| | | | Dear friends and sponsors of Maisha, The end of the year is fast approaching and we would like to take this opportunity to be the first to wish you all the very best the season has to offer and to send you messages of good tidings. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and we would like to wish you a new year full of good health, prosperity and success in all your endeavors. Delightful things have taken place since we last talked to you! We are excited to be sending you our end of year newsletter. Welcome. | | Maisha Children Updates
A lot has happened over the past year. Our children are all doing very well. They are all in great health and performing well in school. This year, our youngest little girl, Fresiah Wairimu, joined school for the first time! She started her kindergarten in January a few months before her fourth birthday. With all the kids away at school, she was eager to tag along with the older kids and we saw no reason to keep her at home alone. She is loving it and adapted quite swiftly. Elizabeth Wairimu, Valentine Miseda, Duncan Chege, Grace Wakonyo and Meshack Kaniu all sat for their end of primary school examinations. We are confident that they will perform well once the results are announced. This means that they will be joining Secondary Schools in the New Year. That brings the number of kids we now have in high School to 14, up from 10. Mary Muthoni was sitting for her end of High School Education this year and therefore she will be going to University towards the last quarter of the New Year. This is a great milestone for us! We are very proud of all our kids who are joining high school in 2019 and for Mary who is going to University in the New Year.
This means we have in total; 3 kids who are adolescents, 13 who are teenagers and four who are young adults as well as the younger children. This has not come without its own set of challenges. As you are surely aware, this is the time most kids build and ascertain their own identity. While we have not had a conspicuous problem during this time with our kids, we have been proactive in supporting them and in giving them direction. We achieved this by bringing on board a Psycho Social expert: Samuel Mumbi, who has been helping in counseling, education, mentorship and life coaching sessions. As a result of this, we have seen a marked improvement in the esteem of our children. Our new Psycho Social program will continue and encompass more areas such as Talent Search, Music & Arts and recreation, all of which are activities the kids enjoy immensely.
As the population of our teenagers grows, we are adapting to meet their needs. For this reason, we would like to develop our Psycho Social Program to become more meaningful and practical. We are starting an ambitious mentoring program where we match various kids with successful mentors in the corporate world. The Mentors are drawn from a vast array of professions. Some are doctors, we have two engineers, almost six entrepreneurs, three lawyers, two organizational administrators and the list continues to grow. The mentorship program is an individualized program and our Psycho Social Specialist uses a tool to match the kids with suitable mentors. Further to this, we would like to equip our home for this program. One way would be to have a functional music program complete with instruments and equipment. While it will hone the skills of the kids who are gifted in music, it also preoccupies our teenager in a constructive way.
As the saying goes, all work with no play makes Jack a dull boy. | |
Florian and Beatrice’s Visit to Kenya
Florian, Beatrice and our their three sons will be visiting Maisha in Kenya this Christmas to spend the holidays with all the kids. They hope to have time to bond with the kids and bring a smile to them during the holidays.
| | Special Thanks
Special thanks to all our supporters, sponsors and donors.
We cannot begin to imagine what we would have done without you. From us; the Maisha Board here in Switzerland, from Mama Maisha and most importantly from our kids, we would like to say a hearty “Thank you”. Our kids had a camp in April this year and managed to make a short video. They are very grateful and we hope to send you a copy of the special message to you.
Finally, we are also grateful to our partners; Global Gratitude Alliance, Westlake church in Nyon, Emmanuel church in Geneva and Alexander Church in England. Really, words cannot express our gratitude enough.
On behalf of everyone at Maisha, the Board, our Staff in Kenya and Mama Maisha, we wish you all the best for the year end, and an amazingly great year 2019!
Asante Sana.
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