Tuesday is family day

Tuesday is a very special day at Happy House, writes Uncle Ronnie

 It is the day  we do our three staff meetings - outside staff, aunties and teachers.

 The day ends with Kidz Club. The kids are always looking forward this day.

 They always leave school the same time daily but on Tuesdays they come home early and in no time they settle at the lounge for Kidz Club.

It starts with greetings from Mama, then singing and a word from Mama, Papa and any staff present. If there was indiscipline cases over the week, they are discussed and children guided to always do the right thing. Bad behaviours are discouraged whilst we are always encouraging good ones.

Birthdays are also celebrated at kidz club, there is singing and cheering as the kids whose birthday is being celebrated are given their presents.

Sometimes Mama announces the star of the week and award him/her with a certificate. He/she becomes a role model to the rest and it can also be a staff as well.

Sometimes kids enjoy eating biscuits, mangoes, apples sweets e.t.c depending on what we received in our food store.

We welcome visitors to join us and have fun together.

 In short, Tuesday is our family day!

Good news for Francis

Francis is doing well on his treatment to the delight of his consultant is delighted.
And because of the unusual position of the infection, osteomyelitis, in Francis case, the surgeon is panning to write a specialist paper on it for medical journals.
Francis remains on the strong dose of antibiotics but he is gaining strength every day, and the special diet, with extra fruit and protein, that Mama has put him to build him up, seems to have given him more energy.
He is now going to try full days at school to see how he goes, but if he tires to easily he will go back to half a day.
There was also good news for in that we received some of the money we have spent on his treatment back from an insurance scheme, so along with the amazing donations we have received his treatment will be more than covered.
Mama said that any excess will, thanks to you, go into a medical fund to help with any other emergencies that arise in our large family.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love and kindness to Francis and for ensuring that he has received the best private care available to us.
He now has a real chance of kicking a ball around with his pals again before too long.
But for now he continues to wear a leg brace to support his infected joint and will return to hospital in four weeks time.

School report: Ready for action

 Some of our school's smallest people will be going to Gede Primary to compete at the ward level in their co-curriculum activities, writes sports teacher, Mr Steve.

This involves activities to test coordination and other developmental skills.

The latest competition follows a visit to Watamu Primary last week when they took on teams from different schools at cluster level.

The children selected to compete at Gede were Happy House home kids Faith Njeri in color and sorting, Lucky Safari in filling and emptying, Baraka Kaingu in football and  Edward Otieno  in color sorting, plus day pupils, Pauline Njeri in football, Aliya Nyanga in sack race, Queen Wanje in football, Brian Kalume in football, Masmo Yongo in line race, Rehema Katana in line race, Everlyne Richard football, Samson Mjimba in football and Dante Hamnest in football.

We are hopeful they will again win through to the next round which will take place later in the month at Watamu Primary when the sub-zonal athletics take place for nursery and primary.

Yorkshire visitors and Lily's birthday

Visitors are always welcome at Happy House, but for Yorkshireman Papa Dave it's always an extra bonus when they come from the White Rose county!
Our new friends Juliette, Phillippa, Lucy and Sara, all from Yorkshire, brought some lovely gifts for our children and enjoyed tour from resident guide, Papa Dave.
He showed them around our home and then took them to see our school and to meet our children.
We are grateful to them for taking time out of their holiday to pop in to see us and for all the things they brought for our family.

Lily's Happy Day

Mama and Papa were very happy to welcome Maurizo and Sofia and friends as guests to Kidz Club last week.

As always, it was a happy occasion with the family all together to talk over the happenings of the week and to share their news.
As it was Lily's birthday, Maurizio was invited to do the honour of handing her birthday gifts.
Happy birthday, Lily!

Players are our stars of the show

Happy House was thrilled to be chosen as one of two charities to benefit from the latest production by Thornton Cleveleys Windmill Players.

And on Saturday, Elizabeth Gomm joined a sold-out audience for the final night of Alan Ayckbourne's Joking Apart.

At the end of the interval she was invited on stage to receive a cheque for £125 from the company's business manager, David Baxter, and also to say a few words about the work of our founder Sue Hayward and our Happy House.

As is the Players tradition, the director of each production gets to choose which charities should benefit.

We are grateful to Colin Johnston, who directed Joking Apart, for selecting Happy House and Blackpool's Grand Theatre Trust as his charities.

We will also be receiving £98 from the sales of beautiful cards and embroidered goods made and sold by Player,  Paul Cunby.

Our thanks to Colin, Paul, and to all the Players for your support. It means so much.

Thanks also to the gentleman in the audience who gave Elizabeth £20 for the charity as she was leaving, which brings the total to £243 - fantastic!

Myself, by Oscar

Happy House kid Oscar Chengo is taking over the blog today.

Oscar came to Happy House when it opened in 2010 with older brother Evans and sister,Janet. when things got better for their family, they were able to go to live with their aunt and are coming into Happy House school every day.

My name is Oscar. I am a boy and I am 11 years old.

I like playing football.

I am in class six and myclass teacher is called Mr Kelvin, he teaches us maths and science. I like him because he is friendly to everybody.

My best subject is science. 

My best friend is Francis. I like him because he helps me with things I don't understand.

I live with my aunt at home, my brother Evans and my sister also live with my aunt.

My favourite food is chips with chicken.       

Happy talk

Happy House friends Natasha Wenman and her dad, Russell, who volunteered with our family in 2015 were delighted to give a talk to the Gaddesden Society.

Gaddesen, in Hertfordsire, is where Russell lives and the society hosts talks four times a year on a variety of subjects, often charity related.

Natasha, who has visited the Happy House twice more since they volunteered, her most recent visit this year, said: We put together a presentation all about the Happy House and our trips there.

People seemed very interested and inspired by the stories and the work the Happy House does.

I’m not one for public speaking but when it’s something I feel passionate about once I get started I enjoy talking, also having my Dad there with me and starting off really helped!

Happy House is such an amazing place so a pleasure to talk about and hopefully to get more people supporting the charity.

A local artist also drew a picture for the poster which was lovely and we were given the original copy.

Hopefully it’s the start of doing a few more talks to spread the word about the wonderful Happy House.