Super Saturday

It was party time for the family on Saturday morning.
As volunteer Alejandra Quintana and Fabiola Matute are coming to the end of their three months at the Happy House, and Mama's oldest friend Joan Ottley is setting off for home, it was a party to say a special thank you to them all.
Auntie Joan bought ice-cream for everyone, and the kids enjoyed party games, dancing and had great fun smashing their way to the treats inside the pinatas made by Auntie Ally and Auntie Far.
Ally and Far, from Mexico, wanted to bring a flavour of homeland to the celebrations and had made the pinatas with help from the kids!
The children also sang Mama's favourite song, with they learnt specially for her, Michael Jackson's I Can't Stop Loving You.
And they sing it with such love that no one is in any doubt that they mean every word.
Everyone will be sorry to say goodbye to our friends.
Ally leaves this week, while Far has until the end of the month.
Both have been fantastic helpers working in school with Fabiola, an investment bank, using her love and skill at maths to help bring on those pupils who were struggling a little, and helping our scholarship students.
Ally too has helped with extra coaching , and both have been supporting our staff wherever they can and the kids love them!
It has been lovely for Mama to have her friend Joan staying with her and to be able to introduce her family which has grown significantly since Joan's last visit.
Thank you all for coming, we hope you will take home memories you will treasure forever.
Football fun
With the party over by lunchtime, our older children soon had lunch and were ready for more action in the afternoon with a football match for our boys team against Gede Tigers at Watamu Primary School.
It was a tough fought game which ended in a goaless draw.
But the score wasn't important as everyone, players and spectators, really enjoyed themselves.

Keeping fit and fine - by Mercy

Lucinda and Mercy

Our junior blogger today is Mercy who looks forward to going out jogging:

Every Wednesday after school we have jogging and stretching. We go out for jogging  and when we are out  there we enjoy ourselves so much we like jogging because it makes us to be healthy and strong.

Our jogging teacher is Mr Steve  he how  knows how to train us in the following activities and also he set  a program for us  like on Monday we have a blog, Tuesday we have kids club, Wednesday  we have jogging and stretching, Thursday we have volley ball, Friday we have netball  and on Saturday we have football academy.

We thank our loving and caring Mama Sue for the good work she has done for us because we didn’t have some football shoes and training shoes, she did everything until we got the shoes and some sports clothes which they have been written on Happy House Sports.

When we go out for jogging  it is not a must people to ask us Where are you from? because it is  written at the back of our shirts.

Thank you  Mama Sue for the good thing  which you have done  may God bless you so much.

Mama Sue: A woman to admire

New friends Lucy Isley and Mark Jubb found the Happy House on a pre-holiday  Google search and liked what they saw!
After checking out the website and following the blog, Lucy said they knew it was a worthy place to donate a suitcase of new clothes, toiletries and other things.
And they were bowled over when they met Mama Sue and our family for themselves.
Lucy, from Peterborough, said: "Sue is an inspirational woman and I admire her so much. What she is doing is something similar to what I've wanted to do since being a child. 
My mum lived in Kenya as a child and so I've always had a lot of love for this country. I'll be making sure I arrange a way that I can help out for the foreseeable future.

The children at Happy House are so bright and bubbly, nothing like I'd have imagined, they're the opposite of the typical "orphan" image that automatically springs to mind.

I found a lot of love for every single one of the children but David, is my motivation to do more!

Sue should be extremely proud of what she has done and the staff are an asset to her."
Thank you Lucy and Mark for coming to see us and for your gifts. It was lovely to see you and look forward to getting to know you better.

Happy birthday Papa and kids

Happy birthday, Papa Dave.

Our fun-loving Papa, the wind beneath our Mama's wings,  is  much loved by all our family and everyone both at the Happy House and in our extended family across the world wishes sends him birthday greetings and lots of love.
Papa is pictured wearing his VIP t-shirt, a gift from our lovely Italian friend Susanna Gregorio.

Also celebrating their birthdays this week are Shakila, who is 10, Evans who is 14, Hassan, who is 10, and Keziah Beatrice, who is 10.

Happy birthday to them all.

Our children pictured right are: Top: Shakila and Evans: Below: Kezia Beatrice and Hassan.

Now look who's walking .. and going to school!

It's been a long time coming, but our Esther has now found her feet!
 Esther, two,  was content to get around with some high-speed crawling, but now lots of encouragement and persistence has paid off.

For months, she's toddling  using a wooden walker to get around, with aunties and volunteers keeping her focussed and refusing to carry her.
But now she's decided  that she may as well go it alone.
And now she achieved this major landmark she taken another step too.
She's got her first in school uniform and started pre-school in our nursery school.
How happy and grown up she looks to be in class!
Esther's legwork hasn't gone unrecognised, indeed it was cause of celebration when she received the star of the week award at Kidz Club and posed for a picture with Shakila.

School report: Joel is a star

Everything is possible at the Happy House School... with determination and encouragement!
It is now two months since Joel came to Happy House school, speaking only English,  He couldn't utter any Kiswahili words.
Today he thrilled everyone when he answered all questions in kiswahili and shone like a star! He is now quite able to converse with his teachers and classmates on Thursdays which are Kiswahili speaking day.
From the sports desk, we are happy to report that we have three champions who are bringing awards to the Happy House and ensuring that our name is known.  They are  Margaret Kanze (volleyball) ,Janet Menza(football) and   Nassir Juma(netball).
Well done to Joel and to all our sports champions, we are proud of you.

Soccer smart

Smart in new football shirts our older boys are now looking forward to wearing them for a game.

The shirts were brought by visitors Adam Fawcett and Jessica Clarke from Darlington who have been holidaying in Watamu.

Adam said Darlington FC and fans donated the Darlington shirts, while the yellow EE tops were given by telecommunications comapany EE Darlington. He added the AC Milan shirt in for good measure.

Jessica very kindly brought much need stationery equipment for our family.

Thank you Jessica and Adam for taking time out of your holiday to come and see us, and for gifts you brought. Thanks also to Darlington FC and EE.
                                                                                    
 Another thank you....

Thank you to Italian visitor Patrizia Bellin who brought a variety of very useful items for our family when she came to see us, including toys, toothpaste and Vaseline. With such a big family toothpaste, and Vaseline (which is so good for our children's skin) are always needed and the toys will be very well played with!
 Thank You.