The Good Life Orphanage

We are amazed at the progress on the orphanage site over the past two weeks. After our initial worry about hold-ups because of the post elections violence, everything has more or less gone to plan.

The special blue sheets for the house roofs have arrived and the houses are on target for being complete on 17th March apart from the last coats of gloss paint on the walls so they can be wiped down. The roofing sheets for the stores/offices are going to be another three weeks so we have decided to use alternative ones, as the main store area needs to be utilised for food supplies as soon as possible.

Although we were told that the electricity supply could not be connected for at least another month, we used our contacts and the electric poles were erected on Friday. The trenches have been dug through the compound for the ducting so we should have water from the borehole on Friday next week.

David, our Farm Manager, moved lock, stock & barrel with his family last Thursday to two rented rooms near the orphanage whilst his little house on the compound is being built. David, Janet & their three children & his orphaned niece climbed into our car to start the one hour journey from Mombasa to the orphanage, they then realised they had forgotten the chicken which Kevin had to put in the back of the car along with the children, it’s a little different moving house over here, no Pickfords to pack & unpack the boxes. They are overjoyed and are looking forward to living the simple life in the country. The children are attending the local school and David is working very hard preparing the land. The trees have been removed and the local farmer has ploughed the land. The manure is being delivered this week by donkey & cart. Kevin & Jill Beale who live in Vipingo are giving us banana plants to start off our vegetable & fruit area.

The local fundi have begun to build the play area, with the main feature being a wooden elevated area with a makutu roof for shade for the children. We have ordered the slides & the men onsite are making the swings, climbing frames & seesaws; it will be heaven for the children coming into the orphanage. A large tree has been left in the area around which we are making a seat where the House Mothers can sit & chat.

The next four weeks are vital now as we are in the final stages of preparation for the first children being admitted to the project. We are very excited and apprehensive as we hope our dream for a better life for these children will prove to be a success.

Jambo from a very hot & sultry Mombasa, we arrived here on 8th February after deciding the civil unrest had not effected the coast as much as we were led to believe. On arrival at Nairobi Airport we were amazed to see only a trickle of people from the Kenya Airways & Virgin Atlantic flight were actually staying in Kenya, the majority were transferring to Zanzibar & other places. Nothing could prepare us for the scenes in Mombasa, we stay in Nyali and although the riots & trouble have not touched down here, there was not a tourist to be seen, the hotels are empty and thousands of staff have been laid off until further notice with no pay!! Spent two hours in Whitesands on Monday evening and only saw three tourists, the peace agreement signed on Friday is so important because this country needs to get back to some sort of normality so people can support their families.

Enough about the problems the 27th December elections brought, our orphanage site is looking unbelievable, all through the two months of turmoil our builders have kept up the momentum & although there has been a problem getting specialist materials everything is going great. The first two houses will be complete by 17th March 2008, the Office / Stores will be complete by the 30th March 2008 and the Farm Managers small house on farming plot will be complete by Mid May.

We are so pleased with the standard of work throughout the site, they have though deeply about how to make the buildings low maintenance and utilise the space correctly. The actual houses are big and as there are four massive bedrooms we have decided that each house will have eight to ten children. We have employed the Matron who seems very capable and the Farm Manager David, he is a very hard working young man who just gets on with things. We are still interviewing for the House Mothers but we know we will find the ideal people soon.

So it is all systems go, we have a final meeting on Thursday with the Department of Children regarding our registration as a CCIS in Kenya and once we receive this The Good Life Orphanage will be legitimate & recognised by the governing bodies in this beautiful country!!!

Check out more pictures on our flickr page!