Day 24 of our Smile a Day Advent Calendar is the final day and it’s a very special smile.
Today’s smile is from Emmanuel who lives at the St Andrews Baby Unit in Kandara.
Today is Emmanuel’s first birthday! A year ago, he was born to a girl who was fifteen years old and lives with her grandmother as both her parents have passed away. The girl has a scholarship for secondary school and only had two years left until she completed her secondary education when her son was born. As her grandmother was unable to look after baby Emmanuel, he was brought to the St Andrews Baby Unit to be cared for as his mother finishes school.
Life wasn’t easy for him at first as he was extremely underweight and had issues with feeding. However, a year on and Emmanuel is a healthy, smiley little boy who is making great progress thanks to the care of matron Lucy and her team of staff at the St Andrews Baby Unit.
You can read more news from the St Andrews Baby Unit in a recent news article.
There are several ways you can support the St Andrews Baby Unit this festive season.
- Friends in Kenya can send donations via MPESA on 0702662351 or contact us to make a donation of food or other items.
- Friends in the UK can use our online giving page to make a donation or simply text VAVA11 £5 or VAVA11 £10 to 70070 to donate £5 or £10 (There are no charges for donating by text)
- Friends overseas can use our online giving page or support one of our three projects on GlobalGiving. All donations via GlobalGiving are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.
Tags: 2011, advent calendar, africa, baby unit, charity, child, children, christmas, kandara, kenya, NGO, nonprofit, st andrews, Vision Africa
Day 23 of our Smile a Day Advent Calendar is a remarkable smile.
Today’s smile is from Joyce who lives at Mbeere Children’s Home in Riandu, near Embu.
Joyce was abandoned by her mother at a very young age. When she arrived at Mbeere Children’s Home she wasn’t in good health and her development was very delayed. Under the care of administrator, Henry, and his dedicated team Joyce started making progress.
These days, Joyce is a laughing little girl who happily goes to school along with all the other children from Mbeere Children’s Home. Although she still has a way to go, she has made remarkable progress and has a much brighter future ahead of her!
There are several ways you can support the Vision Africa this festive season.
- Friends in Kenya can send donations via MPESA on 0702662351 or contact us to make a donation of food or other items to one of our projects.
- Friends in the UK can use our online giving page to make a donation or simply text VAVA11 £5 or VAVA11 £10 to 70070 to donate £5 or £10 (There are no charges for donating by text)
- Friends overseas can use our online giving page or support one of our three projects on GlobalGiving. All donations via GlobalGiving are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.
* St Andrews Baby Unit - care of orphaned and abandoned babies in Kandara
* Seed of Hope - vocational training for disadvantaged teenage girls in Kisii, Kitui, Murang’a and Nairobi
* Kibera Mpira Mtaani - soccer and education in Kibera slums
Please take the opportunity this festive season to keep our children smiling by supporting our work in Kenya.
THANK YOU!
Tags: 2011, advent calendar, africa, charity, child, children, children's home, christmas, Disadvantaged, kenya, NGO, nonprofit, Vision Africa
Day 22 of our Smile a Day Advent Calendar could be running their own blog this time next year!
Today’s smile is from Gladys who has just completed her first year at our Seed of Hope centre in Kariti, in Central Kenya.
Like all Seed of Hope centres, Kariti offers disadvantaged girls two years training in life skills, business skills and vocational skills. From next year, the curriculum will also include IT skills as the centre has just opened up its own computer centre to serve Seed of Hope students and also the wider community.
You can read all about this in a recent news article.
If we can get Seed of Hope Kariti connected with internet access, they will be able to post their own updates online and share more news about their work!
There are several ways you can support Seed of Hope this festive season.
- Friends in Kenya can send donations via MPESA on 0702662351 or contact us to make a donation of food or other items to one of our projects.
- Friends in the UK can use our online giving page to make a donation or simply text VAVA11 £5 or VAVA11 £10 to 70070 to donate £5 or £10 (There are no charges for donating by text)
- Friends overseas can use our online giving page or support one of our three projects on GlobalGiving. All donations via GlobalGiving are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.
* Seed of Hope - vocational training for disadvantaged teenage girls in Kisii, Kitui, Murang’a and Nairobi
Please take the opportunity this festive season to keep our girls smiling by supporting our work in Kenya.
THANK YOU!
Tags: 2011, advent calendar, africa, charity, child, children, education, Empowerment, ICT, ICT4D, kenya, NGO, nonprofit, seed of hope, Vision Africa
Day 21 of our Smile a Day Advent Calendar is a triple whammy!
Today’s smiles belong to Esther (Kandara Children’s Home School), Jacob (St Andrews Baby Unit) and John (Kandara Children’s Home who have all had a fun day out in Nairobi today!
Today was all about making Christmas special for a group of around fifty children from Kandara. They got to travel to Nairobi, jump on a bouncy castle, get lessons in photography, eat treats and have fun, games and even the odd Christmas Carol. This was all thanks to Vision Africa supporters who came together to ensure this would be a Christmas to remember. THANK YOU!
There are several ways you can support the Vision Africa this festive season.
- Friends in Kenya can send donations via MPESA on 0702662351 or contact us to make a donation of food or other items to one of our projects.
- Friends in the UK can use our online giving page to make a donation or simply text VAVA11 £5 or VAVA11 £10 to 70070 to donate £5 or £10 (There are no charges for donating by text)
- Friends overseas can use our online giving page or support one of our three projects on GlobalGiving. All donations via GlobalGiving are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.
* St Andrews Baby Unit - care of orphaned and abandoned babies in Kandara
* Seed of Hope - vocational training for disadvantaged teenage girls in Kisii, Kitui, Murang’a and Nairobi
* Kibera Mpira Mtaani - soccer and education in Kibera slums
Please take the opportunity this festive season to keep our children smiling by supporting our work in Kenya.
THANK YOU!
Tags: 2011, advent calendar, africa, charity, child, children, children's home, christmas, Disadvantaged, kandara, kenya, NGO, nonprofit, Vision Africa
Day 20 of our Smile a Day Advent Calendar is an inspirational smile!
Today’s smile belongs to Benson from Percy Davies School for Children with Special Needs in Kambiti, Central Kenya.
What you can’t see from this photograph is that Benson’s arms stop just above where his elbows would be and he also has one artificial leg. In reality, it’s easy not to see Benson’s disability as he races around playing football, gets on with his work in class and always has a smile on his face.
Benson was one of the first students enrolled at Percy Davies School when it opened in May 2008. It wasn’t long before teachers realised the potential he had and he was able to be transferred to the neighbouring mainstream primary school for lessons while using the boarding facilities at Percy Davies School.
For many children with physical disabilities living in rural parts of Kenya, the journey to their nearest school is impossible to make on a daily basis. By locating Percy Davies School within five hundred metres of a primary school and secondary school, students with physical disabilities have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
It is often said that Disability does not mean Inability and children like Benson are a great example to all of us.
There are several ways you can support the Vision Africa this festive season.
- Friends in Kenya can send donations via MPESA on 0702662351 or contact us to make a donation of food or other items to one of our projects.
- Friends in the UK can use our online giving page to make a donation or simply text VAVA11 £5 or VAVA11 £10 to 70070 to donate £5 or £10 (There are no charges for donating by text)
- Friends overseas can use our online giving page or support one of our three projects on GlobalGiving. All donations via GlobalGiving are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.
* St Andrews Baby Unit - care of orphaned and abandoned babies in Kandara
* Seed of Hope - vocational training for disadvantaged teenage girls in Kisii, Kitui, Murang’a and Nairobi
* Kibera Mpira Mtaani - soccer and education in Kibera slums
Please take the opportunity this festive season to keep our children smiling by supporting our work in Kenya.
THANK YOU!
Tags: 2011, advent calendar, africa, charity, child, children, disability, education, Kambiti, kenya, NGO, nonprofit, Percy Davies, school, special ed, Special needs, Vision Africa
