The Good Life Orphanage

A New Home for Baby Alan

Mary — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:14:29 +0000

On Friday night at 21.00hrs, the DCO Juma Boga called me telling me to go and pick a baby of 1.5 months old at Kilifi District Hospital. The following morning Mama Lucy and myself set off to meet the Social Worker at the hospital.
On arrival at the hospital Mr Chea the Social Worker brought me to where the baby was and in the presence of a Police Officer handed the baby over to the custody of the GLO.

He was found abandoned at Kwa Charo wa Mae at a round 20.00hrs next to Royal Church wrapped with a dirty piece of cloth and placed beside the road, another paper bag containing some clothes was nearby. The two women who found the baby appeared to be drunk but they brought the baby to the Police Station. Seeing the state of the women the Police accompanied the two women to the hospital and the baby was left in Ward 1.

As there was no-one to look after this little boy, a Good Samaritan whose grandson had been admitted to that ward called Kadzo Karisa volunteered to look after the abandon baby the whole night till morning. She actually accompanied us back to the GLO to make sure the baby was going to a good home.

We could only name this new arrival after our No1 Volunteer in 2011, Alan after our own Alan Coyne. He will be well looked after now and he appears to be in good health so another baby finds security at the GLO and another welcome addition to The Keogh House Family
Written by Mercy

Ngumbao Charo’s Story

Mary — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:07:23 +0000

St Bernadette & St Mary’s School was built to accomodate our orphan children from the GLO and the impoverished children from the surrounding area. In order to ensure that the Donor Family’s wishes are carried out to the letter of the law and only these children attend the school a Social Worker is employed to carry out spot checks and investigate the background of the pupils wishing to enrol in the school. One such pupil is Ngumbao Charo and this is his story. George our Social Worker went to see his living conditions and to decide whether he met the criteria for gaining a place at St Bernadette & St Mary’s School.

Ngumbo is a twelve year old boy who lives with his father, his mother and five other siblings.He is the fourth born in the family of six and his mother is the second wife of his father. This is not an unusual practice within the Giriama Tribe who live in this area, often a man can have four wives. They have two rooms, the kitchen where some of the children sleep and a bedroom which doubles as the main living room. This is not two rooms as we would envisage them but a mud hut with one wall built with coral blocks.

The father is elderly and has sight problem thus cannot work, and depends on other family members.The family members believe that their father was bewitched by their uncle because the father used to work in Kaloleni and according to Ngumbao one morning an insect got into his eyes when he arrived at the work place and he started to itch. After a few minutes Charo Baya’s sight went and now he is partially blind. The 1st born child Juma does casual work, after Form 4 he left school since he could not proceed to college because of lack of fees. The money he earns supports the family members and pays the school fees for there 2nd born child Millicent who attends Kambe Secondary School. Denis the 3rd born child is in Class 8 at Shimo La Tewa P.S. about a two hour walk from their home and again funded by his brother. The next born is Ngumbao who attended the registration day at our school as the meagre wage earned by his eldest brother cannot support another child’s school fees, examination fees and school uniform. Their two last born children are disabled and depend totally on their mother for their day to day activities. The mother does hawking and she carries their last born disabled child on her back since he cannot be left alone. The older disabled child Pili stays with his father whilst his mother goes out to try to earn some money.

Despite all this Ngumbao Charo always puts on a smiling face and a happy boy.To help the family ease the burden of paying school fees, Ngumbao Charo was recommended to join St. Bernadette & St Mary’s School and since the school is Christian based can help educate him about witchcraft and other areas where village life is controlled by superstitious beliefs.He relishes the time spent at school and now gets a cup of ugi every morning so at least he has one meal daily. Ngumbao Charo can be a good boy if counselled and given time to settle.
Report by George Ayieko

Jimmy’s Adoption Process

Mary — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:24:36 +0000

Changes in the new Kenyan Constitution mean CCI’s now have very strict guidelines to follow, hopefully this will mean an end to orphanages/homes/schools set up by unscrupulous people who take advantage of people’s good nature and use them as a means to extract money from people.
Children now arrive at the GLO with only a three year Committal Order from the Courts, in this time we have to either reunite the children with their extended family which is impossible as they would not be in a home if the extended families could take them in, the other option is to have the children adopted and if both these avenues fail only then can we return to the courts in three years time and apply the children to be committed for a further three years. With this in mind we have been working with Little Angels Adoption Agency and have found them very professional. We have also employed a new Social Worker George to assist in the process.

Our first potential adoptive family come from nearby Malindi, Mr and Mrs Kabaina have a home in Kakoneni.They have four kids,3 girls and 1 boy.The 1st born is a girl who is 26 yrs old, she has a university education and works in Nairobi.The 2nd one is a girl age 23 still in university and the 3rd a boy age 19 in secondary school and the last one is a girl age 17 who is in secondary school. They have always wanted another brother and Mr and Mrs Kabaina decided to adopt. Mr Kabaina is a businessman and Mrs Kabaina is a nursery nurse so its an ideal family for one of our children to become a part of.
After the initial approval stages the family visited the GLO and decided to start the process of adopting Jimmy who has been with us since he was a few weeks old. They attended weekly bonding sessions at the GLO where they were observed playing with the children and in particular how Jimmy reacted to the family.

Then Jimmy went along with Auntie Mapenzi for the weekend, both Mercy & Auntie Mapenzi were very happy as the family are very loving and caring and can offer Jimmy a very secure future. As the reports were all very positive the next stage begun with Jimmy going to live with the family for a three month period.

During this time Little Angels attend weekly session to see how Jimmy is fitting in and adapting to living in the family. All appears to be going very well and God Willing the final stage where the court grants the adoption is not too far off. The family’s only problem is Jimmy keep biting people at Church on Sundays but as our volunteer Laura know, Jimmy loves biting, they thought it was because Laura was a mzungu but we don’t think that is the case now!!

It is very difficult for the staff, children, Kevin & myself to let go, Jimmy is part of the GLO family but we cannot offer him normal family life. There are many more needy children in Kenya but as the Little Adoption Agency Social Worker explained that as the children at the GLO are healthy and well cared for they will be adopted before sick and malnourished children so it looks as though Jimmy is the 1st but there will be more.

Derrick goes to School

Mary — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:15:13 +0000

On Monday 9th January 2012 Mama Dommy prepared Derrick for his 1st day at St Bernadette & St Mary’s School.

He is now enrolled in KG1 with Madam Pauline. Derrick is a happy boy, now in company of
many new friends at school and even in company of Maguire house kids, he is active,
healthy and playful boy.

Collins his older brother and Rachael his sister are so happy their family are reunited, here is an extract from an email Collins sent:
“Hello Mama Mary and Papa Kevin,
How are you? I think you are fine. Everybody at the GLO are fine .
We went to school on 3rd January 2012 . I am now in class five. I
want to inform you that Derrick is with us at the GLO. I am so happy
that I cannot explain. We have a social worker, his name is George
Ayieko THANKS”

Another happy outcome from the GLO !!!

Our Latest Addition !!

Mary — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:56:14 +0000

It was on 8th January at 2.00am when Kanze Tsuma was informed by her husband’s cousin who had heard a cry in the bush of a new baby for about 3 hour and nobody is responding to the cry. This man is a watchman looking after some plants near Mtomondoni area, he was patrolling the place of his work and at first he thought the baby was with her mother doing their own business.
The two of them went into the bush to see what was making the baby cry and when they reached the place, they found a newborn baby on the ground covered with a small piece of cloth, nothing has been done to him even the placenta was not cut, he was not washed too and some insects were all over his body biting him(it was the insects bite which make him cry non-stop). The two picked up the baby and went to Kanzes home. A Good Samaritan who was a doctor came to see the baby if he had some injuries from the period he had been left by her mother but he found the baby was fine except some reddish spots in all over his body caused by the bits of the insects.

On Sunday morning the village chief reported to the Police Base in Mtwapa along with Kanze Tsuma and her son Mwanjama and the newborn baby. Whilst at Church on Sunday, Mercy received a call from the DCO requesting her to attend Mtwapa Police Station immediately as a new born baby had been abandoned. The family who found the baby accompanied Mercy & Auntie Mapenzi to the GLO to check the place was a good home for the baby.

After a further checkup and medical tests he appears to be a healthy little baby, he has been named him James and he has joined the family in Kilroe House.
Mercy Nyadzua Mbigo

Derick Arrives at the GLO

Mary — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:21:16 +0000

Following the trip in December by Collins & his sister Racheal to find their extended family which resulted in them being reunited with their little brother Derick.

On Thursday 5th January after trips to Court for Mercy and working closely with the Department of Children in Kilifi, Derick arrived at the GLO with a little plastic bag carrying all his possessions to a warm welcome from his new family in Maguire House.

Derick will now attend St Bernadette & St Mary’s School and enjoy the security of living at the GLO thanks to the dedication of our staff, the warmth of our children and the support of our fantastic donors making this all possible.

Another very positive story from Kenya!!!

Back to work !!

Mary — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:35:49 +0000

St Bernadette & St Mary’s School is coming on a treat, tomorrow is the 1st day of the new school year and there is much excitement.
In preparation for the return of the children, Crispis the Joiner has been working since the 26th December non-stop to put up new shelves in the Library, Computer Room and Secretary’s Office. With the help of Kennedy the school caretaker they are doing a brilliant job.

We asked two local joinery companies for a quote and true to form they came back with an unbelievable price of over 400,000kes (approx £3,000) to outfit the library, put some shelves up in other offices and put thirteen notice boards up.

Luckily after many years of coming across the notion that every mzungu is a millionaire, we realised that the job could be done a lot cheaper and after buying the wood and cork board direct and getting our No1 Fundi Crispis, the whole contract will cost less than 50% of the price quoted, forget about repeat business in Kenya, its all about how much you can get in the first instance.

So here’s to a very successful and fruitful year at St. Bernadette & St Mary’s School, we can only envisage it going from strength to strength !!!

A Happy, Healthy & Peaceful New Year from The GLO

Mary — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:25:36 +0000

This is the final blog of 2011, we have had a fantastic year at the GLO, 2012 will be another challenging year, the new 2010 Constitution of Kenya has brought many changes to the running of the CCI’s. Children are now in our custody for three years in the first instance and only after we have tried to reunite them with their extended family or look for adoptive parents can we reapply to the courts for a further three years committal order. George is our latest member of staff to join the GLO Family as a Social Worker so we can adhere to the new strict guidelines in force now.
The children are all happy and well cared for, thanks to every single person who has donated to our project, we will continue to make sure every penny is wisely spent and 100% of the donation goes direct to the project.

Over the years in Kenya we have met some unbelievable people and Alan Coyne is one of these people, living in Mombasa Old Town for a few years, speaking Swahili fluently, he has an understandign of the culture that we admire. We asked Alan to write a short piece for this blog, Alan volunteered at the GLO from February until November 2011, he had a massive impact to the project, spending many days & nights working with Mercy and Dorothy making sure all avenues are covered and our systems are followed to the letter of the law.
We are a little embarrassed at the praise Alan has showered on Kevin & myself, its very much a team effort, our excellent Fund Raising Committee in the UK & Ireland, our staff at the GLO and every person who helps in any way but hopefully his words will encourage everyone to “keep the faith” and keep supporting and believing in the GLO as their chosen charity,

“I have been volunteering in Mombasa now in six different charities for 3.5 years and my 9 months with GLO was by far the best I’ve had. From my experience, there is so much corruption, misappropriation of funds, poor management and lack of genuine interest/care in many other charities and this makes so many charities collapse. But, coming to GLO was a breath of fresh air and brought back that initial inspiration i had when i first came to Kenya volunteering. Mary and Kevin asked me to come in and help with management systems e.g. staffing, staff training, play therapy programmes, farm income project, school establishment, computer centres and training programmes for the children and staff, establishing internet network, volunteer programme, etc.
Once you come and visit you will see how genuinely happy and loved these children are. These kids have been taken from destitute situations and have been given a chance in life that the majority of Kenyan children could never get.
I think the key to the success of GLO is Kevin and Mary’s business management experience. I have seen so many idealists coming to kenya and starting up a charity without having an inclination of how to manage an organisation, not knowing how to manage staff, resources, maintenance issues, Human resource issues, financial reporting, financial budgetting, fundraising, etc. As a result, the charity fails apart within one year with the poor Kenyans suffering as a result. However, Kevin and Mary have taken their professional management experience to GLO and have created an organisation that works perfectly at raising happy, well educated children.
If you want to give donations you may think that GLO has excess money and facilities but, that is only because they manage funds so well, transparently and efficiently. Some of the poorer charities are this way because of poor management and lack of efficiency.
I returned for 2 days this Christmas and the place was still running like clockwork and the children were still as joyous as ever. By far, the best managed charity with the happiest kids i know.”

Christmas Day 2011 @ The GLO

Mary — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:01:39 +0000

Spending Christmas in Kenya is very different to here in the UK & Ireland, firstly the sun is shining and secondly Father Christmas does not often visit, it must just be too hot for the Rudolph, but that does not stop everyone celebrating the birth of Jesus to their best ability. At The Good Life Orphanage this year we were blessed as one visitor in early December made a donation towards our Christmas Day Celebrations (Thank You Gaby) and then Katie Ellwood emailed me to say that instead of buying Christmas Presents this year she was making a donation to our Christmas Day Celebrations. We are so grateful for these two most generous people as we did really overstretch it this year.
After visiting Malaezi Girls Home a few weeks before we discovered eight girls living there who were related to children at the GLO and it was decided that if the relevant authorities gave the go ahead the girls could spend a week with their siblings at the GLO. Also Collins & Racheal’s younger brother Derick and Annie’s sister Margaret Shiro wanted to come for Christmas as well so we ended up with another ten mouths to feed and find a Christmas Present for!!

Over the past twelve months with the help of Margaret, Helen, Damien, Malita & Joe here in Ainsworth we have been sorting through all the very generous donations of clothes, shoes, toys and books received and managed to get a “new outfit” for each child and a Christmas Present, our volunteers who visited over the past six months brought out wrapping paper and gift tags and Mercy & Dorothy made sure everything was ready in preparation for Christmas Day.

Our own Wise Man arrived on Christmas Eve, Alan Coyne made the trip down from Nairobi to spend Christmas at the GLO, in honour of Alan the Mamas & Aunites made sure his favourite dish of Matoke & Potatoes were on the menu along with Chicken and Pilau. They all worked to make sure the Christmas Day Celebrations went like clockwork and both the children & the staff felt very much part of the much extended GLO Family. Every single child and member of staff got a present, all donated by our very charitable supporters in 2011 !!

The children who visited were all very well mannered and really appreciated the effort that everyone made to welcome them and make them feel at home. We find it difficult to understand why siblings are separated when parents die but as long as there are Girl/Boy only homes this is going to happen but just to see them reunited over this very special time of year is very heartwarming. Everyone over the past year who has supported our project made this possible, you cannot comprehend what a difference these visits have made to both our own children at the GLO and their siblings.

As Kevin & myself came back to the UK to celebrate Christmas we left the project in the very capable hands of Mercy, yet again she has amazed us with her organisational skills and the sheer amount of hardwork Mercy, Dorothy and each & every member of staff at the GLO are prepared to do just to make these children have a better life is unbelievable, it is indeed the true meaning of Christmas.

2011 – A Brillant Year for Volunteers @ The GLO

Mary — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:19:22 +0000

At the beginning of 2011 we started actively promoting our Volunteer Scheme and can report back that it has been a fantastic success this year, with many of our volunteers writing up their experiences for this blog – click their names to find out more about their trips!

It started with the arrival of Monika and Dan for a three month period, two people who made a massive difference to the GLO, with their dedication and compassion for the children warming all hearts at the orphanage. Dan used his experience to convert our existing henhouse into a home for Remi, our new Head Teacher, and overseeing the building of a new hen house for our broilers. Monika worked endlessly introducing education play to our Mamas & Aunties.

Then in April Lucy and Emily arrived from Bolton, and Mick, Cathy & Ceri came for a two week stay, with all spending many hours interacting with the children and even arranging a much anticipated GLO 1st Sports Day.

July saw the arrival of Sue from South Africa and our own Aideen with her mother Margaret, again three very willing and keen volunteers who even got stuck in with the routine daily chores as well as enjoying playing with the children.

In August Micheal and Clare arrived from St Anne’s in Manchester – welcome company for young Anett (our 1st German volunteer, who stayed for 3 months), and it turned out to be a very lively time for everyone at the GLO – the school was shut for the month so the volunteers had a much increased volume of children to deal with each day.

When Marco and Tess from New Zealand arrived in mid August the whole place was a sea of children and volunteers having a wonderful time and they willing joined in. Gareth, Rebecca, Jenny, Kayleigh & Philip made September another bumper month for volunteers and by this stage we could see the impact on the children as they learned about other cultures.
Jan from Bolton and Tobais and Katherina from Germany spent many happy days there in October, Tobais actually assisted in the delivery of the calf – a rather messy job! November was the busiest month of the year with the Genesis Group from Cardinal Langley School in Manchester making the GLO their chosen charity to visit – Brendan and Domi, were two teachers leading the group and Rachael, Ashley, Stephen & Luke were the 6th Form Students who even visited Mercy’s village for a traditional night of food & entertainment.

Bridget and Jane, our more “mature” volunteers came for their second visit, along with Nuala and her sister Maria who were here for this first time. Brilliant volunteers with a very canny eye for noticing exactly what was going on – which act as a huge helping hand for Kevin and I.

Last but by no means least was the lovely Laura from Dublin – an accountant in her normal job, and got stuck into everything and even found time to train our staff on different aspects of accountancy, auditing our school and orphanage account whilst here (and also winning a dance competition too!)

All in all we have had a fantastic response and can safely say our volunteers were the crème de la crème – if anyone reading this is interested please drop me an email, we are always looking for great volunteers and especially teachers now as our new school is up and running. We hope to see you at the GLO next year.