Big welcome for a new brother

There were cheers of delight when Mama told the the children that they would be getting a new brother.
But they were more than a bit puzzled when she told them that they already knew him!
As is our Happy House way, Mama calls all the kids together whenever  a new child will be joining us, and our own children, remembering what it was like for them to be that "new" child coming to a strange place, go out of their way to make sure that every new arrival gets a warm welcome.
But this time it was different.
The "new" kid has been one of our scholarship kids for a while but recently teachers noted that he was often complaining of tummy ache,and his marks were going down.
Dennis, who is in Class Eight and working hard for his Kenya Certificate of  Primary School Education exam, was clearly suffering.
Mama and Uncle Billy called them to see him and soon got to the source of his problem.
He was going hungry.
Living with his mother and stepfather who are peasant farmers and struggle to meet the needs of a large family comprising of their own and a relative's children,  the only  food Dennis was getting was his school lunch and break time snacks. 
He also told Mama how he was struggling to do any extra school work at home because he was unable to have any light at night - it is dark by 7pm.
"When I asked him if he would like to be a Happy House kid, he broke into a huge smile. "Yes, please Mama".
"I told him to ask his mum to come and see me. She came the following day and she was so grateful and so pleased for him to come to us.
"When I called a Kidz Club to tell the kids they were getting a new brother, they were all looking at each other when I said they already knew him.
"When I said it was Dennis they were all clapping and cheering and laughing. He's a lovely boy and very popular with everyone,
"Evans is his study buddy in school so when I said he would be in the same room as Evans he was justso happy.
"Now Dennis won't go hungry and has a real chance to get the marks that he deserves."

Schools' fundraise in UK and Italy

Schools are tremendously important to Happy House.
The children of today will be our supporters of tomorrow, so we are happy to take every opportunity we can of building friendships with schools from around the world.

In the UK

We have received an amazing £718 raised over the year by students in Year Nine at St Bedes RC High School, Lytham.
They were introduced to Happy House by head of year Mrs Clare James. Our Elizabeth went into school twice to tell them more about our work and received an overwhelming reaction from the enthusiastic youngsters, determined to do their bit to make a difference.
Mrs James said her students had taken Happy House to their hearts and worked hard for it throughout the year.

 “The students just kept coming up with great ideas like selling personalised decorations at Christmas and ice lollies on sports day. I'm so proud of their empathy for others and their passion for a good cause.’’

Elizabeth attended at special Charities Reception at the school when all the charities supported by the school over the last year received their cheques and when pupils who had worked so hard received awards.

Elizabeth said: "It was lovely event, arranged by chaplain Paula Burdess. We are extremely grateful to Clare, Paula, Year Nine students and all the school family for their friendship and support,  The money they raised will be put towards our secondary school build."

Representatives of Year 9 are pictured with Mrs James (left) and Elizabeth

In Italy

Caterina, Matteo and Angela

Tuck shop takings at the English School, Padua, have netted a cool 330 euro for our Happy House.

Angela Furlanello, Caterina Cedolini and Matteo Fedeli, students who have just completed first year of the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme, organised a tuck shop to raise money for the charitable organisations the school supports.

They held a weekly tuck shop during High School break-time,  organising everything themselves, and it was big hit with students!

 Next year, the students are planning to hand over the running of the tuck shop to the new IB students so they can continue to help support Happy House.

Their brilliant donation will also help to build our secondary school. Thank you to Caterina, Matteo and Angela and your tuck shop customers.

Our thanks to both St Bede's and the English School for being such great friends. Your efforts will help to give our children an excellent secondary school education and a head start for their future a adults.

  

My favourite pet, by Derrick

We have two dogs at the Happy House Big Al and Polly.

Today, Derrick introduces us to his favourite pet:

My  favourite pet is a dog because they help us,  guarding our house at night.

For, example, if a thief has come to steal, a dog barks and people wake up and stop the thief.

A dog likes eating meat and milk..

Dogs are good for hunting, when it sees an antelope it will chase until it catches the animal. 

One day we were taking our dogs for a nature walk and another dog from another village come and start chasing our dog. 

Our dog ran away. We found him and we went home.

Natasha's a star plus seeds appeal

Take a bow, Natasha.

Mama's Star of the Week award this week went to volunteer Natasha Wenman.

Natasha, now in the third week of four with our family, has been working so hard helping to prepare meals in the kitchen,  helping at meal times, ploughing through mountains of washing up,  whilst also assisting in school and anywhere she can be of help.

Hairdresser Natasha is enjoying every minute and is popular with all our kids.

Mama presented Natasha with her award to cheers from all the family.

Her proud dad, Russ, is also going the extra mile and using his considerable skills to try sort out some challenging problems with our solar energy system.

Thanks to you both.

Seeds please!

Vegetables and fruit straight from our garden go along way to growing healthy kids!

As many of our old friends know, seeds produced here and sent out to our family produce a better yield than anything we can get locally in Watamu.

Mama tells me that our stocks are very low so if, next time you are in the supermarket or at a garden centre you could buy a couple of packets to send out we would be really grateful.

The most needed are: Sweet peppers, sweet melon , aubergine, chilli peppers, cucumbers, courgettes, kale.

Please send to: Sue Hayward's Happy House, PO Box 796, Watamu, Kenya.

Thank you.

Harry is five

Every birthday at the Happy House is a young life celebrated and a reason to smile.
But Harry, rescued newborn and eight weeks premature, from a rubbish tip on this day in 2010,
 is a reminder of just how crucial the work of our founder Mama Sue and her Happy House really is.
With your support, we are saving and changing lives. 
Today, we wish our Harry a great big Happy Birthday and bring you a short reminder if how far this little boy as come.
Birthday greetings, also, to Chesco who joined our family last month. He is two!
They received their gifts at Kidz Club with presentations made by volunteers Russ Wenman and his daughter, Natasha.

Our bakers rise to the occasion!

200 cinnamon rolls, please!

That was the order for Saturday's bakers under the guidance of Elina Kokko from Finland.

Elina writes:

Saturday might have been a rainy day in Watamu but it was warm and cheerful in the Happy House kitchen. 

Me and my husband Joona are living here in Watamu  while we go through the adoption process, waiting for our little Kenyan boy Marius to be legally ours. 

Marius goes to Happy House School’s baby class and we have been spending time in Happy House with the kids quite often.

We were given a chance to come to Happy House on a skills day to bake with the kids.

We decided to bake the cinnamon rolls as they are the staple of Finnish cuisine, and all the ingredients are available also here in Kenya. 

We asked Mama Sue if we could bake, not only for the kids in the baking club, but for everybody in the Happy House. So, that morning we loaded the tuk-tuk with baking supplies and rolled up our sleeves with 200 cinnamon rolls in mind! Marius was happy to have whole morning to play with the other little ones.

The children were divided in four teams, and each team mixed their own dough for 50 pieces of rolls. All the teams followed the recipe very carefully and were very efficient, so four big bowls of dough were resting under a tea towel in no time at all. 

 While the dough was rising the kids were helping Auntie Ester to prepare lunch and do some cleaning in the kitchen.  Soon it was time to create the rolls. It was not the easiest task with the sticky and floppy dough but all the teams succeeded extremely well!

However, it took some time to bake all 200 cinnamon rolls in the oven. Meanwhile we had good time to clean the kitchen and sing some songs together. We saw many little heads impatiently peeking from the kitchen door as the whole Happy House was filled with delicious cinnamon scent. Finally the last baking tray of steaming hot cinnamon rolls came out from the oven and it was time to taste – for everybody. The cinnamon rolls vanished fast in to the mouths of the children.

We were truly impressed by the kids. Everybody were involved and worked so nicely and happily together. 

We had such a fun morning and left Happy House with smiles on our faces.

 Thank you,  we wish to bake together soon again!

School report: Debate win & UK news: online sale starts

Denis debates

Another happy and productive week for our school family as Madam Sarah reports:
Happy House kid Musyoka, and scholarship student Denis won the day for Happy House School in a debate against Silverstone Academy.
The motion "Single sex schools are better than mixed-sex schools" and as Silverstone chose to speak for the motion it was up to Musyoka and Denis to oppose it.
But both boys are articulate and put a very good case, emerging as winners with 10 votes to Silverstone's nine. 

Parents of our day students attended an  academic  clinic  day. A clinic is held once a term for parents and children to discuss progress with their teacher.

The recent music festival winners will going forward to the next level which takes place on July 10.

The weekly guidance and counselling session  was led  by Mr Isaac whiospoke to pupils about causes of stress and how to manage it.

ONLINE SALE STARTS TODAY

A  four-day charity auction starts today on online a  eBid marketplace - and the Happy House will benefit from donations.

This is thanks to eBid seller Susan Carr, who sponsors scholarship student Mary, and who has been supporting us for some time.

Susan has her own seller's page with  proceeds from everything she sells coming to the Happy House. To date, she has raised an amazing  £1353.

Thanks to Susan we are also able to sell our Happy House cotton bags on her page, making them accessible to everyone.

The monthly charity YDC  Auction gives a seller the opportunity to nominate their charity as beneficiary and having won the opportunity, Susan made our family her choice. She is hoping it will net us at least £300.

Susan says: "YDC stands for Your Donation Counts and the auctions run from the 24th - 28th of June.
"Anyone is free to take part in the bidding, if they're not a member of eBid it's quick and free to join, and if they use the link on this page http://uk.ebid.net/users/sucadot
" I'll get some points to use towards wrapping materials."
Please take a look and join in if you can. You might find a bargain and be helping us too. When you go to the site www.ebid.net search on YDC and all the charity items will appear, with details of those sellers who are donating the proceed to Happy House/Watamu.

Right royal dresses for our "princesses"

 A former seamstress to the Queen is now making dresses for our little Happy House "princesses".

Margaret Sumpter, 77, started her career in couture in the workshop of the Queen’s favourite designer, Norman Hartnell, who created dresses for her two most important occasions – her wedding and her coronation.

Margaret joined Hartnell’s when she was 15 and two years later rose to be a “hand” which meant she got her own garments to work on, instead of assisting someone else.

In the following few years she worked on outfits for the Queen, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Princess Alexandra, plus other high-profile socialites of the day including, Lady Marks of Marks&Spencer and the wife of holiday camp magnate, Billy Butlin.

Six decades on, Margaret is still stitching.  In a sewing room at her home in Dagenham, Essex, happily works on dresses and shorts for our kids,

Margaret discovered the charity through her daughter Dawn Szpak who is in Mercy Changawa's sponsor family..

Sylvester, Chesco and Abdul

When the first parcel of Margaret’s dresses and shorts arrived, there was no shortage of little girls and boys wanting to model them.

Ludwin and Farhida

Amongst Margaret’s proud possessions is a clip from Picture Post, dated 1957, when, on a trip to Paris, the Queen wore a pencil slim dress Margaret had made.  The first straight dress ever worn by the Queen for a royal occasion,  it was described as  “a triumph” with the comment “The silver laced dress worn by the Queen last night
caused gasps of surprise and then of admiration.” 
It was worn again for the State Opening of Parliament later that year.

Another of Margaret’s fashion triumphs was a wedding dress made for Frances, daughter of the Duchess of Argyll and golfer Charles Sweeny, when she married the Duke of Rutland.

“Designed by Norman Hartnell and made by mum it was described as “The dress with the dip line” and one publication reported “the bride of the year in the dress of the year,” said Dawn.

Mercy

“Mum had to give up her charity work in hospice shops because of a hip problem. I introduced her to Happy House when I started sponsoring Mercy and she takes a keen interest in Mercy’s progress and of news from the Happy House..

“She wanted to help and making clothes is something she can do from the comfort of her own home. She’s got me sewing again too!”
A huge thank you to Margaret for putting her talents to good use for our children and to Dawn too.
Your love and support is truly appreciated.

Neema takes a tumble

Our older Neema, five, took a tumble and ended up with her arm in plaster!
Neema had just had a nice supper on Friday, and was having a chat with her friend Karembo which ended with a friendly running race.
Neema was ahead with Karembo was hot on her heels when Neema tripped.
Her cry alerted all the children and staff, and after being given first aid by the duty aunties she was taken to hospital where she was referred  to another hospital for x-ray.
After being diagnosed with a fracture, she was treated and allowed back home to join her elder sister, Margaret, and all her friends at home.
She will go back to hospital on July 14 for a check up.
We hope you will be on the mend very soon, Neema.

Visiting our Mama, by Mercy

Mama recently twisted her back, forcing her to rest up and work from home. 

With the kids missing her, just as much as she was missing them, it was decided that a visit was order. As our junior blogger, Mercy,reports:

One morning, it was half term, and the birds were singing their sweet melodies songs to praise their maker.

I woke up and went to the frogs kingdom to take a shower then went to  wear my clothes. When I was dressed I went to take my breakfast.

When we had finished our breakfast. Uncle Billy came and told us that we were going to visit Mama Sue in her house. 

We were very happy, happy as kings, to hear that because Mama Sue we had missed her.

We had asked Uncle Billy:  Where is Mama and Papa? and he told  us that we must not worry she is in her house resting and she will come back soon.

It was on Friday when we went to Mama Sue and when we reached their she was so happy to see us, she too  she missed us so much.

We greeted her and sat down,we were happy to see them. 

We talked and then it was time that we came back.  How wonderful it was to go and see our Mama. It was wonderful day for everyone.

Birthday children and fundraising efforts

There were two birthdays this week, for twins Baraka and Amani.
The two boys were celebrating being four and all the family wanted to join in singing Happy Birthday to each of them.
Volunteer Natasha Wenman had the honour of presenting our birthday boys with their gifts.
Happy birthday Baraka and Amani.

Thank you Padiham Inner Wheel

Many thanks to the members of Padiham Inner Wheel Club , Lancashire, for choosing our Happy House to benefit from their recent Overseas Afternoon  event.

The ladies raised a total of £140 for our family.

Thank you to everyone who attended and donated. Every penny will make a difference.

Good luck Angie

Good luck to Angie Carmon from Morecambe who will be climbing Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, tomorrow to  raise money for the Happy House. Angie, who sponsors little Neema, will be going out to volunteer this summer. To sponsor Angie's climb please go to https://www.justgiving.com/Angie-Carmon/

Angie scales the heights

Scaling the heights Snowdon – the highest mountain in Wales – is a a tough call for  Angela Carmon.

But thoughts of her Happy House sponsor child, Neema, will keep her smiling as with every step she takes, she will be raising money, for  our family.

.Angie, 51, who is activities coordinator at Lakeland View Care Centre, will be tackling Snowdon, her debut climb, on Sunday, with support from her son.

 “ I climbed Ayers Rock in Australia when I was a teenager, other than that have not climbed a mountain, but I am confident I will complete it -  climbing for the Happy House will give me the determination I need and I am inspired by the work that goes on there which will then boost me to the top!” said Angie.

Angie is planning  to volunteer with  us this summer and is aiming to raise £1000.

She said: “The Happy House is a fantastic cause to raise money for with Sue and the team doing a fantastic job to give neglected children a happy life.

"Sponsoring a child at the Happy House allows us to follow the life of our particular child, to see her grow and enjoy life.  

"We can see where our money goes and what it does for the life of the child we sponsor.  We are able to communicate with her and send her photos and gifts.  In return the Happy House communicate back to us how she is doing, school reports and photos etc

 “When we chose to sponsor a child from the Happy House we requested a young child or baby as we wanted to be in for the long haul. 

 "Neema is two and a half and we have been able to watch her grow since we started sponsoring last year. That we are able to communicate with her and watch the benefits of sponsorship go to a great cause is fulfilling.

 “We look forward to watching Neema grow and mature under the watchful and loving eyes of the staff at this wonderful house.  Neema is part of our family and look forward to being part of her life over the years ahead.

 "We can see exactly where our money goes - direct to the children who need it.

 “To read the daily blog, sometimes written by some of the older children, and see photos and videos is inspiring. Sue and her wonderful home gives these children a happy life and to watch them grow and mature is just amazing.”

Climbing Snowdon, which is described as the “friendliest” of the three highest peaks in the UK, will be challenging for Angie, but she is determined to do it.

Volunteers see double

Volunteers Natasha and Russ Wenman could be forgiven for thinking they were seeing double!
Playing out with the kids, they met our four sets of twins - James and Jonathan, Peter and Paul, Saumu and Pendo and Baraka and Amani.
We are delighted to welcome father and daughter, Russ and Tasha  who are spending a month helping out.

We are looking forward to getting to know them better and hope that the time they spend with us will be rewarding and fulfilling.

They are taking time out from their busy lives to share their time and talents with our children.

 Russ and Natasha have both been working in school where they provide assistance for our teachers, and have spent time with the kids at home when they are out of school.

In the run up to their trip, Russ and Tasha have raised more than £3000 for Happy House. They also brought with them a case full of necessities for our children, many of them donated by their friends.

Thank your Russ and Tasha for all your efforts, and many thanks to all those friends, family and colleagues who have donated to their fundraising or sent items for our kids.

Every donation is greatly needed and very much appreciated.

School report: Music Festival triumph with video

Teacher Madam Naomi brings us news from our classrooms in  School Report:
Excited children were dancing and cheering after victories for Happy House  in the Schools Nursery Music Festival held last week.

Taking part against other local schools, our kindergarten kids were beautifully turned out in their red and black uniform, as they competed in sections for poetry, tongue twister and song, with the theme of peace and security in Kenya.

Hosted by Happy House, our  nursery children performed well,  winning every section at cluster level and then again, two days later, in the zone.

Judges complimented Happy House our children, and teacher who coached them ,  on their presentation, appearance and delivery.
In the primary school, recent highlights included the beach clean for World Environment Day, which involved all local schools. The project was organised by Turtle Watch and Arocha, Kenya, in association with the Kenya Wildflife Association.
Those taking part received t-shirts and refreshments courtesy of Coca-Cola.
There were also mid-term exams for all classes from nursery to top primary, with everyone working hard.
It was a short week, as school broke for a short half-term holiday
Pictures:  Some of our nursery children in the music festival.
Coca-Cola kids after their beach clean-up!
 Exam time in KG

At home with Mama

 Mama spent last week working from home after twisting her back and knee.
For Mama staying at home was the sensible option as she can easily host any important meetings at home, but she never enjoys being away from her kids for too long,
By  Friday, she was missing them so much, and they her, that there was one solution - take the kids to Mama.
With school on half-term, it was a simple operation to transport as many kids as possible to visit Mama and Papa where they had a lovely time sharing their news.
Mama is on the mend and hoping to be back at Happy House today.

Patter cake, patter cake ...

This weekend's baking club cooked up a storm in the kitchen.
A large cake and buns, meant there was plenty to share with their brothers and sisters after the a very productive morning in the kitchen.
Volunteer Natasha Wenman, from Buckinghamshire, who, with her dad Russ,  is spending a month helping in our family enjoyed a practical bake-in
as the kids weighed, measured , mixed and baked under the guidance of their teachers. .

And, as we all know, the proof of the pudding (or cake) is in the eating!

Saturday superday by Evans

Getting to eat what at they cook, makes Saturday classes very popular as today's blogger, Evans, explains: 
We are happy that on Saturday we have different activities.

 I normally enjoy the activities very much, of all the days I love Saturday very much. 

Some of the activities that take place are baking, computer, Italian lessons, music, sewing and library lessons.

 On Saturday these activities keep us busy. Also of these activities there is one that I like most, this one is baking, I like it when we are baking cakes.

 It’s very nice that we learn how to prepare different cakes and foods, one Saturday I was in the kitchen and we prepared chicken curry, with Mama and Papa. It was very delicious, those who were in the kitchen they really enjoyed.

 When it comes to grouping of the kids so that they can go to different activities, the teachers usually have hard time because everybody wants to go for baking.

 I love Saturday’s activities very much.

Birthday boys and girls

Four birthdays are being celebrated in our Happy House family this week.

Birthday greetings to Brian, twins Pendo and Saumu and to Emmanuel.

The happy youngsters received their birthday goody bags at Kidz Club when all the family sang birthday songs to them and shared in their joy.

Library turns over a new leaf!

It was all hands on deck when it was moving time for our school library.
Thanks to generous donations in memory of the lovely Lisa Holman, who was so proud tp be in Victoria's sponsor family,, the library, has been fitted out with shelving .
Charo, our joiner,  has built the cupboards and shelves  for the library which is one of four rooms rooms built as the first phase of our secondary school.
Moving day was well planned. The books were packed up, category by category and in referencing order, to ensure a swift and easy transition from the Happy House to their new home.
Our kids, as always, were eager to help and under the expert direction of expert-packer, Papa Dave, the quickly got the job done. There were a few pauses when something in particular caught a child's eye and
Musyoka found something so fascinating he just had to share it with Papa!
Not to be left out, Neema, Linus and David sat on the sidelines just to keep an eye on the proceedings!
Meanwhile, our new computer room, next to the library, has moved over the the new school site.  Very soon it will have its own internet connection, a huge plus for our teachers and pupils as it will give access to such a huge wealth of resources, knowledge and information.
Again this has been made possible with the donation received from Lisa's family and friends.
With very special thanks to Lisa's daughter Megan and her mum, Audrey Harvey, for thinking of our Happy House family at such a sad time.
We send you lots of love.

Fresh from the sea

Fish is a regular feature on our Happy House menu.
The children love it, specially when it is served with rice.
And you can't get it much better, than freshly caught in the Indian Ocean and brought straight to the door by the fishermen.
Once a deal is struck, they weigh it, clean it, fillet and bag it ready to go straight into the freezer for future use.

School Report: Focus on Kindergarten kids

Madam Getry brings us up to date with what;s going  on in Kindergarten, with our weekly School Report.
Last week, we just had four days in school as Monday was a national holiday marking  Madaraka Day. This holiday commemorates Kenya's Independence Day. 
The kindergarten kids have been busy rehearsing  a poem on the me of  Security in Kenya, the subject set for an inter-schools competition taking place this week at the Happy House School. We are hoping for success!.
School lunches are well organised and take place in the school banda, under the supervision of our teachers and Auntie Purity.
One afternoon we had a celebration for the birthday of day pupil Terry Edward, who is in KG3, when she brought a cake and treats into school to share her schoolfriends
KG children are enjoying PE and we had football exercises. David Hayward put great effort into kicking the ball to his Happy House sister Esther who was ready to kick it back!

Clean team on the sands

A wave of activity enveloped a section of Watamu beach when our Happy House school scout troop marched into action.

They were there on a mission to clean up, picking up both natural debris and litter left on the sands..

They worked really hard, putting all their energy into bagging up as much debris as they could gather.

They were helped by teachers and some parents of day pupils also popped down to give a hand.
Their hard work was measured in the huge pile of bin bags they filled 

And at when they had finished they enjoyed a cooling soda.

Waste not, want not

Nothing gets thrown away at the Happy House until it is literally falling apart.

Items are repaired and reused for as long as possible and we recycle or upcycle everything we can..

So when after almost six years, the curtains were so faded by the strong sunshine,thrifty Mama decided they needed replacing she wasn't going to see the material go to waste,

"The material was still good enough to use and I had the idea of making aprons, pot towels and cleaning cloths from it. 

As you  can with our Saturday baking club it has been a great success."

Our library - by Maria

Maria has written today's blog, about our school library:

We In the library room we have the teacher who is in the charge of the room.

We usually go to the library by class or if  someone wants to borrow a book or dvd.

In the library books are arranged on shelves and in groups, like subjects, so that it is easy to find a book that you want.

We  also  have  the  prefects  who  help  the  teacher  who  is in the library  and  we have assistant  prefect  they all  help the teacher  to recode those  books which have gone out.

There is a computer which tells who has borrowed which book or dvd.

I like going to our library.

Happy bear-day to you

Birthday girl Farida could bearly wait to get to know her new best friend.
And it was his big blue nose that caught her attention when she was given this beautiful teddy bear for her first birthday.
Farida is one of five children celebrating their birthdays this week
One by one they received their birthday gifts and greetings at the weekly family gathering, Kidz Club.
Happy birthday to Erick Safari, Fatuma Nguma, Farida Dama, Oscar Chengo and Amina Karisa.

Wedding bells ring for Auntie Velma

We just love sharing good news from our family, and today we are very happy to announce that our Auntie Velma is getting married.
Auntie Velma, who works so hard in our office and who introduces volunteers to our Happy House way of life, is an absolute gem and very much loved by the children.
As Auntie Velma and her fiancé, who works locally as a security guard, is planning a small wedding on a tight budget, with just a few guests, Mama Sue offered the Happy House as a venue.
Our kids are so excited and planning has started for the big day which will take place in November.
Many, many, congratulations Velma, we are all delighted for you, and wish you a lifetime of happiness ahead.