Talking about cows

Cows are highly prized by communities in rural Kenya. And they were the animal that Natasha chose to talk about in a presentation to the Happy House family. She put together her interesting talk after using the internet to do her research.

Class act

As you know we are using our computer technology to help home school our children at Happy House during the Coronavirus Covid 19 lockdown. Our teachers at school where they are complying strictly with social distancing requirements, are able to conduct lessons with small groups of children who are home in Happy House. So far it is working well and our children are enjoying it. Here we join one group during a maths test.

Home schooling

Home schooling is well underway at Happy House. With virtual teaching set up, our teachers who are school, where they are able to social distance, can teach small group of children in lockdown at Happy House via the internet. This is all because we have the latest technology available, thanks to the kindness of those who support us and with special thanks to Mark and Amanda Barron who so generously funded our computer suite. Without this technology, continuing school while we are on lockdown would be much more difficult. Tomorrow we will show you a video of a lesson in progress.

Happy Esther

Esther was in fine voice as she led singing of "We are Happy Today" at Kidz Club at Happy House. With no birthdays in the family this week, the meeting concentrated on sharing news and looking back on the week past - especially at the introduction of a new home learning programme. Home learning has been made essential as schools are closed as one of the measures imposed by the Government to try to stop the spread of Coronavirus Covid19.

Fuel for fires

Uncle Alex and some of our outdoor staff at Happy House have been pruning trees in around the children's adventure playground. And every bit of the wood they chop will be used to fuel our outdoor oven which we use for cook bread, pizza etc. Nothing at Happy House is ever wasted!

Helping hand: In the kitchen

Learning life skills is all part of the rounded education our children receive when they live in the care of Happy House.

Being a part of such a big family where there is a great emphasis on caring and sharing means they are eager to help each other and to help around the house. Today, Prscilla, Evans and Rukia are helping in the kitchen.

Talking about food: Soup

As one of our lockdown exercises, Mama Sue issued a public speaking challenge to our children at the Happy House. She asked them to choose a subject, based on food or drink, and to research and prepare a talk. In this video, John gives us a lesson on making soup - something they have learnt to do from Mama Sue and which now features often on their menu.

Many hands

Many hands make light work and at Happy House the children enjoying helping around the house in their free time. Here, Baraka, Jacinta and Saidi are assisting the laundry, one of the busiest areas of their home. With more than 60 children, there are always piles of washing and ironing to be done!

Home hairdressing

Our Happy House girls usually go out to have their hair braided using the braiding services offered by many local women in in their "salons". These women are able to some very elaborate weaves, but our girls have straightforward styles suitable for school. The children going out together, in small groups, is good for them and also the minimal costs are a way of supporting local enterprise - which the Happy House does in so many ways. But for now, we are in lockdown because of Covid19, and movements are restricted to within the Happy House boundaries. Luckily our older girls are able to braid and on hairwashing day, they set up their own salon for the others as Rehema tells us.

Home school

Home school is being stepped up for our Happy House kids.
With schools closed because of Covid 19, children in many parts of the world are being home-schooled.
It's a tough call for adults who have to organise a work programme and to supervise.
A Happy House with more than 60 children, it is a very big task but kids have had school work incorporated into their days as this video shows,
Now, with the Easter break over a fully timetabled programme of lessons is being organised using Smart technology, for small groups of children and will start this week.

Wow, look at Victor's dace moves

Little Victor has some edgy dance moves and loves showing them off. Victor, 18 months, loves being the centre of attention and spends so much time with his big brothers and sisters that he picks things up very fast, That includes copying what they do. So when the kids staged a talent show, it was only natural that Victor should take part and this is a video of his few minutes in the spotlight!

Songbird Husna

Our Happy House kids staged a little talent show to entertain themselves.
They love performing and don't need to be asked twice to put on a show.
Here is Husna singing Megan Trainor's Better When I'm Dancin'.

Penalty pride

David gets a snack

Scoring a penalty is a moment every young footballer dreams about. And a huge cheer went up at Happy House when our David put his ball straight into the net. The kids have been enjoying soccer training, and when it came to David's turn all his side were rooting for him. David, who had such a tough start in life, doesn't have the best coordination so a huge cheer went up when he achieved his goal. Well done, David. You are a champ!

Training session and meet the players

Evans has been coaching his younger brothers and sisters in soccer skills at Happy House. Knowing how much they love football, Mama Sue thought it would be a good idea if Evans found some good soccer skills videos for them to watch, before they went out on to the pitch to put what they had been watching into practice with coaches Evans and John.

Kidz Club kindness

Your kindness meant our Happy House children were able to have apples as a treat at Kidz Club on Saturday. You, our friends, although faced with the restrictions imposed by the Covid_19 pandemic, haves till found it in your hearts to think about our children who are also living in lockdown and have sent donations to buy them treats. It means such a lot of Mama and Papa and all the family to know that they are in your thoughts and your messages really matter. Thank you also for the treats they are so appreciated.

Appraising the speakers

We have been bringing you some of the talks our children prepared on food and drink. They made their presentations to the family as an exercise in public speaking and to build confidence, having chosen and researched their subjects in teams. There were no prizes, but their work was evaluated by a panel comprising of Mama Sue, Papa Dave, Auntie Rose and Auntie Janet. Mama, who chaired the panel, summed up performances.

Happy birthday Michael

There were greetings and gifts for our only birthday child of the week at Happy House Kidz Club on Saturday. Michael, who has just turned five, was called out to receive his goody bag from Mama Sue while the family joined voices to sing Happy Birthday. Family news was also exchanged at the weekly gathering and, as usual, there was lots of laughter and singing.

Foods we eat: Bananas

Bananas are always popular as snacks with our Happy House kids. And there are always plenty available locally, including some that we grow in our Happy House garden Mama and Papa have a plant in their own garden too and when a new hand of bananas is ready to pick they will take that in for the children too. Here Oscar, Gift and Ester make their presentation on the fruit.

The foods we eat: Water

Water is an essential to life as Florence, Natasha and Brian discovered when they were on their fact finding mission about a food or drink that we take for granted as a part of our daily life. Mama Sue set the kids a task of researching their chosen topics and putting together a presentation for the rest of the family.

The foods we eat: Tomatoes

We are lucky to be able to grow some of the tomatoes we need to feed our Happy House family in our greenhouses. They are the base for so many delicious meals and the kids love them. Here John, Lucky and Fahima tell us what they have found out about tomatoes.

Food we eat: Moringa

The magic of moringa was the subject of a talk by Brian Isiahio, Dula and Samu in a series of presentations on food and drink. Moringa grows wild in Kenya and we have it growing freely in the grounds of the Happy House,. The children have moringa tea twice a day which helps their health in may ways as we we hear from Brian and his team.

To foods we eat: Honey

Honey is the subject of a talk given as one of the presentations on items our children consume at Happy House. As an exercise in fact-finding and public speaking, Mama Sue challenged the kids to form themselves into groups to select a topic and prepare a talk to give to the family. In this video, Rukia and her team, Rose and Brian Hayward, talk about honey.

The foods we eat: Coconuts

Our Happy House kids have been learning about the benefits of the foods and drinks they enjoy as a part of their diet. We have an abundance of fruits and vegetables that we grow at Happy House and that also that grow wild locally and Mama Sue set them the lockdown task of forming themselves into groups to choose and research a subject. With android tablets and ipads that have been so kindly donated they have the internet at their disposal and were able to find out as much as they could about their fruit or veg! Today, we have Rhehema, Mwende and Charity talking about coconuts and there will be more to see from the children over the rest of the week.this week.

Victor dines alfresco!

Having lunch outdoors is so much fun!

Brian

In a break from their sports, the children at Happy House enjoyed lunch by the sports stadium with everyone tucking into a tasty dish of rice and vegetables, Even little Victor joined in, jiggling to the background music as he fed himself - watched closely from nearby by Mama Sue and Uncle Ronnie.

The big birthday match

Uncle Ronald takes on the role of commentator for this extract of the big soccer game staged at Happy House for Papa Dave's birthday.
He also interviews the two teams at half time. The kids had picked players for teams representing Leeds United and Manchester City. Papa, a Yorkshireman, has been a lifelong supporter of Leeds while Manchester-born Mama, who grew up in Salford, is a City fan. It was a splendid game with both teams putting their best feet forward. There can only be one winner and on this occasion the score 2-0 meant a victory for City.

Happy birthday to our beloved Papa Dave

Our Papa Dave, our hero!

And yesterday, his birthday was a great cause for celebration for our family at the Happy House.

Being in lockdown together means they could still party with Papa as the star of the show.

Papa Dave, who is Mama's Sue's rock of support as well as being her confidante and her love, is adored by the children for his fun-loving spirit and down-to-earth nature.

He is also their Radio Watamu - making sure the kids are always up to date with the UK football results.

As a treat for Papa, the kids staged a birthday soccer match.  Papa's  favourite team Leeds United playing Manchester City, the team Mama supports

It didn't turn out quite as Papa would have wished, with City winning 2-0.

But the score didn't really matter, the excitement of the game was more important.

Our Happy House musicians played Happy Birthday - with Papa joining in - before he cut a delicious cake baked in his honour.

Happy birthday, Papa Dave. We send you lots of love from your friends around the world and wish you many happy returns.

See tomorrow's blog for the football action!

Let's race

Let's race! More races from our week of let's get active and smile week at Happy House. Rounders and a tug-o-war were both part of a very busy programme.
We also have a game of netball and an interview with some of the giggly competitors.

Love and laughter

We promised that our Happy House family would bring you something to smile about in these times when we are living in the shadow of Coronavirus. Our sporting activities laid on for our children who are off school as one of the Kenya government's measures to restrict social contact, included a hilarious dressing up race. We hope it makes you chuckle.

Cheering on the action

With every race, there's lots of encouragement for those taking part. With the Happy House kids split into two teams - orange and green - each cheers their own side on. It makes for a pretty noisy but very happy, time and when then there's a break for a healthy snack!