Kidz Council

Mama Sue was always determined that children living in care should be able to have their say, and that their voices should be listened to. As a way of ensuring this happens she set up a Kidz Council which meets once a week to discuss any issues the children which to raise and to solve any problems. If the council is unable to take action or unsure of what course to take they could go to Mama and her team for advice.
Now, Mama is, sadly, no longer with us, they know that they will get good advice from Auntie Rose, Auntie Velma and Evans and Papa, of course!

Settling into secondary school

Moving on to secondary school is a big step in any young person's life. In the last video he made Oscar was telling us how he was looking forward to making the step into the next stage of his education. Now he has been there for a few weeks he is settling in well and wanted to update all our Happy House friends on his progress. He is grateful to his sponsors and all those who support our Happy House and for the opportunities it provides.

Welcoming our guests

Since the start of the pandemic, visitors to Happy House have been few and far between.

We love seeing old friends and making new ones, so we have missed them. 

They are always so generous too, making donations, bringing food and other essentials and clothing for our children, so it has added significantly to our costs.

 Papa and the children were delighted to welcome to some lovely guests who wanted to meet the family and look around the Happy House,  

Just a few few weeks before Mama Sue's death, Teresa and Mary from Watamu Women's Bank had been to see Mama Suet and having seen the good work that the Happy House does for the children said they would return.

It was a shock to them just like everybody else when they heard the news of Mama's passing, and they promised to visit the Happy House and bring something for the kids.  They were very pleased to see the kids happy and doing well. 

They brought with them four bales of flour,  a sack of rice and cooking oil.

Evans says " We are always happy to see new faces around and people are so kind to our family. it is nice to be nice and we really appreciate what people do for our big family. The kids sang for them a welcoming song and they were very pleased to meet the family."

A new member of our family

Today, we introduce you to the latest member of our Happy House family,  Peter.

Peter is 18 months old and was placed in the care of our loving family by the Children's Services Department who have deemed him to be in need of care and protection and as you know, Mama promised "there's always room for another."

Peter is a lovely little boy who had experienced hunger and neglect but, with the love of our caring children and staff, he's  now thriving and enjoying life as his one of his o big "sisters", Jacinta, tells us.

It costs £20 a month to sponsor a Happy House child and to help us to change a life forever. To find out more please email: elizabethgomm@childrenfwatamu.net

Being a room captain

Every bedroom at Happy House is shared by a group of children, with one as room captain. It's a role which comes with some responsibility and it's important that the captain has the respect of the youngsters he or she shares with. Here Tumaini tells us about the role of room captain and his own room captain Brian.

Missing international visitors

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Since the pandemic began in March 2021, the Happy House family has be missing all the visitors they receive from the UK, Europe and other parts of the world.

As Watamu is a sought-after holiday destination, we would often get friends who sponsor children or support our charity visiting and we would get lots of visitors who heard about us whilst staying locally. 

As Erick tells us they miss seeing visitors and look forward to the time when Covid stops making international travel so difficult and fried can visit once again.

Looking after Papa

T​he Happy House family has wrapped a comfort blanket of love around their very special Papa Dave. 

Since the loss of his beloved Sue, Papa has found strength from being at Happy House with the family they established. 

Mama always knew that should anything happen to either of them, the other would be looked after by the family, staff and children. 

At the weekend, Steve and a team of boys valeted Papa's car ensuring it looked absolutely perfect. 

"We like Papa to ride in a clean car," said Steve.