My dream, by Sammy

Scholarship student Sammy, 12, just loves being in Happy House School  and knowing that he doesn't have to worry about being turned away because his parents don't have any money to pay school fees.

"I am studying at Hayward’s Happy House Primary School. 

"I love studying because my teacher often tells me the importance of studying. He says that if you study well you may succeed in your life.

" I have a dream in my life and I need to fulfill it by the help of God and also studies. My dream is to become a neurosurgeon.

" Without me working hard I won’t fulfill it. I would like to study well so that I could be helping a lot of people in the future.

"That is my dream."

  

Faith in the future

When Mama Sue first started out on her mission to improve the lives of needy children in Watamu, she helped s little girl called Faith.
Back then Faith was three or four years old and nursery n the school was helping.
Now, all these years on, Faith is giving back to Mama and her charity by volunteering at the Happy House School.
Sue said: "When I first went to SDA in 2000,  Faith was in the nursery school.
"She was one of the first children on our sponsorship scheme and it was Joan and Paul Ottley who sponsored her for nine years, until she left the SDA to go on to secondary school.
" She is now studying at Kenyatta University in Nairobi and wants to be an activist for women’s rights.
" That’s my GIRL POWER! You see, if I get them young enough……..
" Faith is a lovely natured girl. I have often seen her Mum who now works as a waitress at Turtle Bay and she keeps me up to date with Faith, who has often visited us over the years. 
"Faith came this week and while we were chatting  she said she did not go back to university until September and wondered if there was a job here or could she volunteer.
" I said she could volunteer, she was thrilled and told me "I am so happy."
" I asked her the next day if her Mum was pleased she said ‘Oh my Mum scolded me for asking for a job, she said I should have just asked to volunteer!
"Faith has spent some time in the nursery section, lower and upper primary,  plus Form 1 secondary and she would like to work in the secondary school helping to teach History and CRE, " added Mama Sue.
Mama is thrilled to see how well Faith is doing and told her: "You are one of my success stories."
But anyone who has spent time with Mama in Watamu  soon discovers there are many more.Young people who come up to her after all these years to tell her and Papa how well they are doing and wanting to thank them for helping them to make something of their lives.
Maybe it's not just Happy House magic, but Mama's magic too!

Solar safely lights up lives

 More young people can read in safety, thanks to you.
Our report last week about the scholarship student's narrow escape when, having fallen asleep reading, she knocked over a kerosene lamp.
For families living without any power to their homes, kerosene causes a major fire and health hazard and thousands of the poorest people in Kenya die each year from fires caused by kerosene lights.
Mama Sue decided immediately that all kids in school, who do not have any electricity in their homes, would be given solar-powered lamps which give off enough light for a whole room.
As most families live in one small shared space, this would be adequate for the entire household.
We asked you to help by donating £10 to cover the cost of a light, and so you did.  We have, so far, received enough money to buy 40 lights.
And this week they have been handed out to students.
"They just couldn't believe it," said Mama Sue "what a difference these lights will make to these kids who want to be able to read and study when they are at home.
"Some kids, although living in poverty, are with a parent or guardian in a rented room and they do have one electric light, so they don't need these torches.
"We are so grateful to everyone who has donated. You are lighting up lives with your kindness."
We are still in the process of finding out how many more children need a solar light plus would also like to have some in stock should they be needed, so if you can help by donating £10 we would be very grateful.
To make a donation online please go to https://www.justgiving.com/childrenofwatamu/Donate

Fragrant fun with Mama

A special assembly got the new term off to a good start at Happy House SchooI.

It was also an opportunity to welcome the eight new scholarship kids, awarded places last week, and who now have a world of Happy House opportunity ahead of them,

Mama Sue spoke to all the students reminding them of the importance of good manners and asked them to always remember to use their "nice" words, including please and thank-you.

She also spoke to them about the importance of personal hygiene and gave out the  deodorants bought for the older ones.  

"We had a good laugh over them - asking all the smelly kids to come forward!"  said Sue.

She was also able to give out new school shoes and PE pumps to those scholarship kids who need new ones - much to their excitement.

Headteacher Madam Milka and deputy head Mr Isaac welcome the pupils and staff back ready for a busy and happy term when everyone was urged to work hard and to do their very best.

Wake-up exams started yesterday!

Miles for smiles

 A Poulton bank duo are undertaking a gruelling 43-mile trek in support of our Happy House at the weekend.

Gillian France, manager of Santander’s Poulton branch and Jon Knight, personal banker, are part of a Santander team competing in in the K2B, which sees teams running or walking the distance from Keswick to Barrow, Cumbria.

It’s the 50^th year of the walk which originated in 1966 as a result of a statement made by the late U.S. President, John F Kennedy, that “every American should be capable of walking 50 miles a day”.

Since then the walk has grown and grown and last year raised a total of £311,428 for a wide range of charities.

Gillian and Jon are getting into shape for the challenge by regular practice walks,

“Last time we took part in the Three Peaks so we are hoping this will be easier,” said Gillian.

“Compared to that, it should be just a stroll in the park!”

They are delighted to be helping the Happy House and every penny raised will go directly to funding its work, only those Kenyans employed in its home and schools are paid.

Bell rings for a new term

 Spotless classrooms will be awaiting Happy House students arriving at school for the start of a new term today.

The heat and dust play havoc with everything, so to ensure all is clean as a new pin,. teachers and our older Happy Kids spent Saturday morning giving everywhere a wash and brush up.

They swept the classrooms, washed the plastic chairs and tables in kindergarten and gave all the cups used for drinking water an extra wash.

It's wonderful to see kids and teachers laughing and joking as they work.

Meanwhile, back at Happy House the eight young people who form our new intake of Dr Danwata Scholarship students arrived to collect their shoes ready for today.

Papa Dave, Mama Sue and Auntie Libby had been to Bata in Malindi to collect 76 pairs of shoes needed by Happy House and scholarship kids for the new term!

For these eight new kids, they are most likely their first ever new school shoes.

Now, with two sets of uniform, leather shoes and PE shoes, they are all set to join our school.

Imagine how they must be feeling, excited and nervous, as they step into a new world where they have all they need to learn and succeed.

No longer do they have the worry of being sent home and staying home because there was no money to pay teachers, 

With the burden of one child's education lifted from their shoulder, parents can concentrate on making a living to house and feed them and to put their other kids in school.

How special it is for these scholarship kids, and their families.  How proud they are.Now they just have to work hard and make their Mama Sue proud too,

Please help us to secure their education by sponsoring a scholarship student and giving a child a chance.

To find out more please email: elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net

As I leave, a piece of my heart remains

Elizabeth "Auntie Libz" with Sue, Dave and kids.

Each time I leave Happy House, it is harder than the last., writes Elizabeth Gomm..

As I start my journey back to the UK today, my heart will again be missing a piece.
It is held, as it has been since my first visit in 2008, in the safe keeping of Kenya's children and is the talisman that ensures my return.

From the moment I stepped on Kenyan soil I have loved this country - its sights, sounds, colours, climate, and, above all, its children.

I am eternally grateful my job as a journalist led me to meet our charity founder, Sue Hayward and her husband Dave and to discover the extraordinary work they do..

Little did I think that interview, nine years ago, would change my life in the way it has, nor that I would join them on the incredible, if bumpy, road leading to the Happy House.

I have nothing but admiration, and love, for them. To have created and developed the Happy House in way that they have has taken endurance, courage, determination, compassion and love. 

Whatever obstacles have been thrown in their way - and there have been many - they have never given up.

Through the darkest times, physically and emotionally,  their love for each other has kept them going
If they not were not such a strong couple, so content in the company of each other, they would not survive here as they do,

Working and living here is never easy, every little thing seems to be caught up in red tape, transactions that would be done in minutes in the UK, can take days, weeks or months.. Nothing is straightforward or simple.
"It gets curiouser and curiouser," said Alice in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
It does here too. And this is fact, not fantasy. Sue often signs her emails to me "Alice" as we have shared so many strange incidents.  I call myself "White Rabbit".
It's a bit of fun, but it doesn't lessen the tensions caused by the bureaucratic bottlenecks and protracted negotiations she encounters almost daily.

Sue has learnt, often the hard way, how to deal with people. She is clever, capable and, as they find out, a force to be reckoned with.

Dave, too, is a shrewd negotiator and together they are a dynamic duo.

The staff at Happy House love and respect them.

Working for Happy House, either in our home or school,makes them very fortunate indeed.

Sue ensures they are paid on the same day each month, a rare thing here where some employees have months to wait before being paid. They have excellent working conditions, the right tools to do their jobs,  and a considerate, but not soft, management.
Sue is straight talking, people know where they are with her and they know there's no messing about

Staff are learning new ways of doing things to.  Take Esther and Phillis,, our two cooks, who are learning new recipes from Sue, they absolutely love the challenge of trying out something different and discovering new tastes, textures and flavours which they can dish up to an appreciative dining room full of kids.

They had never tasted pizza, but now after three sessions they are cooking up pizzas to make a Neopolitan Mama proud.
In school, she has shown trained teachers methods, new to them, of teaching maths - making times tables and mental arithmetic fun. 
They and their pupilsa have a wonderful library, a laboratory that is the best in the region, a computer room with internet access.  
Sue is constantly looking for ways to enhance the lives of her children, at home and in school,  so they can have an upbringing and education which will give them a future to look forward to. 
Some scholarship kids who live quite a distance from school were leaving home at 5am to walk to school for a 7am start, so she now ensures they get their bus money to and from school issued every day.  Those who don't have electricity at home will be getting solar power lights so they are not at risk from fire or injury caused by kerosene lamps.  Help is to those who need it. For instance, some kids, whose family live in a basic rented room, do not have any power sockets but they do have a single bulb, so they do not need a solar torch.
The kids adore their Mama and Papa.  To all the kids at home, to those who have returned to relatives and are still coming into school on free places,. and the 68 scholarships kids, they are, simply. Mama and Papa.
Sue is always looking for ways to take more needy children in our school - her dream is to have 100 children on free place scholarships, These are kids who come from nothing, who deserve a chance to rise above the poverty they endure every day.
To do this we must have the means to sustain our school, to find more ways of raising the money we need.
As I leave Kenya it will be with an inevitable sadness but also with a renewed impetus to do more to secure new funding and to find more sponsors to make the dream of an education a reality for more kids.
With your help we can make Mama's dream come true.
If anyone deserves it, she does.