The Good Life Orphanage

A Typical Monday in Mombasa

What started as a shopping trip for office stationary in Mombasa ended with another three boys in our orphanage. A phone call from the Department of Children to come immediately to their offices where three young boys, Moses 5 years old, Caleb 3 years old and little Joshua 2 years old, had been removed from another orphanage where they had been very badly treated. The boys were in a terrible state, malnourished with malaria. The authorities had closed the other orphanage and the boys had not received a meal for the past 48 hours.

Jackie, our manager, cooked the boys a lovely meal of beef stew and ugali which they woofed down. They were very scared and disoriented but had a little play on the swings and slides. We brought them to the local doctor the following morning who took blood tests which showed chest infections, malnutrition and malaria. After a struggle the boys received injections and medication to cure their conditions.

Their little bodies were marked and when Jackie enquired, Moses told her how they were beaten and burnt by the people who ran the other orphanage. Unfortunately some establishments use the children as a means to get money from tourists, the dirtier & thinner the child, the more money they get. People do not realise they are being conned and often make substantial donations which are just spent foolishly, never on the children or the orphanages.

After five days the boys are more settled but still very wary of men. Moses has started the local school and by all accounts is a very bright intelligent boy. It will just take time and hard work to gain the boy’s trust but our team are very committed and with the help of a child counselor we will ensure they receive whatever help they need.

Are you sitting down, yes after weeks of going from one government department to the other we finally got our first two babies today, the court hearing started at 9.00am & we got the children out of the hospital at 4.10pm, never knew there were so many pieces of paper to be signed, we then asked for our papers relating to the children, a one page Court Order & a letter from the Department of Children telling where the children were found by Good Samaritans, that’s all they know.

Gracie is a six month old girl who is malnourished & needs TLC, Michael is a beautiful baby boy about 8 weeks old we think, they don’t know when they were born so it just a guess by their size. It was a very humbling experience going into the hospital to pick them up, two sometimes three little babies in a cot, they don’t cry because no-one responds to them so they just lie there & look up at the ceiling, they are so helpless. There are other orphaned abandoned children in the hospital but because there is no budget to feed them, they only get two small cups of milk per day, imagine a newborn baby trying to feed from a plastic cup because there are no bottles.

Thanks for the prayers, they were answered!

It has been a great week, all the prayers you have all been saying for us have been answered, after a shaky start on Monday with trying to make sure everything was in place, the Department of Children Inspection team of six along with six other people from neighbouring orphanages came yesterday, they could not believe the project and the concept we are working on. When the youth officer saw the acre farming plot he was delighted as he said as in many countries people emphasise on becoming doctors, lawyers or bankers but no-one encourages children to work the land and be able to be self sufficient on what their surroundings have to offer. When we explained about our plans to encourage the more academic children to continue their education & the children gifted with their hands to learn a trade he was delighted, as the less academic gifted children in this country are just pushed to one side.

When they arrived Peter (a trustee) and Matron Josephine did the grand tour, they met the House Mothers & House Auntie, the girls had the place spotlessly clean and made everyone feel very welcome. Then after about an hour of looking around they interviewed Peter, Josephine, Kevin and myself about what we wish to achieve & what way we are going to run the orphanage. The most unusual question “How many children will be sharing clothing”?, when we said every child will have their own towels, bedding & clothing they were amazed! They enquired about the admission criteria and the children being 0-5 years, we said that although we know there are many orphans we feel that the younger children can benefit more from our project if the grow up within it from a young age and they agreed with our plans. At the end they said the orphanage will be registered in Kenya as a Charitable Children’s Institute and we have to contact them on Monday to see when our first children are being admitted.

What a relief, we now can concentrate on the most important thing, bringing these poor little orphans into the orphanage & giving them a better life & thats what it is all about. We will make sure each orphan comes directly from the Department of Children & we have a committal order with each child’s background & their parents’ death certificates. Our Matron, Josephine, seems very capable so she will deal with the day to day running of the project, over the next four weeks we have lots of paperwork to get in place, needless to say Kevin is now planning a few days fishing as his typing skills leave a lot to be desired and he has worked so hard on getting the buildings and plot into shape, the matron has allowed him a few days off - believe it or not she told him off the other day for driving too fast and rising dust, she is a very brave woman!

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!

Little did we realise that when Anne-Marie O’Malley phoned us about her birthday party in March 2006, the actual impact it would have. Anne-Marie asked her guests to make a donation to our charity instead of bringing presents, this money was the first donation for The Good Life Orphanage and was used as the deposit for the two-acre site which we bought in October 2006.

Anne-Marie was the brainchild again behind our 1st Good Life Orphanage Charity Ball on the 12th January 2008 at the Lancashire County Cricket Club. Along with Catherine O’Gara, Karen Kilroe & Mike Flynn, the fund raising committee for our charity has been established with Anne-Marie the Chairperson! This committee has worked endlessly over the past seven months organising the Charity Ball. They chose an excellent venue, a great band from Ireland, Goodfellows, Joe Casserley as MC & with their inexhaustible energy brought 280 people together for a great night. How they managed to get so many different things donated to the night, we will never know!

We were nervous on the night & with the Manchester United match changed to a 5.15pm kick-off we feared the worst, people getting stuck in traffic, no parking spaces and The Roving Mike aka Mike Flynn with a less than perfect wireless microphone, to name just a few of our worries. Then a good omen United beat Newcastle 6-0 with Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick, things were looking up! The only complaint was one irate Liverpool supporter surrounded by 65,000 United fans on the way in (we all have our crosses to bear Eliot)!!

The stage was set & boy did it go like a dream! Mike Flynn who was standing in for Joe our MC until 9.00pm did a great job! Mary Grady’s Dance Theatre kicked off the whole proceedings, the girls were magnificent. The room, table decorations, Charity Brochure & background music (provided by Kevin & Danny) were splendid. Father Jim Clarke said grace & we all tucked into a three course meal with an excellent cheese board to finish. The meal and service by the staff at the L.C.C.C. was first class. Mike took control of the Heads & Tails competition with Mick Mack winning a romantic break in a Cheshire Hotel. Grace O’Malley, Roisin O’Gara & Mary Anne Kilroe along with eight of their friends sold hundreds of raffle tickets with all the prizes being donated from business contacts & friends of our committee members. Well Done Girls we don’t know how you sold every raffle ticket (it may have something to do with you all looking so glamorous)!

A short introduction by myself & a six minute DVD showing exactly what we are doing in Kikambala and then it was the man himself, Joe Casserley took centre stage, auctioning 19 impressive prizes all donated by friends & families of the committee members again! We cannot express in words our gratitude to each person who donated the prizes and the people then who generously bid excessive amounts for them. Karen, as you predicted The Spice Girls Tickets went for a fortune. We were speechless when we saw the way in which people were supporting the project. The auction was carried out meticulously with Joe flying through the bidding & again our committee members getting everything signed & approved immediately.

10.30pm and we are ready to Rock & Roll, Ronan & the lads started playing and the dancefloor filled, it never emptied all night. There were a few sore necks the next day from 40+ year olds head banging! Elvis O’Gara even got up to do a few songs and his groupies nearly pulled him off the stage. The last half hour was a second appearance from Kevin & Danny, the dancing DJ’s who kept the place rocking.
A great night for everyone and a massive thanks from Kevin & myself for making our job so much easier in Kikambala.
Asante Sana & God Bless everyone involved!
P.S. As requested by Catherine, we have a rake of Saw Doctors CDs for the Disco next year so we will be jiving all night!!!!
Go to Bernie O’Briens page for some great photos of the night.

We are very lucky to be members of Guardian Angels Church in Elton, Bury. In October 2007, Father Paul & Sharon told us that the Good Life Orphanage was the chosen charity for this years Crib Collection, from Christmas Eve 24th December until the Baptism of our Lord 6th January, the crib is on display in the church with people placing offerings at it. During the previous year the total collected was £300 so we were very grateful to be chosen.
The first collection was made at the £1000 draw when the parish hall is a hive of activity & everyone attending gets a free full English breakfast, this year a large bucket was put on the table asking for donations.
A short six minute DVD was shown at all the masses on the Sunday before Christmas & also at the vigil mass & masses on Christmas Day, we received a very positive response but were not prepared for the generosity of the parishioners, a quick phone call from Sharon told us that the collection was in excess of £700 after the Christmas Day masses. With Father Paul, Father Frank and Sharon promoting our project to everyone we knew we had a very persuasive team behind us, as we always say “Father Paul could sell sand to Arabs”.

On Sunday we were presented with a cheque for £3241.96, what a fantastic amount of money!! We cannot thank everyone involved personally but from the bottom of our hearts we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in our parish. We are going to use the money to build a play area within the orphanage boundary and after speaking to Tom, Gwen & James Geeling are privileged to be naming it after Joe, a local boy who was tragically taken from his family in March 2006.

A very Good Afternoon from a very hot & sultry Mombasa, we have been here for three weeks now, the temperature is rising daily and sometimes our tempers are rising the same. The orphanage site is a dream to behold, the first two houses are at the first floor level, the well and pump are working, and the 100ft septic tank is complete. The boundary wall is complete with the main gates being erected this week, the remaining acre of arable land has been fenced off and some of the land cleared. We have spoken to a young Kenyan lady called Beatrice who educates farmers to use their land to the full potential, she has very kindly offered her services free of charge to us!

We have decided to build a large Gazebo on-site to accomodate a TV room, games room and community area, it is very important that the whole project members come together to socialise, the orphanage should be a happy zone for everyone involved.

We are having a meeting with the Department of Children tomorrow, they will want to carry out inspections of the facilities we have to offer, they have also requested our policy/mission statement and our complaints procedure. If everything goes to plan our first children will be accepted in late February with the Matron & house parents starting on 1st February 2008.

Without the help from Ireland & the UK our project would be impossible, so thanks to you all for making this dream come true for the orphaned and abandoned children.

Just one phone call from Kevin to his dear sister Marie in Co. Tyrone, N.Ireland – “yes we could do with some clothes for the children when the orphanage is up & running next year” – did we realise the impact this would have on the people around Dromore, Omagh & Garrison.

Marie, another sister Rosemary & niece Donna started the ball rolling, the result was about 120 bags of children clothes, footwear & toys arriving in Bolton via Leeds delivered free of charge by Euro Auctions in Dromore. You name it, we have it, babygros, dresses, football kits, shorts, t-shirts & trainers, the children in the Good Life Orphanage will definitely be the best dressed along the North Mombasa Coast.

Thankfully Marie’s house is now back to its former glory, no bags of children’s clothes in the rooms; Roisin, Fionnghuala, Anton & Sinead enjoyed sorting & packing all the clothes. These clothes will make such a difference in the orphanage, an old second hand pair of trainers is about £2.00 in Kenya, so we have about three years supply of clothes for children from birth to 16 years old thanks to the goodwill of the people of County Tyrone & Fermanagh.

It took about four weeks to sort all the clothes when they arrived in Bolton, all the winter and adults clothes have been given to Cornerstones which is a local charity helping the homeless around the area & the Missionaries of Charities who help local people and have a orphanage in Romania, so every piece of clothing has gone to good use. The remaining clothes (boxes & boxes) will now go to The Good Life Orphanage in Kikambala over then next twelve months.

Thanks to everyone involved especially, Marie, Rosemary & Donna - Puddleducks Playgroup, Clanabogan & Tummery Primary School, Dromore.

Good News from David in Kenya, the boundary wall is partly finished, there is water in the well & the foundations have just started for the first four bedroomed house. The reality is there are no minidiggers, no concrete mixers or boring machines, everything is done by hand. The boundary wall foundations were dug out by hand and all concrete mixed by hand. The blocks are cut out in the quarry from the coral by hand so everything is a very slow process but at least now the first house is started, keeping watching for a weekly update.

Each house will have a house parent and 6/8 children who will live within the project until they are 18 years old. We have approached various businesses in the area to link up and provide training for the children when they become teenagers. The children will then leave the project with a trade or profession such as joiners, bricklayers, hotel staff and dressmakers, so they can adapt to independent living and be self-sufficient.

We are hoping that over the next twelve months the funds can be raised to build an additional two houses, this means that by October 2008 there should be 24 happy children living at The Good Life Orphanage. If we have done our calculations properly it will cost £1.00 per day to feed, clothe, supervise & educate each child. It is unbelievable that this small amount can drastically change a life.

So on with the fund raising, £22k for each house, £2k to furnish & initial setup cost and a further £3k per annum to support the house parent & eight children.