17 abandoned babies in Kenya need your help

Dear friends / donors,

We want to thank you once again for helping use raising almost $12.000,- for our project! We are very grateful.

Thanks to your support we have been able to take care of our children. Especially the care of the vulnerable babies is a major expense: the babies often need special medical care and baby formula and diapers are relatively expensive. With your help we were able to cover these costs.

Now the time has come to close this project and start a new one, focusing on our current goal: rescuing abandoned babies in Kenya. This new project will be launched at the end of November and will participate in the Giving Tuesday campaign on the 1^st of December.

If you would like to support us once again, please check our webpage on the GlobalGiving website at the end of November to find our new project.

Thank you for all the support.

With kind regards,

The Diani Children’s Village team

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

Diani Children’s Village

Newsletter, January 2020

Dear Friends,

 On behalf of the Children, the Staff and the Managing Committee, we would like to wish you all a Happy 2020. It is our hope and prayer that this year will bring good fortune and blessings to you all.

 January is the start of the new academic year. It is a very busy time for everyone - students old and new, staff and management.

 At the top end, Kimani has started his fourth year in University where he has been studying Computer Engineering. Despite the troubles with student unrest over the years that have sometimes caused the closure of the Institution, he does keep up with all his course work and is on track to finish in 2021.

 The ‘Four Musketeers’, Cliff, Henry, Freddy and Joy have been broken up! Cliff and Henry have completed their primary education and scored well enough in their exams to be admitted to a National School in Thika, just outside Nairobi. There has been great excitement about this and by all accounts from Faith, who took them to their new school, they are in the best possible place for them to begin the path to realize their dreams.

 With the vacuum created by the departure of Cliff and Henry, Freddy has stepped in and has actively taken up the role of the organizer of that cohort of youngsters, drawing up the duty rosters and making sure that everyone is doing the chores that they have been assigned. Manu has also taken an interest in helping to carry out repairs on the Home assisting Ishmael. Together, they have replaced the mosquito netting on all the windows in House.

 Further down the age order, Moses and Naira have started school. There was some concern that Moses would not allow to be left at school, but after the first day’s tantrum, he has accepted that this is what children his age are supposed to do, and they are now both super enthusiastic about school, all under the guidance of big brother Hamza, who is a year ahead of them. 

At the lower end of the Home, Victor is growing well. He is an adventurer, and does everything with gusto. He is self-assured and is not frightened to try anything new. Baby Joshua has just overcome a very serious flu and thanks to the staff, they were able to prevent it from spreading to the other children. Miriam is standing and has just started taking her first steps. A whole new world for her is about to open up!

We continue to Thank You All for your kind and generous support and as things appear to be getting more and more difficult to make ends meet, we are humbled by your continuous support of the Home, something that is never taken for granted by everyone who is associated with Diani Children’s Village.

Thank you for your support! 

Diani Children’s Village Team

                                                              Diani Children’s Village

                                                             Newsletter, October 2019

Dear Friends,

The last term of the school year has just ended and all the Children are excited that the Christmas holidays are here!! It is a very long break and plans are already underway to have the Children engage in sports and creative art activities.

The short rains have been with us for some weeks and they are proving to be very substantial, quite above the normal average. This is good for the garden as the vegetable crops are lush and we hope for a good harvest come December/January.

We would like to inform you of the newest member of the family. Baby Joshua was brought to the Home in mid-August as a new born. He is now almost two and an half months old and is doing very well.

Henry and Cliff are now sitting their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams the results of which will determine which secondary schools they will be admitted to. There is a mixture of excitement and anxiety within this cohort as it means that for the first time the group will be separated from each other. It is the first stage of them beginning their life outside the Home.

Moses, Rita and Naila  continue to grow in both size and confidence. The use of the play room is serving its purpose and those all-important life skills of creativity and sharing are being instilled in them. They recently had their first trip to the beach. It was a sight to see the fear turn to awe then joy. So much sand and so much water. For sure they will soon be insisting on joining the older kids when they go on their weekly swim.

Hamza has settled in to school so well that he looks like he was there since he was born! He absolutely loves his teacher, friends and is happy when he is given home work just like to older children.

Esther, Linda and Joy are proving to be helpful young ladies with all the little ones to look after. They have learned well to take care of their young compatriots and this gives the adults a little more free time to attend to the other tasks that they children cannot do.

Good news, the new van has arrived! There has been great excitement around the home because the old one was really giving problems. We would like to thank everyone for the help in making this possible. The Children can now move around safely – and with a big smile in their new van.

Finally, there is an issue that has been in the media all over the world about personal privacy. Here in Kenya it is no different and the Government has instituted new regulations relating to persons in institutions and homes. We have attached a copy of the new regulations as they apply to our Home. We hope that you will understand our need to keep to the new regulations.

Thank you for your wonderful support!

Diani Children’s Village Team

Dear Friends,

We would like to welcome you to the Home for our Children, and thank you warmly for taking your time to visit us and for your support. We hope that you will have a pleasant and insightful experience, We would like to draw your attention to a number of things that you should take into account during your visit. 

 In the recent past, globally there has been a big discussion about the protection of the privacy of individuals. The Government here has been quick to take up this issue and new guidelines are now in place and which we are obliged to communicate these to you.

 The Home is, for these Children, just that. Their Home. Like in your own home, you demand the utmost privacy from people you are not familiar with. The new guidelines aim to protect the Children’s privacy in the best way possible. For this reason, we ask that you kindly respect the guidelines as they are there to ensure that the privacy of even those who cannot yet consent to having their pictures taken, is guarded. 

 Before taking any photos, kindly ask the subject(s) if they are alright with having their picture taken. ALL those who are in the picture must consent. For the Children who cannot speak, the adult under whose charge the child is must be asked. 

 Should you choose to post any images from your visit on any form of social media, the faces of the Children must never be visible. Names of, and personal stories about the subjects in any image must never be posted. General stories are acceptable.

These regulations also apply to the Staff of the Home while they are on duty.

We appreciate your visit and thank you for your understanding of these new regulations.

Asante Sana and Karibu