17 abandoned babies in Kenya need your help

Dear Friends,

The World has changed. Our lives, as human beings has changed, forever. What has not changed is our resolve to keep providing the best possible opportunities for the Children while ensuring they are safe in this new environment that is constantly changing and presenting challenges where things seemed normal.

The Managing Committee, out of an abundance of caution, decided to ‘lockdown’ the Home from the third week in March. Nobody was allowed to enter or leave. All the provisions and medicines, stationary, maintenance items, chicken feed, were left at the gate where the staff would pick them up and disinfect them before being allowed to go to where they were needed. 

Four months on, and the results have been surprisingly amazing. The general demeanor of all the children is excellent. They are calm, and focused on all the tasks that they are assigned. They have begun to have home schooling which is a welcome addition to the daily activities. We have retained the services of two teachers, one for the older children and one for kindergarten aged children.

With all schools closed, ALL the children are back home. Nicky, who left the Home to live with his uncle, came to visit and was caught up in the COVID-19 lockdown. He was just about to start at a technical college to study plumbing, but the closure of all educational institutions has halted this plan for the foreseeable future. 

Some of the other young  adults who work in tourism related businesses have all lost their jobs. The Home is currently offering them limited support in the way of foodstuff so as to help alleviate the suffering that they are going through.

The vegetable garden is thriving. We have had a donation of vegetable and herb seedlings and the children have taken a keen interest in cultivating the crops. It will soon be possible that they Home will be 80% self-sufficient for their daily vegetable needs.

With the uncertainty surrounding the current global pandemic, The Managing Committee has decided that some of the measures taken over the past 4 months will become permanent. 

A spirited campaign to educate the Children of the threat that the pandemic presents to the World is a top priority and the hope is that the simple measures of frequent hand washing, social distancing and wearing a face mask will become second nature to them.

Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement and support during these difficult times. 

Kind regards

Diani Children’s Village Team

Diani Children’s Village

Newsletter, April 2020

Dear Friends,

The World is undergoing a seismic shift in many ways brought about by the Global COVID-19 pandemic and this has necessitated that everyone must change the way they live and how they interact with the outside world and each other.

At The Home, we started relatively early on with making the somewhat drastic changes to the way we operate. This was necessitated by some serious health challenges, experienced by particularly the smaller children, that required emergency hospitalization. As a result, the Managing Committee decided to put the Home into ‘lockdown’ from mid-March.

The staff were asked who would volunteer to be part of the ‘inside’ team, and this is quite difficult because they are effectively isolated from their own families for extended periods of time. A group did volunteer and we have a full complement of staff who are living in the Home without leaving at all! All food and other essential items they need are bought and left at the gate where they pick them up after disinfecting them thoroughly.

The Team has done, and continues to do, a fantastic job of looking after the Children. There is, of course, the anxiety shared by millions around the world, as to how long this will last. As there is no one who has the answer to this, we continue to monitor the situation and heed the guidelines given by the Kenya Government on how to slow the spread of the virus.

The Children have taken these changes in the spirit of togetherness, with the little ones particularly loving the fact that their sisters and brothers are around all day and do not have to go to school every morning. There is strict discipline though and every child that is able has jobs around the House that they do before moving to the classroom to do their daily school work under the supervision of Kimani.

Kimani is also taking this time to give all the Children computer lessons every day. There is one positive thing that will come out of this situation…a whole group of computer literate Children!

Before this situation arose, during the routine annual inspection by the Children’s Department, they advised that the outside cooking facility needs to the be upgraded to meet the hygiene standards made the Health Authority. This has meant rebuilding the cooking grill and re-roofing the entire area with more environmentally friendly materials. This will also allow the collection of rain water for use around the Home.

The work was at an advanced stage but with the decision to self-isolate that Children, all the workers were not allowed to continue the work. It will have to wait until post COVID-19 days!

On behalf of the Children, the Staff and the Managing Committee, we would like to wish you all a Happy Easter and God’s Blessings on you and your Loved Ones.

Thank you.

Diani Children’s Village Team