What a week!

We all have those weeks when things go wrong- the boiler breaks down, the car won't start. We have a good old moan on those rare occasion when a power cuts disrupts our TV viewing for a couple of hours.

So just imagine what's it like when you have a family of 53 kids, no electricity nor any water.

That's the headache Mama Sue has had to contend with at the Happy House - the power supply went off for six days and the water pump failed!

Mama Sue tells me: "If it could go wrong it did!  We had to switch to use the generator for six days and , overworked,  that went wrong and needed a new switch and some cable replacing. 

The water pump in the well that supplies the house with washing water, cleaning and most importantly the toilets, broke and had to be taken to Malindi for repair so we used a spare pump 

which also broke.

" During the day when school is open we have 86 children and around 20 adults here ,so it was a big problem. 

"We have mains water but of course it has to be paid for, Lanson our handy man worked so hard getting water to all corners of the house. He connected hose pipes for the staff 
to fill containers to flush the toilets. 

"The washing machines couldnot be used and with 53 children it didn't take long for the washing to pile up.
The staff really pulled together and coped but it was hard. So many houses
here have no water or electricity, but with such a large family it was so
difficult for us to cope."

Maintenance of the Happy House is a constant issue. The salt air, intense sun and high humidity turn anything metal to rust seemingly over night, fabrics rot, paint peels and mechanical things are so poorly made the soon fail. All our toilet cisterns need replacing.

It's these hidden, but vital, emergency expenses that can't be budgeted for that make life very difficult indeed for our very small charity and, particularly, for it's founder our Mama Sue who has the unenviable task of dealing with them and balancing the books.