An uneasy parting

Mama and Papa were given the most loving  of send-offs when they started their journey back to the UK.

The kids were very subdued at Kidz Club knowing they had to say goodbye to their Mama, Papa and Auntie Libby who, after a very busy three weeks, had to fly back to fulfil vital fundraising commitments.

 Everyone put  on a brave face, but you could tell from the atmosphere that they were reluctant to see them leave.
It was a difficult for everyone but they all know that it will not be long before they will be back again as the intention is to "come and go''  until we have built a good financial foundation for our family which has grown far quicker than we could ever have predicted.
Completing the school is a real milestone, but there is still much more to do and with irons in the fire here in the UK we have to push forward to try to secure more child sponsors and new sources of funding .
We are exploring every avenue and our aim is to try to tap into big corporate charitable trusts.
 If you work for a company that has such a trust and might be worth approaching please let us know. You can email sue@childrenofwatamu.net or elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net
For now Mama and Papa will be working from Blackpool, Mama is in daily touch with her very capable management team using Skype or telephone and also Skypes the kids to keep up with their news every week.
The children are always told honestly what is happening and involved in making many of the decisions so they have known that Mama and Papa would have to leave and why.
Our kids may have been a bit down, but they are secure in the knowledge that at the Happy House they have a true and loving family.
By the middle of next summer we hope to be in a position where Mama and Papa can return home for good.

Burnley brights

Terry Burns, Auntie Rose and kids

Our kids look so bright in their new Burnley shirts, given to our family by the town’s football club.
Our girls and boys are mad about football and so now the East Lancashire Club has its own junior supporters' club in East Africa.
Burnley fan Terry Burns was given it the kits and dozens of them arrived courtesy of aerospace company Aircell, which has a branch in Burnley.

Uncle Billy, David, Katana and Steve

Darren Richardson, a trustee of Terry’s charity Furniture for Education Worldwide, who is now Aircell’s director of operations in China, very kindly made the arrangements.

Janet, Margaret and Shakila

Our football-mad kids were thrilled to pose for pictures with Terry on the Happy House steps and instead of saying cheese Auntie Libby got them chanting “Burnley!” with coaching from Terry who has lived there al his life.
Thank you to Burnley Football Club and to Darren and Aircell, and again to Terry, for  making these lovely smiles possible. 
Bus Appeal
As you may know we have launched our Happy House Bigger Bus Appeal to raise money to buy a bigger bus so we can transport our kids, as a family, safely and more cost-effectively to medical and dental appointments, outside activities including free weekly football coaching at a football academy for disadvantaged kids in Malindi, on school trips and other excursions which are so much a part of growing up.
If you would like to support our appeal you can donate by clicking on this link http://www.justgiving.com/elizabeth-gomm .
Please share this link with your friends and your family and help to get our family on the right road in 2013!.

Networking for our kids

It was a landmark day for Uncle Billy when the Happy House hosted the inaugural meeting of the CCI Network.

Representatives from 15 Charitable Children’s Institutions from the Malindi area gathered to talk about the ways they could work together to improve the services they provide to their children.

By sharing experiences, information and advice on situations they encounter they hope all the children’s homes families will benefit and be enriched.

Mama Sue, as director of the Happy House, spoke about how she had come to be in Kenya and the beliefs that had driven her to develop her Happy House.

Uncle Billy, our hardworking and dedicated social worker, has been working towards setting up this network for the past year and the first meeting was the culmination of his tireless efforts.

The visitors were shown around our home and Evans, Margaret and Samson joined the meeting and chatted confidently and happily about being Happy House kids.

Mama said: ‘’Billy has worked so hard towards setting up this network and now we have a real chance to show how we are changing the way that children  are being cared for.  By sharing our own experiences we will all grow and, I hope, improve what we are doing for children.’’

The network will meet monthly, hosted by a different institution each time, and the next meeting will take place on January 23 in Malindi.

Thank you everyone

A very big thank you to Limavaday Rotary Club in Northern Ireland for helping to make Christmas so special for our children.
The club sent a donation of £200 to provide the Christmas meal for our children who tucked in to turkey with pilau followed by cake.  Later on in the day they enjoyed ice cream also thanks to their Rotary friends.
Limavady Rotary Club sponsor our little Harry who is pictured here receiving his Christmas gift from Santa.
Thank you to everyone at Limavady and to everyone, from around the world, who has sent gifts and cards or helped in any way at all to make Christmas so very special.
We cannot send individual photographs of each child with their gifts as it is really wouldn’t be fair to the kids who were having just so much fun enjoying themselves.
We do thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love and support for our family.
We hope that your Christmas will be every bit as special as our own here at the Happy House.
*The partying is over and life has returned to normal for our children. December 25 will be celebrated quietly, as a family without any visitors, with a meal and one gift left by Mama and Papa for each child. They will Skype the kids from the UK so that they can share Christmas love and greetings. It is hard for them to be apart but they have so many fundraising commitments to fulfil with Auntie Libby, but will be back again very soon.

Santa in the sun

Santa arrives

Santa came out of his North Pole hideaway a few  weeks early to bring Christmas joy to our Happy House kids.
And the air of excitement was almost tangible as the kids waited eagerly for the arrival of this most special of guests.
There was an intake of breath followed by screams of delight when Santa came through the gates followed by two mischievous elves - Elf , the naughty one, and Safety, the playful one,

What's in the bag Jeddy

Santa introduced them to the children who just couldn’t quite take in the festive antics of the two elves as they led Santa a right song and dance.
Then it was time for Santa to distribute the children’s gift. Every child waited patiently for their name to be called and very politely shook Santa’s hand and said thank you before walking off with their bag of goodies.

Gifts for Hope

Everyone was thrilled with their gifts - every single item sent to Santa by our friends from the UK, Italy and elsewhere in the world  - and eagerly showing them off to their brothers and sisters. 

Mama , Santa and helpers

John

When all the gifts were distributed and every child happy, they chorused a goodbye and thank you to Santa and his elves who, not used to the intense sun, were keen to get back to the cool of their North Pole workshop.

Musyoka

They had made their flying visit by special request because our children wanted to have Christmas Day with their Mama and Papa who, with Auntie Libby, have to fly back to the UK tomorrow to meet fundraising commitments.

Then while some stayed in the banda to dance other kids went off in groups to take a closer look at their gifts, to try on new clothes or to read their book, play a game or just to take a quick nap.

Uncle Josphat and Auntie Joyce

Uncle Josphat, our cook, and his assistant Joyce had prepared a delicious lunch of turkey and pilau, which the kids wolfed down in almost total silence!
It was the most wonderful day, filled with love. The kind of day that every child will remember and will tell their own children about in years to come.

Suleiman

Uncle Billy, Pendo and Ushindi

Those of us who were there to share it and to feel the Happy House magic at work are truly blessed.

Papa with Shakila

Maria and Auntie Rose

Mr Omoi's big day

Lovely Lily

Happy House teacher Mr Omoi couldn’t get married without inviting our very special family to be a part of his big day.
He asked for a Happy House page boy and flower girl to take part, and the kids were asked to choose who they would like to represent them. They held a vote and Oscar and Lily were selected.
A party of our older kids went to Kalifi  with Uncle Billy and our teachers for the wedding, 
Margaret, our Happy House reporter and photographer, tells us all about it:
Hello everyone!
I hope you are fine and well, me too!
I just want to talk about the wedding of Master Omoi and Miss Lillian.

Happy House kids!

We had a wedding of  Mr Omoi and Lillian.
They invited us the Happy House family and teachers. Mr Omoi teaches us, he is our French and computer teacher. 
So he had invited us as his members. So we waited for it and we were very happy to hear that our teacher is going to have a wedding!
In the morning we prepare our selves and we started our journey we started with a word of prayer and so that we have prayed God guided us and we had a nice journey.

Our Oscar

We reached to Kilifi very safe and we were surprised to see our  Happy House kids Lily and Oscar are  in the wedding procession and also our secretary, Auntie Velma,  and our teacher, Mr Mdachi! 
The maids started marching they marched nicely and slowly so the marchers marched and they make two lines and the bride came in.

We listen to the programme and they were told to join together and they hug each other.

Auntie Velma

 The cake was brought and they cut it and they give even us so that we may taste the cake!
We were told the Happy House to make a picture with the bride and her husband we ate good and we really enjoyed it!  
So may God bless Mr Omoi and his wife Lilian . 
Thanks for inviting us! 

Santa's early call

Papa Dave, Lucinda, Mercy Jane, Janet and Maria

Christmas is coming … TODAY!
Santa is making an early visit to  the Happy House in answer to a special request from our kids.

Hassan

Their Mama and Papa, and Auntie Libby, fly back to the UK on Tuesday and the children didn’t want to celebrate Christmas without them.
Since our children came to the Happy House it is their Mama and Papa who have brought joy into their lives and to  mark this most important day of the year without them was unthinkable. So they chose today as Christmas Day.
We have all been busy putting up the decorations and Santa’s little helpers have been working overtime to get the children’s presents ready.

Francis and Karembo

Fikiri

Santa will be arriving this morning, accompanied by his two cheeky elves, to distribute the gifts.
Then there will be a special meal for all the family of turkey pilau  and vegetables, followed by ice-cream,.
Mama and Papa were very touched that their kids asked to have Christmas early, but they have ensured that there will be one gift each for every child to receive on December 25.

Handyman Uncle Lanson

*You can read all about our Christmas on the blog on Monday - as tomorrow is the Kids’ turn to take over  this space!