Dear visitor,

I would like to give you an update o­n maisha.

Two years down the road and we have been blessed with finding 17 sponsors for orphans. 20 children are currently sponsored by maisha and are now living in the home, where they are being cared for. These children were gradually moved into the maisha home during the past year.
The children are all healthy and are attending a primary school which is close to the maisha home.

Over the past year many activities took place at maisha:

Volunteer

A Swiss volunteer, Philipp Amstutz, who was in Kenya visited the maisha home in April 2009. Philipp enjoyed his time at maisha and was particularly touched by the sense of family that maisha gives to the children. He took lots of great photos of the home and the children which we have posted o­n the maisha website. He also donated a football and craft materials to the maisha children and took all the maisha children o¬n a day trip to the Nairobi Animal Orphanage. Maisha is grateful for the time and energy that Philipp spent o¬n maisha during his trip to Kenya and appreciates his o­ngoing contribution to our association.

Sponsored cycling event

One of our sponsors volunteered to do a sponsored cycle of 100 km in aid of maisha. Jacques Flamant managed to cycle from London to Cambridge in the UK in just under 4 hours and raised Chf 5,500 for maisha. Jacques' intention was to use the funds raised to build a fresh water source for the maisha home. Some of this money has been used to conduct a hydro geological survey which confirmed that a source of clean water was found almost 200 meters below ground level o­n the maisha land and it will cost us around Chf 26,000 to dig a bore hole. Maisha is grateful to Jacques and Michelle for their support and their efforts to raise funds for the maisha children.

Donations

We were also blessed with donations from various events. Some friends of the maisha founders got married last year and the proceedings from a collection made during the ceremony was donated to maisha. We also received donations collected at a funeral and several lump sum donations from family and friends.

A university hospital in Bern, IT department donated several notebooks which are now used to teach the maisha children English using the Open Source program G Compris (for children between 2 and 13 years). We are confident that the childrens’ English will quickly progressed as they learn through these games.

We also had a donor who donated money to buy new shoes for all the maisha children. We are grateful for Danette Haley for her donation.

Visit to maisha

During the months of November and December, I had the privilege of staying at the maisha home. My husband and I were able to spend time with the children and get to know their different personalities, which was a real blessing.

During our stay, we were able to take all the children to the Rhein Valley hospital, a Swiss hospital run by Ruth Schäfer. They were offered a free medical health check and received various vaccinations including the prevention of tropical diseases i.e. Malaria, typhoid and Hepatitis. Maisha is really grateful to Ruth for the wonderful time spent at the hospital and all the presents that were given to maisha (mattresses, blankets, clothes, socks and Christmas presents).

We also took the children o­n an outing to a wildlife park in Kenya. For the first time the maisha children went o¬n a safari and saw zebras, giraffes, buffalos, warthogs and monkeys. Every time the children discovered another animal there were shouts of "WOW" resounding throughout the tour bus. It was a blessing for me to watch the childrens’ reactions and to see their thankfulness.

Christmas at maisha

Christmas in the maisha home was o­ne of the most humbling experiences that I have ever had in my life. Ruth Schafer had donated bags with some school materials for each child. o­n Christmas Eve, the children had an opportunity to learn a polish traditional ceremony. o­ne of the maisha sponsors from Poland had joined us for this trip and spent several days at the home.

On Christmas day, which in Kenya is mostly celebrated o­n December 25th, the children went to church and I had a chance to make a meal for them with the help of the helpers. o­nce the children were back from the church, we served them a special Christmas dinner and they were really excited to see what was o­n their plates.

Presents were distributed to all the maisha children. They were so happy to get presents as for most of them it was their first time to get presents for Christmas.

Thanks

Maisha would like to thank all those who have helped to make this past year special for these children and in particular:

Esther Luvembe, a very good friend who brought a cake and refreshments for the maisha children during Christmas. Maisha is grateful to Esther for her involvement, whenever maisha needs any assistance, she is always there to help in whatever way she can. We are grateful for her kind heart.

Ruth Schafer: for providing the bags which we distributed to all the maisha children. The children were really excited to have a school bag as well as the gifts that were in the bags. Maisha is grateful for Ruth’s support with the medical checkup and Christmas gifts.

Mama maisha and all the maisha helpers! Maisha is grateful to Winnie, Jane, Musyoka and mama maisha for all the help they have provided to the maisha children including spending Christmas day at the home.

Danette Harley: for the donation of the shoes for maisha children.

And for all the sponsors. Maisha is what it is because of you. Without your support,involvement and prayers, maisha wouldn’t be what it is today.

Events in 2010: the aim for 2010 is to raise funds for various projects!

One of the projects will be to provide the house with a freshwater supply and the other o­ne will be to buy land so that we can build a bigger home for the maisha children.
Three events have been planned this year.

1. o­n March 6th in Nyon, Vaud, there will be a brunch in the morning where the proceedings of a raffle will go towards these projects.

2. o­n March 26th, we will be organising a music concert in Bern with the same aim. A Kenyan musician will be singing to raise funds for maisha.

3. The third event will be held in June. This will be a sponsored cycle around the lake of Geneva. More details will follow.

Once again thank you for all your support and help.
God bless,
Beatrice