As Kilroe House and Keogh House are now up & running and especially adapted for disabled children we are lucky to have more room now for the orphaned & abandoned children in the area. Since leaving to go to the UK on the 9th of December until my return to Kenya on the 18th January 2011, there have been four +1 new additions:

Firstly Saidi is a young boy about twelve years old who we first met in October 2009 at the Feeding Station in Kikambala, he was having an epileptic fit and they threw a bucket of cold water over him to bring him out of the fit. Horrified at what we saw we took him to Kamani Clinic where the children from the GLO are treated and have paid for his medical costs for the past year. This November when we saw him at the Feeding Station he looked very scared and we noticed signs of bad treatment, when we went into the village to ask his mother what was happening she told us to take him as he was the devil, they had beaten him to “get the devil to leave”, after discussions with the Children’s Department it was agreed that for his safety & wellbeing he should come to stay at the GLO. It has not been easy for either Saidi or the staff, he is a free spirit used to running away for days when beaten and he is finding the confines of life at the orphanage difficult but he is settling into a new secure life and has only had one bout of epileptic fits in over a month.
Saidi & Kevin

Angel is a beautiful little baby girl, maybe six months old, we have no idea what her background is, only that since being born she was left for days alone, but she is very quiet and unlike other children only cries when she is hungry, the remainder of the day she just sits there and watches what is going on around her. She is underweight but seems content and the other children love her to bits.
Baby Angel & Philomena

Little Evelyn was found abandoned in Mtwapa wearing only a vest, although she appears to be well fed and looked after when examined by the doctors in the local clinic they found she has been badly abused. Initially Jackie thought that she may have been abducted and that her parents would come looking for her but it is over a month now and no one has made enquiries about a missing baby girl. It’s harrowing that a little baby is subjected to this but she is well cared for now and will grow up surrounded by happiness, love and security within the project.
Baby Evelyn

Our final newcomers is a young 12 year old orphan girl Damarius who is only staying at the GLO temporary and her ten month old daughter Mercy who is in our care now. Damarius was defiled by a sixty year old neighbour who gave her 30p to buy some fried potatoes, she ended up pregnant at the age of ten years old, luckily she placed her in a special facility in Nairobi for teenage mothers run by Catholic nuns, she was very well cared for and had little Mercy by C Section ten months ago.
Mercy with Mary

As she is only a child herself it has been decided that she will go to boarding school and the baby will remain at the GLO, Damarius has been through so much at such a young age but we hope that once she starts her education at least she can get a chance and as she is going to spend the school holidays at a neighbouring orphanage for girls she can see little Mercy whenever she wants.
Damaris

It’s a cruel, ill divided world we live in but thankfully with the help & support we receive and the excellent staff we have at the GLO we can actually make a difference to these children’s lives.