KG kids on the ball, by Janet and Love Changes Everything

Our Kindergarten Kids have been on ball, as junior blogger Janet reports
 Today I am writing a blog about the kindergarten ball games. 
On Friday,  Happy House kindergarten school went to Dabaso Primary for a ball games competition and emerged as winners.

Janet

 Seven of the Happy House kids were selected and to go to the next level at Gede primary on Friday, February 26.
We are hoping the best for them. 
They were so happy when they back shouting and singing " Happy House Power, " led by our nice headteacher Madam Milka.
We are so proud the small children for giving the best of themselves so as to make our school represented in the cluster level.
 We wish them all the best.

                   Happy Valentine's Day  

Love makes the world go round and in Kenya, at the Happy House, is is also changing young lives and putting hope in to hearts.

It takes only a few short weeks to see a child who has come to us unhappy and carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, to blossom into a happy, carefree kid.

At Happy House they are given a childhood free from fear or troubles, with love, education and opportunity.

We are there at the time they need us, and for as long as they need us - this may be the time it takes for a family to get over a tragedy or hardship and get back on its feet.

For others it is much longer.

Today, when love is on everyone's lips, please remember our family

 If you can help us to change more lives by sponsoring a child please email elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net for details. To make a donation go to https://www.justgiving.com/childrenofwatamu/Donate/  Thank you.

Role model Baraka and With love from St Aidan's

Mama's Star of the Week is Baraka for bring a role model to the other children in the family.

Baraka is a member of the Kidz Council and was singled out for the way in which he had handled a case of misbehaviour by some of the other kids at the weekend and by keeping them to one side to see Mama.

Kidz Council plays an important part of family life at the Happy House and it is very important for its members, like Baraka, to be a good example to the others.

Baraka received a Star of the Week certificate from Mama.

Kidz Club responded with clapping and laughter when the secondary school form one students did a catwalk parade to show of their new tee shirts, with nifty moves from some!

Act of love

There was brisk business for Valentine's Day at St Aidan's CE Technolgy College,  Preesall, Lancashire.

Class 7K took on the role of delivering heart-shaped biscuits, with personalised messages, to fellow students - with proceeds to the Happy House.

The biscuits were baked by Forms K7 and K8 with guidance from teacher, Mrs Joanne Rossall.

Mrs Rossall says that when the money is counted they could raise as much as £100.

Well done everyone, you are certainly out sweethearts!

Valentine treats made with love

Valentine biscuits iced with personal messages from secret admirers, will be delivered to students at a Lancashire school today.
Students of K7 and K8 at St Aidan's CE Technology College, Preesall, have been baking taking orders and baking biscuits all this week and will be delivering class by class today.
And there will be more Valentine biscuits on sale for those love a sweet treat to buy themselves.

All proceeds will be coming to our Happy House family. Mrs Joanne Rossall and form K7 are just getting to know their sponsor child little Stephen Karisa.
Linus, who they grew to love in the several years they sponsored him, has now been able to return to live with his mum in Nairobi. 
She had worked so hard to rebuild her life after being tragically widowed, which led to Linus being in our care,  and is now able to support and educate her lovely little boy.  Uncle Billy is in regular touch and Linus is very settled and happy at home and in his new school.
Thank you to Mrs Rossall and all the young bakers for all they are doing.

Coffee morning

There will be a Happy House Spring Coffee Morning at Poulton Methodist Church,Queensway, Poulton, Lancashire, on Saturday, March 19, from 10am-noon.

It  will be a chance to meet up with Mama Sue and Papa Dave who will be visiting then and  also to help raise some much need cash for our family.

There will be a tombola, raffle, handicrafts and cake stall.

Admission is free and coffee/tea and biscuits will be £1.

Parking in the Teanlowe Centre Car Park, a few minutes walk from the church, is free for up to three hours.

Please come along to see us. If you would like to donate a prize, bake a cake, or can help on the day please contact Elizabeth Gomm on 07905 130 589 or email elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net

What a lot Brenda got!

Huge thanks to Brenda Groves, our lovely friend and Auntie Brenda to our kids.
Brenda, from Wantage, and her husband Red are regular visitors and long-time supporters of  Mama Sue and her work. 
They are in the sponsor family of Charity, while Brenda's brother, Terry, sponsors our youngest Brian and scholarship student Lovinne, and her granddaughter, Chloe Groves, sponsors Said.

Charity

Brenda often sent parcels of  much needed items for our family, but now we have suggested a cutback on parcels because of very high postage costs and import tax, Brenda decided to make a donation instead.
And it went a long towards buying all this shopping, and helped tremendously towards our weekly grocery bill. Papa Dave posed for a picture with Aunties Esther and Phillis.
Thank you so much, Brenda.

School Report

Our Form One Secondary Students have been out and about to enhance their studies.

Mr Laurent reports: "The school is running smoothly with various activities going hand in hand with the learning process.

 Students are working hard to improve their performance as shown through daily exercises done in classes.

Form One students have picked up well as show by the presentations they gave in class on a range of subjects.
In on session (pictured) Nasri Juma gave a presentation during business studies lesson taking the other students over a topic on human resources.

Later they went out to the nearby shopping centre to conduct a study on satisfaction of human wants. 

This helps them in expressing themselves, research skills  as well as developing confidence.

In  the primary section the new scholarship kids who have recently joined us are settling in and working hard to catch up with the Happy House routine and standards.
We welcome them to our school.
* We desperately need sponsors, individual or group, to sponsor needy youngsters from the local community who have free scholarship places in our school. For information please contact Elizabeth - elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net   Supporting a scholarship helps to keep a child in education - their only road out of poverty. Thank you.

Karen's a barking success!

Badge of honour for Karen

Despite running against 46 mph winds along Southport's Shore Line, Mad Dog runner Karen Adamson made it to the finishing line spurred on by the money she was raising for Happy House.

Karen says: " I first heard about the Children of Watamu at Grace & Favour /Sewing sanctuary in Thornton when I joined them in making dresses for the girls at Happy House and then later on shorts for the boys. 

Jessica

" After following the wonderful work done by Mama Sue and Papa Dave I decided last year to sponsor one of the children. 

" I was delighted to be matched with Jessica especially as my youngest daughter is a similar age.

"I decided to run the Mad Dog 10k race in Southport to raise some money for the Happy House children and was really pleased to collect £237.00 plus gift aid in sponsorship. 

" The race was a tough one with 46mph winds against me for the first 4.5k but fortunately the sun shone and the rain stayed away."

Well done Karen, every penny you raised will make a difference to the lives of children and many thanks to everyone who sponsored you.

World of science awaits - with video

 Discovering science through practical experiments in a laboratory is a huge adventure.
And now we have our own laboratory equipped and open, it is an adventurous journey our students are about to embark on.
And they couldn't be more excited.
Soroptimist International of Blackpool, part of a worldwide women's organisation, initially made a donation to cover the cost of building the lab from it's Christine Walker Memorial Fund and followed it by donating additional money from the Fund to furnish and equip it.
The work is now complete, benches and sink fitted, and equipment, chemicals bought and safety requirements met.
This week, Mr Laurent, our newly appointed science teacher, will start lessons and he is looking forward to it every bit as much as his students.
In fact he is so keen, when  when, on Saturday,  Mama asked when he would be giving his first lesson in the lab, hie reply was "Now!"
And he was true to his word!
All our teachers are proud to tell us that our laboratory is the best in any school in the district.
On Saturday, Mama officially opened the laboratory and our first secondary students were shown around .

It was a special morning, and we are indebted to everyone who helped to build our school, but on this occasion with a special thank you to SI Blackpool for making our laboratory happen.
Now our children have the world of science at their feet... and who can tell how far those first steps will take them?