers, was the organiser of the camp in 2007.  Here a snap from a previous tour with some of the Soweto kids.  Janeth is from January 2008 in Form 3, and one of the very responsible Soweto kids.  We see in the background Hilton Hotel right and Nation Media building left (taken from top of the Kenyatta International Conference Centre).

 

Kenya Pipeline Company visit 11th December 2007
Staff from Kenya Pipeline Company (http://www.kpc.co.ke/index.php) visited us Tuesday 11th December 2007.  We have seldom seen such a dedicated flock of people from a company before.  They came with lots of love, lots of food stuff and clothes, and they had fellowship with us.  We want to extend a very big Thank You! to you all!

Mr Likobe makes a point to a couple of our girls during the visit.

We are not used to such amounts of donations, and really appreciated the kindness of the Kenya Pipeline staff and leadership!

Kenya Pipeline staff with some of our children.  Thanks!  And welcome back!

 

Seminar on "The National Children Policy",

November and December 2007

Picture above: Maisha Mema sent two participants, Florence Kibicho (middle) and Margaret Mdululu (right).  The lady to the left comes from the Children's Office, Embakasi Division.

Picture right: Florence (left) and Margaret (right).  

Our Social Worker, Florence Kibicho, participated in a seminar on "The National Children Policy" 19th November and 6th December, together with one of our children, Margaret Ndululu.  The first gathering was to be presented for a draft made by three consultants from Department of Sociology at Kenyatta University, and the second gathering to respond to the draft, which was adjusted after all Provinces gave their feed back.  Participants from all over the country participated. 

 

Solborg Folkehøgskole, October 2007

Students from Solborg Folkehøgskole in Stavanger visited Maisha Mema October 2007.  We had a nice time where the kids bonded well with the students.  Amazing what the small things can do.  A pair of sunglasses for a small child, enjoying swimming and playing in the water, a little compassion, a gentle touch, - heart to heart!  Check this link to see the pages the students made! (sorry, only Norwegian...).

As a media-oriented school the Solborg students of course had their own press corps!

And yes, we admit it any time: Maisha Mema is good in football.  One more goal against you, you said?  Oh well, maybe next time, but for now, Maisha Mema rules the football field!

 

 

Sunday, the students really made us proud in church.  These guys can sing!

Thank you for coming!  And welcome back!

 

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