By Verity Norman-Tichawangana | Executive Director
We are busy as always at Jitegemee! We thank all our GlobalGiving donors for your generous support during the past few months. Your participation in the GlobalGiving Matching Days, your monthly donations, and your support for our work allows us to provide education, training, and other much-needed services to vulnerable children in Machakos, Kenya.
Sports and Talent Day
We held our first ever Sports and Talent Day for the 46 vocational students currently enrolled in our rehabilitation program. We were blown away to see first-hand how much musical, artistic and sporting talent our students have. Our dance winners, John and Kyalo, got down to some urban beats and the whole crowd out of their seats! Pius, our artwork winner, produced some stunning pictures, the best of which was of the Jitegemee education center itself. But without a doubt, the most fun was had during the sporting contest, which saw Joshua Muema, our new Social Worker, competing against the students in the 100m dash!
As you are aware, our students come from extremely poor and vulnerable backgrounds; many of them they leave our education center at the end of each day to face bleak situations at home. However, on our Sports and Talent Day, every child went home with a smile on their face, and a skip in their feet. These are the days we live for at Jitegemee, when we know our students' lives are brighter and they go to bed happier as a result of our work.
Success for Kennedy
Kennedy, one of our vocational students, is making excellent progress in his catering studies! Kennedy has a fairly severe physical disability, but has found his niche as a cook. He was recently accepted for an internship at the Kyaka Hotel, one of the few luxury hotels in Machakos. To show his gratitude, as well as demonstrate his skills as a baker, Kennedy popped by the Jitegemee offices a few weeks ago for us to sample his cake. Yummy!! And so rewarding to see this young man find his path in life, and work hard to refine his newly-discovered talent.
New Opportunities for our Parents Group
We're also delighted to see the progress being made by the parents enrolled in our parents empowerment program. Every week a group of around twenty parents meet to work on small income-generating projects so as to improve their financial status. Over the past few months, they've trained in beadworking and learnt how to make the most colorful necklaces, bags, and placemats. They've not only mastered these skills quickly, they've already started selling their products in Machakos and beyond. Do check out their wonderful works in the photos below.
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