You, our wonderful friends. support us with such generous giving and we are forever grateful to you for your amazing kindness to our children.
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| Memory box treasures |
At Christmas we were inundated with parcels for our children, which is wonderful and we so appreciate every single one.
You made Santa's sack so easy to fill, with more left over for later!
The volume of parcels highlighted a problem we face every time we collected a gift send from abroad – import duty!
The cost of postage from the country of origin, and import tax we, despite being a charity have to pay, is often in excess of the contents.
Many of you were kind enough to pay the duty as well, but it worries us that so much of your money is going on postage and duty.
We know how much you love to send gifts, and are conscious that we have often asked you, as we did before Christmas to send gifts, or specific items, but after giving it very serious thought, Mama Sue is worried about the amount of money being eaten up in postage and taxes.
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| Letters mean so much |
Maybe you could, instead, make a donation for a sack or rice or flour to help feed our family or to buy school shoes or uniform for a child, or exercise books for school, or nappies for our babies. Payments to your sponsor child's saving accounts will help them when they reach independence.
You could make yourself smile by keeping a Happy House Jar of Smiles in your home - and add a 50p or a £1 every time something happens in your life to make you happy or feel grateful along with a note to remind you of the event that made you smile.
When the jar is full you will have the pleasure of donating it to Happy House, and of looking back over all your red letter days!
Only when we are really stuck for specific necessities, that we can't buy easily in Kenya, will we put out a request that requires postage and the dreaded import tax!
We are fortunate that, thanks to YOU, our storeroom has a wonderful stock of clothing etc, and we also have a store of items to ensure every child receives a gift for their birthday.
But keep your messages coming!
Cards, letters, postcards, emails and photos mean so much to our children - they squirrel them away,with love and pride, in their memory boxes.
These reminders of your love and your presence in their lives is, truly, the best present of all.
