Update and Sponsorship Opportunities

December 26, 2008

Dear Kids for Kenya Supporters,

Happy Holidays to you all. We hope this letter finds you safe, warm, and healthy this holiday season. We are excited to be able to relay some of the news and updates from Kids from Kenya and our sister community in Nairobi, Humble Hearts and Angel Cottage.

Trillium was delighted to host Beatrice Anunda, founder and director of Humble Hearts, for 4 weeks earlier this fall. Kids for Kenya raised funds to sponsor Beatrice’s visit. The leader of a progressive program that integrates deaf and hearing students, Beatrice was able to visit schools that serve deaf children in many parts of the United States. The Kids for Kenya students, past and present, were thrilled to meet Beatrice in person. A number of the founding members of the group, who were not able to go on our earlier service trip, were particularly touched to meet Beatrice, seeing her visit to the United States as the realization of their hard work and vision. We look forward to continuing this exchange in the years to come, hoping to sponsor other teachers, and students, from the HH community to live and study here in the United States.

Trillium Kids for Kenya have been preparing for our upcoming trip to Nairobi in March. The twelve students who will take part in our biannual service trip (three of them trip veterans) have been attending a twice-weekly early morning class focusing on the history and culture of Kenya, and the realities of international travel and service. On top of each student’s work to raise money for his/her own travel expenses, students are working to raise money for the projects we will undertake while we are in Kenya.

To that end, the Shop Africa drive has brought in over $1000 in two weeks, despite Trillium being closed for the three days just before holiday break due to snowy weather. Shop Africa allows Kids for Kenya supporters to purchase hand-made Kenyan crafts such as scarves, jewelry, and dolls with one hundred percent of the proceeds going directly back to Humble Hearts and Angel Cottage. Despite some logistical difficulties in getting the operation running this year, the Kids for Kenya Coffee Cart has brought in about $150 as of the beginning of December. Our largest fund-raiser, Africa Night, features performances, speakers, and food and will be held at Trillium in mid-February.

During Beatrice’s visit, we were fortunate to be able to spend many hours discussing the goals and future of Humble Hearts, Angel Cottage, and Kids for Kenya. Beatrice laid out the current state of her home community and helped us design the goals for our upcoming service trip. (A letter directly from Beatrice is posted below.) Beatrice helped us to understand some of the new obstacles her community is facing, including water shortages which frequently leave residents without access to water for three to four days at time. The high cost of food continues to be a challenge in providing proper nutrition for the students. The construction of the new school building and orphanage has come to a halt as the cost of supplies, particularly concrete and steel, has dramatically increased in the past year. Completion of the new building is crucial for Humble Hearts. The property has already been purchased and the structure is over fifty percent finished. Beatrice’s plan for creating a lasting, sustainable program depend entirely on being able to move into this terrific new space.

Beatrice, Polly, and Ken have designed several programs that we believe will help address a number of these issues. Trillium students are currently working on models for water collection systems that would be inexpensive and sustainable for the HH community. We look forward to implementing such a system during our upcoming service trip. We will also work with our HH community members to design and install a garden, chicken coop, and housing for a cow. These resources will help provide needed nutrients for the community as well as generate a small income. We hope to support HH in developing a solar water heating system for purposes of health and sanitation in serving such a large population of young people.

With the help of Kids for Kenya, and other international supporters, HH will be able to complete their new building to provide a safer, drier, more reliable facility that can accommodate many more students, and allow for such facilities as the garden and farm. Currently the orphanage sleeps three children in beds designed for only one, with a total of 40 boys and girls in cramped quarters. The new building will have space for 120 beds, a kitchen with electricity, and room for the kids to play outdoors. Angel Cottage is the only orphanage in all of Kenya that serves deaf children. Abandoned and living in the slums, from toddlers to teens, deaf Kenyan youth find nourishment, safety, and hope in this compassionate institution.

Our work in Africa relies on donations from our supporters. Please consider giving to Kids for Kenya in order for us to continue our work in Nairobi. Below is a list of ways in which supporters can sponsor our sister community in Kenya. All donations are tax-deductible and contributions of any amount are sincerely appreciated. Whether you choose to contribute $8 to purchase a warm blanket for the orphanage, or $3000 to finance the cow project, your generosity means a great deal to the people we are able to help.

As always, please feel free to contact us with questions or comments. Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous new year.

Warm regards,

Polly Christopher, Ken Gadbow, and the Kids for Kenya

Polly@TrilliumCharterSchool.org, Ken@TrilliumCharterSchool.org

Kids for Kenya
Trillium Charter School
5420 North Interstate Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97217

Helping Humble Hearts

Helping Humble Hearts
A fundraiser for the Humble Hearts School and Angel Cottage Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. 100% of proceeds go directly to the school or orphanage.

$8 will purchase a warm blanket.
$10 will provide a hygiene pack (toothpaste, toothbrush, sanitary products, etc.)
$10 will provide a school supply pack (paper, pencils, notebooks, etc.)
$12 will provide a feminine hygiene pack
$12 will provide new clothes for a child at Humble Hearts or Angel Cottage.
$12 will provide a pair of shoes for an orphan.
$15 will provide a new mattress for the children at the orphanage.
$20 will provide food for a child for one month.
$25 will provide fruit for a whole week for every child in the school.
$50 will provide bricks to build the orphanage.
$85 will provide food for five children for one month.
$150 will provide food for ten children for one month.
$250 will fund the chicken project (chickens, shelter, water, feed)
$500 to fund the garden project (tools, plants, fertilizer, perimeter)
$1,000 will fund a water collection and filtering system
$3,000 will fund the cow project (cow, shelter, water, feed)
$20,000 will finish the new building (move in ready)


Kids for Kenya is a 501(c)3 non profit organization working under the umbrella of Trillium Charter School, tax ID 93-1310936.

Beatrice letter to supporters

December 20, 2008

Dear friends of Humble Hearts:

I wish to pass our warm Christmas greetings and wish you a Happy 2009 as I also share with you brief highlight events of Humble Hearts 2008.
We have currently 250 children out of which forty are deaf and mute. These children learn and happily play together. HH was initially founded on the grounds of educating deaf children from the poor of the poorest Nairobi slum dwellers’ families. It was after thorough research that we realized that there was lack of communication between the deaf children, the community, and even their families. That is when the concept of bringing in their siblings to learn sign language came up. As we opened the door for their hearing siblings, they came in with their neighbors and friends, resulting to the current total number of 250 children.

Angel Cottage
Angel Cottage houses 35 deaf children. The house in which the children live was meant to be a temporary one-year solution for fourteen children as we looked for land to construct a better place in which to house them. With the 35 needy children, space for even playing cannot be seen. The children sit squeezed together when it is time to doing their homework. Instead of jumping around like other children, you will find them seated in groups signing stories to each other. No word is heard from them except for giggles which always tell they are enjoying each others company.
Rainy days are a nightmare since the children have to be alert to ensure that the water does not get into their rooms by draining out the water with buckets since there is no drainage to let the water out.
The challenges faced at Angel Cottage are just overwhelming. We have incidences of the children falling down from their beds. This is because the beds in which they sleep three are just meant for one child. Airborne diseases spread easily and very fast amongst them. We are always on the look out for any such crisis and seek temporary solutions.

Angel Cottage Construction
Constructing a permanent home for the children is the best solution. The construction has now been going on since 2006. The initial estimated funds to finish the construction were 3.5m Kenya Shillings, but the estimates have doubled with the inflation. Construction materials are going up every day. For instance, when we started building, cement was $5.8 right now it has gone to $11, which is almost double. We have currently built up to the wall plate. Our next major step is to construct the slab, do the finishing and have the children move in.
Sadly the construction has stopped due to lack of funds. The hopes of ever finishing the building are dwindling away each day.

Humble Request
We are kindly calling for urgent help from our friends all over the world to help us give these children a better place to stay, study, play and call home.
We thank God for help to pass us through 2008 peacefully. Our hearts are restless as we look forward to entering 2009 with the issue of the construction not yet solved.
Kindly let us put our heads together and think of ways and ideas that can help raise funds towards finishing the construction. We all at the end say we have run a good race, for this home will help many generations to come even after us.
I finally wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Two Thousand and Eight.

Your Friend,

Beatrice Anunda
Director Humble Hearts School
Nairobi,Kenya

Beatrice Reflects on US trip.

My Trip to the United States of America 20th October -17th November 2008

After putting together all the right papers needed for this journey the big day finally arrived on the 20th of October which is a Kenyan public holiday. It all started like an idea from the teachers of Trillium Charter School in Portland Oregon when they paid us a visit in June of 2007 an idea that became a dream and finally a reality.

The Trillium team worked hard to get funds for air ticket and basic needs for me while there, I had been told by many people that the US is a developed country I was dieing to see it all for myself. The purpose of my trip was to get ideas that could make Humble Hearts School a better learning place and honestly my trip opened my eyes to a lot of things, I got ideas that could work well in our educational institutions.

In The Plane
The excitement was felt by everyone at HH we had never had anyone travel by plane to a far away country everyone was in prayer for my safe travel, good health and Gods favor in the foreign country. As I entered the plane I couldn’t help looking around as the plane was so huge and the services were great! I was in even more shock when I arrived at Heathrow Airport it was from there that everything just started looking different and I realized that I was indeed in the first world country the technology at the airport was amazing.

My first stop over was at Heathrow then Chicago and finally my destination Oregon Portland. I was met by Stephanie the director of Trillium Charter School we had dinner at a restaurant then later met with my host Polly who is also a teacher at the same school.

The first thing I noticed that amazed me were the good state of the roads that had minimum traffic if not any, something that we just wish and dream of here. Driving in Kenya is a nightmare the roads are full of pot holes and one can sit for two hours on the jam not forgetting motorist who are always ready to break the traffic rules. So you can now imagine it when I say the roads in America are in good state I really enjoyed them.

At Oregon Portland
The Trillium team arranged for me to go round the class and see how they teach I was even welcomed into most of their staff meetings I felt so much at home among these friendly community. As I watched the classes I realized that the children had a lot of freedom of speech they were very confident to air out there thoughts both in written and in spoken they related on very friendly levels with their teachers something that I really loved that is not common in Kenya I thought it would be a good idea to introduce this kind of system in our schools as way of that would help bring up a better generation that would then produce good leaders that would voice out the rights and needs of our country helping in eradicating poverty.

The Trillium teachers in this school were so committed to their work they worked tireless on both holidays and even extra hours on working days. They were always looking for better ideas to making the school a better.
The Trillium School has great technology I wished I could just carry some of these wonderful things back home, the classes have computers and on top of that they also have a computer laboratory, smart boards, spacious classes, kitchen where the children were served with lunch everyday I actually think the educational system there is well arranged.

At Trillium I had a chance to teach Kiswahili to the kids for Kenya these is a group in the school that organizes different children to visit Africa Kenya as they come they always do projects to better the situation at Humble Hearts School they have in the past made desks, shelves and gardening it is always a good time for kids from both schools to learn from each and makes long term friends.

I had a chance to visit the Portland Saturday Market, the Malls and Mt. Hood. I had a wonderful time in Portland it is actually at the courtesy of Trillium Charter School that I was able to travel all the away to the USA am forever grateful for their generosity.

My second week on the 3rd of November took me to Colorado Denver where I met with Kari Fillmore who runs Angel Covers foundation for needy children all over the world. Angel Covers has been working with Humble Hearts since 2004, it has raised funds to build classes, buy books and start the new angel Cottage construction which will be a better living place for the Needy deaf children that are currently living in a very pathetic state. Many of HH children have gotten sponsors through the Angel Covers Foundation
it was really exciting to be finally meet with other sponsors that work with Kari we had dinner and talked more on how to improve HH.

Kari arranged for me to have talks with different People so my visit was a really busy one, our first meeting was with the director of Colorado Association for the Deaf that is where I learnt of Gallaudet University that gives scholarships to the deaf people, we actually thought that these would work well with our deaf teachers.

Adam of 10/10 project an organization that helps with poverty eradication in Africa arranged for both Kari and I to meet with the director of Rocky Mountains School For The Deaf where we had an open discussion session with the pupils of the school and teachers the pupils were so amazed by how Kenya sign language was different from their American sign language we had a wonderful time their. Kari also arranged for a talk with the church where she fellowship and we had dinner invitation from one of the church members who was excited to help with micro financing the HH parents as why of eradicating poverty.

My appreciation goes to the Fillmore family were wonderful hosts and of course to the Angel Covers board members who took their time to come and have a word with me with me.

At Pennsylvania
The third week took me to PA Scranton my host was Sandy who is the director of Scranton State School For The Deaf here is where I got the most shock. The Scranton School is run by the state it has everything that you can never imagine could be in a public school in Kenya. Every class has smart boards and projectors, classes have wall to wall carpet the and a cafeteria where the children are served with milk, juice, fruits, tea, coffee, baritos, humbergas, saladas the variety of food was just over whelming and just like at Trillium the teachers really loved their work they work in all ways to ensure that the pupils understand what is being taught it is also a kind open communication system where the pupil/student are allowed to air out their views. Being a school for the deaf everyone communicated in sign language.

I had a chance to visit the dormitory area and was in more shock with our lucky this children were no one was sharing a bed the rooms are nicely decorated with pleasant homely colours their staff on stand by to assist the children in the dormitories these dormitories sincerely speaking look like five start hotels with every single technology that you can think of.

At the Scranton school I learnt new ways of teaching different languages to the deaf children our major challenge at HH right now is how to help our deaf children like and understand Kiswahili which they are finding very difficult, they have to learn three languages Kiswahili, Sign Language and English which makes it so confusing, we have now introduced teaching Sign language making sure that the children understand that it sign language then help them read it out in English then Kiswahili getting the right spellings and punctuation and understand their use we are using three mats to remind children when to sign and when to read the words as English or Kiswahili, This is an idea that I learnt and borrowed from SSSD.

From all the schools I visited I learnt that team work helps people share their ideas and work had to ensure that they performed well it actually gives them a sense of belonging. I had two of the SSSD write one year cheque as sponsors to a child at HH by the time I was leaving. We have currently formed team work departments at HH the teams are spilt in five different categories:
_ Academics
_ Extra Curricula Activities
_ Catering and Accommodation
_ Security
_ Administration.

Every depart has been structured to have a lead persons/teachers who are responsible for calling meeting to discuss on how to make their areas better and a teacher is allowed to be in more than one department. Leads persons of every department can call for their own meeting then later call for their teams to meet and talk about what was discussed.

I was fortunate to see the Halloween we do not celebrate here in Kenya it was really interesting to see orange pumpkins on almost every door step and scoopy stuff hanged outside and the children were really excited about it.

I had been to eight airports by the time I left the US namely Heathrow, Chicago, Colorado Denver, Portland Oregon, Newark, Scranton, Phoenix and of cause Jomo Kenyatta Nairobi. And stayed in NewYork, Scraton, Denver and Portland Oregon.

New York was the most amazing city of all I visited the Time Square where night and day were the same due to the flashy bright lights on the tall building, the population looked higher than in the other three states I had been to. I saw one naked man with a guitar in his hands he called himself the naked cowboy he was getting money from anyone who wanted to take a photo with him!

I realized that we are far from getting the technology that the American schools have but we can borrow knowledge that does need technology to be carried out. I still have fond memories in my mind of the beauty and technology of the US its my prayer that one day the whole of Africa will have the same, the right direction to these I realize is giving our children quality education so that they can become better tomorrow leaders.

Many thanks to all of you that made my trip a success and my stay comfortable, may God richly bless you.

Beatrice Anunda
Director Humble Hearts School

HUMBLE HEARTS SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
P.O.BOX11721-00400
NAIROBI KENYA