The Maisha Mema Familyhas functioned for many
years as a foster home, but in March 2007 we got a "Certificate
of Registration of a Charitable Children's Institution"
by Ministry of Home Affairs. We treat the children here - and
we have 17 girls and 8 boys - as though they were our
own children. For the time being, we are situated
in the Doonholm estate in Nairobi, but hopefully we will
be able to move quite soon (see the
Building Project). The
children in our family have a normal family-life, or at least as normal
you can get it with such a number of children in the same family!
We have a
housemother living together with us, so
that we have some help with the children (whoever wants
to try to take care of so many children alone, might try…).
Of practical reasons, we have a girls' house and a boys'
house. And in the third house - but
on the same compound - Marianne and Jonny live.
The children take care of breakfast themselves, and get
lunch at school. In the evening, we all eat supper
together.
Tabitha
is a smiling girl who is happy about living in a big
family. She is one of 25 children currently living
in the Maisha Mema Family.
The bigger
children some times have a
Blue
Cross Club led by Kwame, and we are also
occasionally having gatherings with the smaller ones. Saturday night is fellowship-time, with lots of singing - and using a very
good keyboard! Sunday morning we all go to
church.
These two boys were
picked up in June from another children's home where
they were posted temporarily. Now they are part of
the Maisha Mema family, and we welcome them for what we
hope and believe will be a Better Life! One of the older girls,
just home for mid-term from Secondary school, forms a
background which should also tell something important:
Angels are those who do well to others. Hereby is
the challenge given to everybody reading this: Do well
to others!
Ready for school!
New uniform, shiny shoes, bag with books and stationary - what more can little children want?
At least in Kenya, where school really means
something!
Maisha Mema = Better Life!!
Sammy joined our
family in May 2007, and is one of the many children living in the Maisha Mema
Children's Home.
As
for most families, we also try to give the children
different experiences like camps, outings, swimming,
sports and so on. In December 2000, the boys even
climbed Mount Kenya! And naturally, as most parents,
we hope that all of them will succeed in life, by
getting good education and later good jobs. As
Christians, we also hope they will take a stand for
Jesus. It is good to have somebody beside you
always!
Our goal is
that all the children in the program one day will be
able of taking care of themselves and a family by
getting good education or vocational training, and
eventually a job.
Two of the girls from
our family ready to leave for school in January 2008: Nanu,
who attends Form 2 in a boading school, and Tabitha, who just started
Standard 1 in a school nearby.
We encourage people to come visiting us (check out the
Guest-book!). Our
children are quite used to people from all over the
world coming for shorter or longer periods. This
is also good exposure for the children, and encourages
them to broaden their horizon. Foreign, volunteer workers
also come living with us for shorter
or longer time (see Volunteer
Information).
Going to church on Sundays, we have for 3
years now rented the same matatu ("mini-bus"), normally
plying the number 58 Buru Buru route. Although matatus
are infamous for rowdy touts and drivers, we have had a
very good relationship with the people manning this
matatu.
On the picture,
two
of our
children
are on their way into the matatu after an outing
to Uhuru Gardens.
We actually save a lot of money by not buying a vehicle
of our own! (but if somebody should get an irresistable
urge to buy a matatu for us, we would of course be happy!)
Outings are part and parcel of being a family. And
City Park is a popular place to go because of the
monkeys! The outings are basically happening
during the vacations, as school otherwise takes most of
the time for the children. So they are always looking
forward to the vacations!
Another very popular activity is of course swimming.
Children all over the world are the same here!
During holidays it is important to activate the children.
Christmas holiday is a rather long one... But the
children in our family had various activities to fill
the time with, among them beadworks. Kamau is here
making a bracelet.
