If you have ever volunteered at The Good Life Orphanage you wil soon discover the pluses and minuses of our great project. The warm welcome is a joy to behold along with the rural location and the children’s smiles. On the minus side we have large insects, bush rats, the odd snake and the often daily power cuts which can last up to 72 hrs long resulting in the loss of the monthly meat allocation to each house. It has been a problem since we opened the orphanage gates in 2008 but with a poor quality generator costing nearly £14,000 here in Kenya, it was not a purchase we could afford to make with all our ongoing running costs.

Unloading the Generator

A chance conversation with our friend Father Nicky from St Mary’s R.C Church in Changamwe changed that, he introduced to a wonderful family from Northern Ireland who arranged for a generator to be shipped over to Mombasa as a donation to our project. After numerous emails with both John & Bernadene Rooney the generator was inspected and loaded on a cargo ship bound for Mombasa Port. Both DSV Freight in Belfast and Vinbush here in Mombasa guided us along the way and we were amazed when the whole process went through without any hiccups, a miracle in Kenya when clearing items from the port.

Papa Kevin &  Bernard checks electricsPG

Moving the generator

After delivery to The GLO in mid July they waited until Papa Kevin arrived from the UK last month so he could oversee the connection and associated works, as you can imagine he was so happy to see that the cable and specialist materials had been included in the shipment from Rooney Fish. So on a very wet October day they started by moving the Generator onto the specially prepared concrete base.

Our answer to Pickfords

After a few tense hours and with the help of David who carried out the groundworks & erection of the roof followed by Bernard’s expertise in connecting the generator the job was soon done. This generator will save us so much money as we now turn it on for periods whilst the power is off in the area ensuring our freezers stay at the right temperatures, it will also make the whole compound safer by providing power to ensure the lights are on during the powercuts during the night.

Generator in place

Without the generosity of John & Bernadene from Rooney Fish this again would have been an impossible taks for us, it is a godsend to our project and we are so happy that after six years we now have this much needed generator. Asante Sana from everyone at The Good Life Orphanage

Asante Sana Rooney Fish

Privacy Preference Center