Monday 30 April 2012

On the ball /sulla palla

Our young footballers have been practising their fancy footwork during the holidays at Malindi United Football Club - the Italian supported soccer academy.
Our kids attend every Saturday and are improving their skills all the time, but as this is the school holidays they have been going along every morning for extra coaching.
And, as you can see, the girls are as enthusiastic as the boys.
Sulla palla
I nostri giovani calciatori sono stati praticare il loro gioco di gambe fantasia questa settimana a Malindi United Football Club - l'italiano supportato Soccer Academy.
I nostri bambini frequentano ogni Sabato e stanno migliorando le loro competenze per tutto il tempo, ma questo è le vacanze scolastiche sono state percorrendo tutte le mattineper il coaching extra.
E, come potete vedere, le ragazze sono entusiasta come i ragazzi. 

Sunday 29 April 2012

Our Oscar (Il nostro Oscar)

There's something so special about adding a Happy House child to your own family.
The relationship you can build is so personal that you really feel you know and love "your" sponsor child even though you may  never  have met.
Louise Webster, the special lady who sends out details of "their" children to our sponsors,  and her husband Gary,  from Leyburn, Yorkshire, have been sponsoring Oscar since he arrived at the Happy House and he shares his date of birth with their own daughter Grace.
Grace thinks of him as her "twin" and he figures in everyday chatter about family life.
Now Garce's younger sister Alice is old enough to travel to Kenya, Louise and Gary have booked tickets to fly out next summer so, at last, they and Oscar can be together at last!
"After our first visit to Kenya in 2004 I did a web search for charities in and around Watamu and found Sue's website. I then contacted her and when the building of the Happy House started we set up sponsorship to help with the build and which would later go to sponsoring a child there. 
"When we were allocated "our child" it certainly felt like it was meant to be - Oscar was born on exactly the same day as our daughter Grace. Twins in two different continents. 
"We are planning to visit the Happy House next year and can't wait to meet Oscar. Grace is counting the days until she can meet her twin brother. We all feel such a bond with this little boy. His photo is pride of place in our house and as you can see is cherished by the girls."
*Grace is pictured with the football shirt they sent her "twin brother" last Christmas and Grace and Alice with the photo of Oscar which takes pride of place in their home.
*If you would like to know more about sponsoring a Happy House child please email elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net

C'è qualcosa di così speciale sponsorizzare uno dei nostri figli ..
Si può mai soddisfare, ma il rapporto si crea è così personale che vi sentirete davvero che conosci e ami "il tuo" bambino.
Webster Louise e suo marito Gary, dal Leyburn, Yorkshire, sono stati sponsor Oscar da quando è arrivato alla Happy House e condivide il suo compleanno con la sua Grazia figlia.
Grazia pensa a lui come suo "gemello" e pensa chiacchiere quotidiane sulla vita familiare.
Ora sua sorella minore Alice è vecchio abbastanza per recarsi in Kenya, Louise e Gary hanno prenotato i biglietti per volare fuori la prossima estate e, infine, e Oscar possono finalmente stare insieme!
Louise è la donna speciale che invia i dati ai nuovi sponsor della "loro" bambino, un lavoro molto speciale che Louise ha brillantemente. Lì ultima visita Watamu la Happy House era in costruzione, in modo da tornare per vedere come è oggi una casa famiglia meravigliosa - sarà un sogno che si avvera.
* Grazia è raffigurata con la maglia di calcio ha mandato il suo "fratello gemello" lo scorso Natale e Grace e Alice, con una foto di Oscar prende il posto d'onore nella loro casa.
* Se vuoi saperne di più su sponsorizzazione di un bambino per email elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net 


Saturday 28 April 2012

Double trouble

Volunteer Dawn Heather White, like all our family and  was seeing double on every visit to our baby banda!
She writes: "The Happy House has four sets of twins, Sauma and Pendo, Peter and Paul, Baracka and Amani and James and Jonathan.
Sauma and Pendo are both in baby class but the three sets of boy twins are all still crawling around baby banda.
I could tell Jonathan and James apart when they were beside each other as James is the smaller twin but even after spending a lot of time with them, I struggled with the other two sets. Even the House Aunts, who are with the babies all the time, said
'Peter/Paul' until they got close enough to see the birthmark on Peter's head. I realized how close the twins were when Peter fell over and hurt himself but Paul cried on his behalf! Already the twins are showing a sense of adventure and crawl very quickly to any open door when they have the opportunity to do so. When they all finally get on their feet, the House Auntsies will really have their hands full."
Picture: Copied from a photograph by Dr Steve Cushing and skilfully choreographed by his wife Cherith!
 
Volontariato Alba Heather White, come tutta la nostra famiglia e dei visitatori, ha dovuto abituarsi a vedere due volte per ogni visita alla nostra banda baby!
 Lei scrive: "L'Happy House dispone di quattro coppie di gemelli, e Sauma Pendo, Pietro e Paolo, e Amani Baracka, James e Jonathan.
 Sauma Pendo e figlio sono entrambi in classe, ma le tre coppie di gemelli sono tutti bambini banda ragazzo ancora la scansione.
  Potrei raccontare Jonathan, e James a parte quando erano fianco a fianco, come James è il gemello più piccolo, ma anche dopo aver trascorso un sacco di tempo con loro, ho lottato con gli altri. Anche le mie zie che sono con i bambini per tutto il tempo, ha detto
 'Peter / Paul?' fino a che non era abbastanza vicino per vedere la torsione di capelli che li differenzia sulla testa di Pietro. Ho capito quanto vicino i gemelli erano quando Pietro è caduto e si è fatto male, ma Paul stava piangendo per lui! Anche i gemelli stanno mostrando un senso di avventura e strisciare molto velocemente a qualsiasi porta aperta quando hanno la possibilità di farlo. Quando tutto finalmente in piedi, la mia casa zie avranno le mani piene davvero. "
Image: copiato da una fotografia di Cushing Dr Steve e sapientemente coreografato da Cherith sua moglie!

Friday 27 April 2012

Happy birthday (Buon compleanno)

Uncle Billy had the very important job of presenting a gift to this week's birthday girl, Jane.
An e-card from Mike Griffin, a member of her sponsor family, caused much interest and delight for Jane when Auntie Rose showed it to her, as her "brothers and sisters" crowded round to have a look too.
Then everyone sang Happy Birthday Jane.
Zio Billy aveva il compito molto importante di presentare un regalo per ragazza di compleanno di questa settimana, Jane.Una e-card da Mike Griffin, un membro della sua famiglia sponsor, ha causato molto interesse e piacere per Jane, quando la zia Rosa ha mostrato a lei, come il suo giro"fratelli e sorelle" affollata per avere uno sguardo troppoBuon compleanno Jane. 

Thanks (grazie)

Thank you to Scott Webster of Royal Wootton Bassett and his friends at South Cerney Golf Club for donating £85 raised on their recent golfing weekend.
Thank you also to Paula Lochrie for hosting a Pampered Chef evening with raffle which raised £145 for the Happy House. Thanks to her mum Brenda Groves for her help and to everyone who went along.

Grazie a Scott Webster ei suoi amici a South Cerney Golf Club per la donazione di £85 alzato il loro fine settimana di golf recente. 
Grazie anche a Paula Lochrie per ospitare una serata Pampered Chef con la lotteria profittato £ 145 per la Happy House. Grazie alla sua mamma Brenda Groves for il suo aiuto ea tutti quelli che sono andati avanti. 

Thursday 26 April 2012

Helping hands (aiutare le mani)

It is the school holidays and our children are having fun just having fun or helping out around the Happy House.
The children are really eager to take on some of the chores around the house and the mums and aunties are never short of helpers!
In italiano (via Google translate):
Ono le vacanze scolastiche ei nostri figli si stanno divertendo solo divertendo o dare una mano intorno alla Happy House.I bambini sono davvero ansioso di affrontare alcuni dei lavori intorno alla casa e lemamme e le zie non sono mai a corto di aiutanti!

Wednesday 25 April 2012

A hug from Italy (Un abbraccio da Italia)

Piera Lauria from Milan, who visited the Happy House last year with her partner Oscar and son Mattia, organised a cracking Esater event which raised more than 1000 euro for our family.
Piera  says: "I'm really very happy after Easter Egg event was a great success.
As most people purchase chocolate eggs at Easter, we were hoping that by making our fundraiser it would be easier to sell and in some cases replace eggs that would have been bought anyway.
During the bazaar at the kindergarten in Gallarate (Crenna) attended by Mattia we did a brilliant job, I'm totally excited at how great the bags filled with Easter eggs and lollipops looked!
The teachers also encouraged children to draw their own Easter pictures to be put on the bags and they told them about Happy House and its mission.
With other mothers we set out nicely decorated and organized tables. Federica, a mother of a child attending the kindergarten, with a special art quality created two big trees: our school and Happy House. We've had the kids of Watamu and our children as leaves.
Marina, Lella and Michela decorated all the bags with coloured ribbons…their work was terrific! Well done, girls!
We had positive feedback from the families and the kiddies were so proud of having their colour drawings on 'something very special'. Expressions Bags with Easter eggs and lollipops have proven to be a fantastic fundraiser, a project that staff, families and kids absolutely loved being involved in. Our bazaar profited close to € 955= (that's a big fundraising profit for us!) + € 245= donated by the Parents' Association of the Scuola Materna di Crenna (Gallarate, Varese); it was way above what I had expected and all the bags and lollipops were snapped up within a few days.
A huge thank you for all the help and advice in getting our bazaar to all the people involved in this Project.
We would like to know how you will use the money as during the Summer Kindergarten Festival I would tell the people attending how we have been useful to the Happy House and remind all them that we can still do a lot for the Children of Watamu.
We still want to make a difference!
Also the jumble sale out of the kindergarten has been striking!
My brother, Luciano, bought 16 bags of Easter eggs to be donated to his selected Clients (I'm very proud); Elena and I sold a lot of bags to friends and colleagues! "
Piera says that once the money is all counted they should achieve a total of around 1600euro.
That is a eally incredible figuire, thank you so much Piera (pictured with Oscar and Mattia at the Happy House last year)  and to all her helpers for helping us by raising the funds we so desperately need. Thank you also for spreading the word about the work being done by Mama Sue and the Happy House.  As soon as Mama decides how the money will be used we will, of course, let you.
Lots of love and smiles from all our family.
*As a test  we are today using Google translate to present the blog to our Italian friends. Email: elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net to let me know what you think and  (those fluent in English and Italian) if it's a reliable transcript
Piera Lauria da Milano, che ha visitato la Happy House lo scorso anno con il suo compagno Oscar e il figlio Mattia, ha organizzato un evento di rottura Esater che ha sollevato più di 1000 euro per la nostra famiglia.
Piera dice: "Sono davvero molto felice dopo Easter Egg evento è stato un grande successo.
Come la maggior parte della gente compra le uova di cioccolato a Pasqua, noi speravamo che facendo la nostra raccolta fondi sarebbe più facile da vendere e in alcuni casi sostituire le uova che sarebbero stati acquistati in ogni caso.
Durante il bazar alla kindgergarten a Gallarate (Crenna) hanno partecipato Mattia abbiamo fatto un ottimo lavoro, sono molto eccitato quanto grande i sacchetti pieni di uova di Pasqua e lecca lecca guardato!
Gli insegnanti hanno inoltre incoraggiato i bambini a disegnare le proprie immagini di Pasqua da mettere sui sacchi e li raccontato Happy House e la sua missione.
Con altre mamme abbiamo deciso di tavoli ben arredati e organizzati. Federica, una madre di un bambino frequentare la scuola materna, con una qualità d'arte speciale creato due grandi alberi: la nostra scuola e Happy House. Abbiamo avuto i ragazzi di Watamu e ai nostri figli come foglie.
Marina, Michela Lella e tutte le borse decorate con nastrini colorati ... il loro lavoro era eccezionale! Ben fatto, ragazze!
Abbiamo avuto riscontri positivi dalle famiglie ed i bimbi erano così fieri di avere i loro disegni a colori su 'qualcosa di molto speciale'. Borse espressioni con le uova di Pasqua e lecca lecca hanno dimostrato di essere una fantastica raccolta di fondi, un progetto che il personale, famiglie e bambini è piaciuto molto essere coinvolti dentro Il nostro bazar approfittato vicino a € 955 = (che è un risultato di raccolta fondi importante per noi!) + 245 € = donato dall'Associazione dei genitori della Scuola Materna di Crenna (Gallarate, Varese), era molto al di sopra quello che avevo previsto e tutte le borse e lecca lecca sono andate a ruba in pochi giorni.
Un enorme grazie per tutto l'aiuto e la consulenza a far nostro Bazar a tutte le persone coinvolte in questo progetto.
Vorremmo sapere come si intende utilizzare il denaro come durante il Festival estivo Kindergarten vorrei dire alle persone che frequentano il modo in cui sono stati utili alla Happy House e ricordare tutti quelli che possiamo ancora fare molto per i bambini di Watamu.
Abbiamo ancora voglia di fare la differenza!
Anche la vendita guazzabuglio di scuola materna è stato sorprendente!
Mio fratello, Luciano, ha acquistato 16 sacchi di uova di Pasqua per essere donati ai suoi clienti selezionati (io sono molto orgoglioso), Elena e ho venduto un sacco di borse ad amici e colleghi! "
Piera dice che una volta i soldi sono tutti contati dovrebbero raggiungere un totale di circa 1600 €.
Questo è un figuire eally incredibile, ti ringrazio molto Piera (nella foto con Oscar e Mattia alla Happy House lo scorso anno) ea tutti i suoi collaboratori per averci aiutato ottenendo i fondi di cui hanno disperatamente bisogno. Grazie anche per diffondere la conoscenza del lavoro svolto da mamma Sue e la Happy House. Appena la mamma decide come i soldi saranno utilizzati ci sarà, ovviamente, si lascia.
Un sacco di amore e sorrisi da tutta la nostra famiglia.
* Convertite utilizzando Google Translate

 




Tuesday 24 April 2012

A volunteer's view

What does a volunteer do?  Dawn Heather White, from Bangor, Northern Ireland, writes about her most recent visit to help our family
"It's just over a week since I returned home from the Happy House and I am counting down to my return in September.
 Knowing I had my flights booked for my return before my visit in April was the only thing that made saying goodbye and walking out the gates on Friday bearable.
My initial visit to the Happy House was in April 2010, a few weeks after it had opened it's doors, and I have been back several times since then.
The first time I went back I wondered if any of the children would remember me or if I would have to slowly start developing relationships and earning their trust again. I needn't have worried. One of the children sat down beside me and started to sing, 'Tell me a story', a song my mother had sang to me as a child and one that I in turn had sang to the Happy House children on my first visit.
Another approached me to play a hand clapping game we had played before and soon a queue had formed, each child excitedly saying, 'me next Auntie Dawn, my turn'.
At home people are curious to know what I actually do as a volunteer and it is hard to describe a typical day. All I know is, I arrive in the morning clean and fresh and I leave in the afternoon tired, dusty, sweaty, and covered in little hand prints!
This time, on the first day I was at the rehearsals for the anniversary party and then a meeting with the teachers to design some of the costumes, followed by a visit to the fabric shop to chose material for the monkey costumes.
 The following day we went to court in Malindi with five of the newest children to have them committed into the care of Mama Sue and the Happy House. I was holding baby Esther and Social Worker Billy introduced me to the policeman who had found her in the bag in shrubland.
 Mostly I would spend the mornings in baby class as there are 24 children with an average age of two years old so, although the teacher Madam Helen has the help of Aunt Lydia, an extra pair of hands is always welcome.
We would read stories, colour pictures (Harry ate the crayons), sing songs and play games, go for walks to visit the turkeys and then to walk round the greenhouses where Aunt Lydia would name the vegetables.
 Head gardener Chris sometimes washed cherry tomatoes and gave the children them as a treat. After snack time the children would play in the sandpit (Harry ate the sand) and they called it going to the beach.
After lunch when most of baby class had a nap, I would go out to the baby banda where the three sets of twins, David and baby Esther spend much of their time.I would help with feeding or with David's exercise programme.
 Despite not being the most musically gifted person, I would sing the songs of my childhood to the babies and they were an appreciative if admittedly captive audience. When I told my sister that I sang she asked if the children had not been traumatized enough. Thankfully babies are not as judgmental as family!
As my visit coincided with end of term exams, I was also involved in completing report books and helped input the results onto the computer so that sponsors could receive information on their children. On the last day I attended the official end of school term presentations and I proudly watched my sponsor child Katana perform a Giriama dance with the other children. The top three from each class were presented with a certificate and got their picture taken with a relative if the were present.
 My friend Judith, who had spent a lot of time with the older classes, was thrilled to be invited to get her picture taken with her sponsor child Freddy as he was presented with his certificate.
So, in answer to the question, 'What does a volunteer do?' the answer is, whatever needs to be done and that includes leaving part of your heart behind at the Happy House!"
Pictures: Auntie Dawn Heather reads a story to Natasha, a visit to Chris in the garden with Harry and a cuddle-up with Harry and Musyoka.