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!
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!
