Neckers from Lancashire on parade

Our Happy House scouts are looking the part after being given neckers from Lancashire.

Preston District Scouts are doing their bit to support Scouting in Kenya by donating a colelction of neckers to Happy House.

Our UK coordinator Auntie Libby met Lesley Thomas, district commission for Preston District Scouts, at a recent event and told her about our school's scout group.

She told her how they are taught to parade and raise both the Union and the Kenya flags every Monday at assembly and bring them down on Friday.

Libby said they would be proud to wear neckers and Preston District very kindly organised a collection of neckers from different groups for Libby to bring out to Happy House.

Lesley handed them over to Mama Sue and Libby at our recent coffee morning in Poulton.

Lesley said: "The least we can do is to send over some neckers to raise the esteem of these eager children and make them feel more like Scouts."

Now they have been handed over to our scouts who only needed showing once how to fold them,.

And how smart and how proud they look!

Stationery stitch up and fun times

 Good friends in the UK have our kids' pencils all stitched up
Pencils are a key resource and, as with all their belongings, Mama insists the children treat them with care and look after them properly.
And having a pencil case makes it so much easier.
So Mama asked Auntie Libz if she knew of anyone who could make drawstring pencil cases, and she found just the right people enlisting the help of Caroline Bramhall's Grace and Favour and the Sewing Sanctuary at Thornton and another good friend of our kids, Barbara Hall, from Blackpool, who just loves sewing.
Between them they have made enough pencil cases for every Happy House kid .
And to the children's delight they were given out at Kidz Club.
Now kids there will be no excuses for lost pencils!
Huge thanks to Barbara and to Caroline Bramhall, who is in Victoria's sponsor family, and her mum Val and Val's grandson who also helped.

Swotting up

Everywhere you go at Happy house kids are swotting up on their tables.

On Monday, they were each given a sheet of multiplication tables ahead of a fun morning of Times Tables tomorrow.

They are all trying their hardest and you spot them on their own or in groups chanting their tables.

Little Brian was straight into Mama's office yesterday to recite his two times table and Rosie too.

They are all embracing Mama's challenge and looking forward to being put to the test tomorrow.

Play pals

When families come to visit, the children soon make themselves at home.

The Happy House kids make them feel welcome and are always eager to play with someone new.
So when Nicola Feay and Rob Marsh, who are in Mariam's sponsor family, called in to say hello and to see how things have changed since their last visit four years ago, their children Jamie, 12, and Amelia, three, soon found themselves among friends.
After a tour of the Happy House the kids were keen to join our children who were playing on the adventure playground, trying out the swings and clambering around the play houses.
It was huge fun for everyone.
Nicola and Rob were so impressed with the way the Happy House has developed and grown.
When they last came,  foundling Esther was a new arrival and a tiny little baby. They were delighted to see her running around a happy, healthy, four year old.
A great friend to our family, and to Mama and Papa personally, Linda Newman is back in Watamu.
Linda, who is in Ashura's sponsor family, came to visit her bringing with her a lovely wall plaque to remind Ashura what a special little girl she is.
Brian also had surprise vsitors, when Damian Davies, general manger at Turtle Bay Hotel and his daughter Maddy called in.
They were playing posties for Catherine Davies and her class, form 7D, at the London School, who are in Brain's sponsor family.
The class had signed a colouring for Brian and sent him gitts - an intricate colouring book plus colouring pens and pencils and a bag full of good-as-new clothes.

Brian is sharing with his brothers at Happy House and the colouring book and pencils he has put in the older kids relaxation rooms so that all the boys and girls who use it can share it too.
He happily posed for pictures for Damian to send straight back for Catherine and her class to see.
Thank you from Brain for being such good friends and to Damian and Maddy for bringing their parcels..
Many thanks also to Wendy Bilton and Andy Jennings from South Buckinghamshire who found room in their luggage for clothes and other necessities for our Happy House kids.
Wendy and Andy were taken on a tour of Happy House and out schools by Auntie Libz.
They were delighted to meet Mama and Papa and were amazed by the very high standard of everything they saw
Wendy and Andy were also pleased to chat with some of our older children and Form One scholarship student, Mercy, told them how much the Happy House had changed her life by giving her education and opportunity.
Andy and Wendy said they would definitely spread the word about our wonderful charity when they go home.
Thank you, we always need new friends.

Potato crunch

Cook Auntie Phillis added another dish to her repertoire yesterday - roast potatoes.

Here, few people have an oven, so anything other than recipes that can be cooked on the open fire or hob is out of the question.

As we have the wood-burning oven lit every day to cook bread, Mama thought it would be a good idea to use it to cook roast potatoes.
Having shown Auntie Phillis how to prepare potatoes for the oven, in the went, and once cooked they came out golden, crisp and crunchy.
They tasted delicious and after now after a successful taster batch, they will be on the menu for all the family later this week.

The importance of tables

Janet is tested on her 9x table

 Times tables are a key foundation to learning maths.
And as Papa told the kids, as you go through life you will find yourself using your tables every day - without even realising it.
Mama is insisting that children in Happy House School  learn their tables thoroughly as they hardly figure on the Kenya curriculum.
She explains to the children  that once they have grasped their tables they will find other areas of maths so much easier.

Hussein and Baraka

So during the school break there is a concerted effort to get to grips with tables, making it as much fun for the children as possible.
This week Happy House and scholarship kids are spending their mornings in school and knowing their tables is now their goal.

Lily

Every child has been given a sheet of tables to learn from and teachers have been told to make a real push on tables with their class.
On Friday there will be a Time Tables Morning - with fun activities and prizes.
The kids, keen to learn and win - will be into groups according to the tables they know and will not move on to the next group until they are number perfect.
As we know, practice makes perfect, so with all the efforts being put in they should,  by the start of the new term, be heading up the table to success.

It's a pizza cake!

 Esther and Phillis, our two cooks, are a great team and keen to try out new dishes to tickle the tastebuds of our family.

Cooking Kenya staples - rice and beans, ugali and sukums wiki - are second nature to them, but Mama Sue is keen to widen their repertoire and to give the children a chance to taste different foods.

She has taught them how to make shepherd's pie, which the kids love, spaghetti with a rich tomato sauce, curry and much more.

On Saturday, we made our first venture into pizza - making enough to give everyone a slice to try.

They had made the dough for the bases on Friday so we would be ready to make an early start and with all the ingredients for the tomato topping were chopped and cooking by the time Mama, Papa and Auntie Libby arrived.

With the help of two members of staff from school, they soon got going.
The wood burning oven was ablaze and waiting.

A production line  was soon underway -rolling bases, topping, mozzarella (locally made and delicious) and into the oven on specially made pizza spades...

After a hitch when the first one refused to slide off the brand new spade and into the oven, everything went smoothly and by 11.30, there were 13 pizzas sliced into even portions by Papa, ready to taste.

They were a huge hit with kid, teachers and staff all tucking in and every hand went up when Mama asked if they would like to have it again.

There was a big round of applause for Esther, Phillis and team for making pizza that would make an Italian proud!

Well gone girls.

Myself, by Manuela

Manuela first joined our family as a Happy House kid at a time when her dad, who was bringing her up alone, was going through some very troubled times.
As soon as he was back on his feet, Manuela went back home, but has returned to our school as a scholarship student. Here she tells us a little about herself:

My name is Manuela Pendo.

I am 13 years old.

I learn at Happy House primary school.

I am in class seven.

My best subjects are  English, science and maths.

When I grow up I would like to be a doctor.

I like attending church.

My best friends are Amanda and Andrew.

My best meal is chips and chicken.

Arts in action

 It is fantastic for our kids when people with special gifts come to share them with our children.
They learn so much from those who have been born with a talent.
Mark Webster, who is both a musician, drum maker and  artist, came to see us back in August when he brought us a hand-made drum kit which he had created especially for our Happy House and took time to show our children how to use it, has made a return visit 
Mark, who is head of art at Shenley Academy, Birmingham, was on a whirlwind trip to Watamu,  spent a morning with our children teaching and encouraging them to draw.
He also got them to beat out rhythms and helped them with their drum skills.
Mark, who lives in Telford, is
a frequent visitor to Kenya and says he hopes to be back in the summer holidays and more workshops at Happy House will be on his list!
Thank you Mark, our kids were thrilled to see you again and look forward to the next time.

Fleetwood Friends

When Mama Sue and Papa Dave visited Fleetwood Rotary Club last month they were given a signed photograph of all the club members plus a water colour, both by Robert Stead.

Now they are back home they have had them framed and they now hang proudly in our reception.

Fleetwood Rotary is so supportive of our family, and a number of Rotarians also sponsor children, so it's lovely for the kids to be able to see their pictures.

Pictured are Stevie, Alex and Lucky.