Samira settles in

Samira is the newest member of our family at Happy House children's home. And the 12-year-old, who had problems at home, is putting her troubles behind her and and enjoying being a child within a big and loving family. Samira loves being in our school and has settled well into her new life.

Emmanuel sings

Three year old Emmanuel is growing up to be a happy and confident little boy. He's quite happy to stand in front of the whole Happy House family to sing a song and loves it when they all join in!

Happy to be "home"

Our children from Happy House love to see old friends returning to visit them time and time again. Many of them have grown up knowing DawnHeather White, a frequent visitor from Northern Ireland. DawnHeather hasn't let the pandemic stop her travelling back to Watamu for a few weeks of winter sunshine - that provided by our children as well as nature! Indeed she's been helping them to get ready for Christmas too!

Charity is on the mend

​​Football casualty Charity is on the mend. Charity came a cropper when she fell badly on her arm during a game of soccer at the Happy House.

A trip to hospital in Malindi confirmed a break and she's had her arm in plaster for a few weeks.

She's feeling fine and on the mend and, as she tells us here, the messages written on her plaster cast also make her feel much loved by all the Happy House family.

Thank you to St Aidan's

The wonderful family at St Aidan's C of E High School, Preesall, Lancashire, is bringing Christmas cheer to our family at Happy House.

 Mrs Joanne Rossall and her 7D year group are selling cute Christmas cuddly toys to raise money for our charity.

Mrs Rossall, St Aidan's and students have been friends and generous supporters of Happy House for the 10 years since it opened.

Both its founder, Sue Hayward, and, since Sue is now based at the Happy House, its UK coordinator, Elizabeth Gomm, have been in to talk to the school or year groups on many occasions.

Every Christmas, Mrs Rossall comes up with a novel way of raising money and the Christmas characters are selling faster that Santa can say "jingle bells! "

She said: I am blown away by the support the Happy House has been given through the selling of these toys. Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting us.

"Last year we sold 150, this year I have already sold 300 and will take delivery of 170 more on Monday."

At Happy House, Mama Sue likes the children to know how hard people , from around the world, work to support them and, of course, to say thank you. 

Our children made this video, especially for  their friends at St Aidan's.

Huge thanks to our Fairy Godmother, Mrs Rossall, her 7D troop of happy helpers and to the school family and friends who are supporting them.

We truly appreciate your kindness.

And the winner is

We hope you've enjoyed watching the Happy House Smoothie Challenge. Today, we come to the final day and the announcement of the winner. Mama Sue, who set the challenge, and Evans are the judges and they go through each of the team presentations to evaluate their efforts before revealing their choice for top place.

Beet this

Need fibre, follically challenged or yearning for a flat tummy? 

Our young health investigators taking part in the Smoothie Challenge at Happy Happy have found a vegetable may just help with all of these. 

Mama Sue set the children living at Happy House the task of coming up with a smoothie recipe and making a presentation about the health benefits of its content. 

Here Oscar, Morphin, Erick and Edward tell us why they put beetroot as their main ingredient.

A smoothie to make you smile

There are lots of laughs in this presentation by Johnny and his team of smoothie operators.Jonny has Thomas, Lucky, Daudi and Stevie as his partners.They have been busy looking into the powers of papaya, avocado, banana, milk and honey ... their choice of ingredients for a perfect smoothie.

The Banana Smoothie cafe

You will want to make a beeline for the Banana Smoothie Café after watching this presentation by Happy House kids taking part in Mama Sue’s Smoothie Challenge.

Priscilla is joined on her team by brothers and sisters Emmanuel, Brian, Vidzo, Ludwin, Lesley and Joyce.

Together the children put the case for their choice of smoothie to give you the feel-good factor!

Aah apples!

​An apple a day ...add a banana and some milk and you have a tasty smoothie.But as well as tasting good, it does you good and can help regulate your blood pressure and build your bones.That's according to the findings of our three Happy House researchers - Rukia, Rehema and Harry for the Smoothie Challenge. So please accept their invitation to sit back and enjoy their presentation.

Strawberries unlimited

Strawberries unlimited is the promise for those who back Husna’s team in the Happy House kids Smoothie Challenge.

Husna, who is joined Michael, Neema and Fahima , have been looking into the goodness provided by strawberries and banana – their choice for a smoothie.

Their combination , they say, will work wonders for all kinds of ailments and is perfect if you need to loose weight!

Making the most of mango

Delicious mango has all kinds of health benefits, according the research by the first team of youngsters taking part in the Happy House Smoothie Challenge.

The youngsters who are making this presentation to the judges and the res of the family are also using their imagination pretending to be a team from the United States.

They are doctors Florence, Elizabeth, Abdul and Natasha.

Operation smoothie

Fresh smoothies are a power-packed way to start the day and can be super-good for you.

Mama is a great believer in using the power of nature to help heal your ills and when Papa had sore ankles she went on a mission to find which fruit or vegetables would help to ease the inflammation.

And that got her thinking about a little challenge for the Happy House children.

We'll bring you each of their presentations over the next few days.

So get ready for some recipes!

Crops flourish

Aubergine, moringa, paw-paw, pumpkin and more are flourishing in the Happy House garden. Here Oscar shows us a patch of garden, newly created behind the laundry, where crops are now planted. Because the Happy House is based on coral we have to import soil to give enough depth and to enrich that we use every gardens favourite - manure!

Safety first

Motorbikes are a popular choice of transport in Kenya and, at Happy House, we have one that is used for some local errands. Mama Sue is keen for the young people, growing up in our family, to gain new skills and is allowing John and Evans to learn to ride the motorbike, safely, within our own grounds. Being responsible and staying safe is the top priority as these two young men understand.

Butterfly Elizabeth

Little Elizabeth is five years old and a happy and lively member of our Happy House family. Elizabeth came to our Happy House family, aged six weeks, having been found abandoned two weeks. After four weeks in hospital she was well enough to come into our care and it is a delight to watch her grow and blossom. Here she singing a song for you.

Getting ready for Christmas

We still have more than a month until Christmas but our Happy House family is already busy planning. And the children using free time at weekends to make Christmas decorations and they are delighted to have Auntie Dawn Heather (our good friend DawnHeather White from Northern Ireland) to give a helping hand. Priscilla tells us a bit more.

Meeting Baraka

Meet Baraka Francis who is telling us about himself. He came into the loving care of the Happy House family when he was a little boy, along with his three brothers. Evans, who recorded the video, tells us: "Baraka is a happy and intelligent boy. He really works hard at school and he is sure he will be position one in the coming exam which it is nice because that Is positive thinking and he will because he wants to and tries hard. "He has always been in position one! "Baraka really likes helping the children who struggle a bit with their school work."

Shelter almost complete

A shelter to protect the Happy House cars is well on its way. Evans, who filmed the video, says: "Meet Uncle Charo and Brian who are building a shade for the cars to be parked. " Uncle Charo is a carpenter but he is very happy that he can do other jobs apart from carpentry. "They are almost finished with the roofing and very soon all the cars will be parked under a shade."

Special requests, please!

Mama Sue and our family at the Happy House would like to bring a bit of cheer to friend around the world who are now, once again, gripped in a pandemic-enforced lockdown. They want to bring some of the sunshine of Kenya into your homes and are asking for your special requests for songs which our children will sing for you. We hope these videos will make your life in lockdown a little easier at a time when there is so much heartache. In Watamu, our Happy House family is keeping safe and well - and maintaining the strict regime put in place to try to keep it that way. We are so grateful to all who support us through the good times and the bad, and we just want to give a little of our love right back to you. Please email your requests to sue@childrenofwatamu.net

How Zoom helps us

Happy House kids Brian and Lucky have been home schooled with the rest of our family during in lockdown. And now school has opened again to Years 4 and 8, Mama Sue is introducing the teaching methods, enhanced by Zoom, to children from the community returning to class. Lucky interviewed Brian about the advantages of e-learning at a confidence building assembly.

Question time

It's question time for Tumaini and Steve when they interview each other. The boys, both in Primary class 4, were taking part in the confidence building session at Happy House School. It's good to see just how well these youngsters, members of our Happy House family, perform in front of an audience.

A lesson in manners from Saidi

Happy House kid Saidi certainly wasn't shy when he was asked to speak about the importance of good manners. Saidi, who is primary class 4, was taking part in a confidence-building session for Years 4 and 8, the two now back in school following a long break impose to try to stop the spread of Covid19. Well done Saidi.

Simon Says ...

​Fun as well as being an exercise in concentration and agility, the children's game "Simon Says" is great fun.

It has just been introduced to youngsters returning to Happy House School after a long pandemic-enforced break.

The kids living in our care at Happy House already know and enjoy it, and Mama Sue thought it would be just a popular with the children coming into our school from the local community. 

She was right!

Papa power is on the ball

It's no secret that Papa Dave likes his football. In fact, there won't be anyone in miles of the Happy House who doesn't know that he's a Leeds United fan. His first question to everyone he meets is"Which team do you support?" It's a universal ice-breaker, and at every Monday assembly he discusses the weekend result, to the excitement of the children. As we mentioned, these are videos recorded last week so when he's broadcasting as school's Radio Watamu, you'll know where he's at!

Mama Sue in school by seven

Mama Sue is up early and at work by seven. Here she is starting a week at Happy House School by leading the morning assembly. It's an important gathering in the school week and she is joined there by Papa Dave who keeps the children updated on the weekend's soccer results, The videos w are bringing you are from last week - but we wanted to show how we start the week now we have some children back in school.

Exercise to start the week

Starting the day with exercises is a good way to get everyone in the mood for school. Exercise has lots of benefits as we know, including helping concentration. It's a warm-up for the week ahead, and these exercises at Happy House School are led by John.

Christmas bells are jingling at Happy house

Santa will be bringing fewer gifts to our children this Christmas as Mama Sue explained in yesterday's video. We won't be able to give out new clothes, as we usually do, because with the pandemic virtually halting the flow of visitors to Kenya we have welcomed just one or two intrepid travellers. And it is our visitors, and the gifts of clothes and other essentials that they so generously bring, that keep our store room stocked. Now, with stocks depleted, we are looking to other ways of giving the kids treats for Christmas as Mama tells them all here. Our children are thankful for everything they receive so we know they will be happy and have lots of festive fun as the big and close family that we are. If you would like to make a donation towards Christmas, you can go to https://www.justgiving.com/childrenofwatamu/donate or PayPal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ChildrenofWatamu Thank you and, please, stay safe and well.

Christmas is coming

With almost 60 children in the family, Mama Sue always plans well ahead for Christmas. And this year, planning has to be even more rigorous than usual. The huge fall in visitors to Happy House, because people aren't travelling during the pandemic, has meant that not only have we missed their lovely company have also missed all the wonderful things they bring for children. Our store room, as you can imagine, is severely depleted. Stocks are lower than they have ever been before in clothes, toiletries, educational items etc. But Mama is making sure that even though Santa may not bring the children as much this year, each will get some special treats. We are very glad of the parcels we receive, but ever mindful of postage costs to you and of the import duties we have to pay this end. If you would to help make Christmas special, please make a donation via https://www.justgiving.com/childrenofwatamu/donate or PayPal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ChildrenofWatamu Thank you and, please, stay safe and well.

Reflecting on exams

With years 4 and 8 now back in Happy House School, they have just had their first exams. An opportunity to see how how the youngsters, who come into our classes from the local community, have coped coped with school being closed for sevens months because of the pandemic. For the kids living in our care, who have been rigorously home-schooled, the exams were also a test to find their level. Mama Sue has, this week, been talking to each individual child to review their results and to encourage and inspire them.