By Hemed Jumaa
Matandale is one of our neighbouring communities within Mtwapa located some few meters away from Mtepeni primary where our pupils from St’ Bernadette Mary school go during Fridays for their games. It is a very poory community where electricity and running water is non-existant. People struggle daily and we feel it is very important that our GLO children realise life outside our walls is often very difficult for the majority of Kenyans who try to survive on the equivalent of £2 per day if they are lucky enough to have a job, there is no NHS and no proper free education!

A visit to Matandale

A visit to Matandale

Our CCI team visited this place sometimes back in 2012 to treat people infected with jiggers. Most of the children couldn’t walk, had poor health and lived in abject poverty. Our CCI team successful helped more than a hundred children and adults who during this visit were all okay and no one among us could easily identify that a time they were infected by jiggers.

A visit to Matandale

A visit to Matandale

We all left GLO with one agenda, to share with the less advantaged members of our community. Our children had lots of fun, singing and dancing with the children of this community and each got a friend. The children saw first hand just how difficult life is outside GLO and they all had some comments after the trip. Many voiced their concerns about their lives once they leave the project at 18 years old and all realise that without a good education the chances of getting a good job are very remote.

A visit to Matandale

A visit to Matandale

All our children identified friends and gave them clothes for Christmas and new year. Those who were lucky managed to get a pair of shoes. All the children enjoyed and left with smiling faces shouting words of appreciation for the special gifts we offered to them.

A visit to Matandale

A visit to Matandale

In the words of Mother Teresa “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving,” we will always try to instill this into our children because without your generosity our children would not be able to enjoy the happy secure lives they are now leading.

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