Mom sends son to preschool as other children play in the yard

Each day that we are in Huruma we will send out teams of 2 to visit each family of the students.  Along with visiting and praying with each family we will give them a bag that contains a food package of maize, rice, oil, tea leaves & other essentials.  Each family will receive a Bible in Kiswahili, a first aid kit (provided by Women's Ministry), a coloring book & crayons for each student plus a T-Shirt & 2 pr. socks for a boy and a dress and 2 pr. socks for each girl.

Our team has received so many material donations that include a doll for ea. girl, a Hot Wheel car for each boy to be given to them this Christmas.  Along with those items we have 55 girl's uniforms, pens, pencils, extra fabric & sewing kit, toothbrushes & toothpaste provided by a local dentist.  Joy is setting up donations for coloring books and crayons at her work.

These beautiful sun dresses were made to give to each of the girls.

WE STILL NEED DONATIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

80 Bibles for each family @ $9.00 each

34 Children's Bibles for classrooms @ $9.00 each

T-Shirts for every boy @ $5.00 each (still need approx. 45 shirts)

Two sewing machines & irons - approx. $600 to help start a business for moms

OUR N.A.C.C. VBS KIDS OFFERING WILL PROVIDE:

The cost of the food packages for each family - $400

"Kids Day Out" - $570

This is a trip for all the kids to a local park to play and

have lunch - this will be the first time for most of

these kids to travel outside of the Huruma Slum

Balls, Jump Ropes, etc. for School

ALL DONATIONS MADE TO:  NACC - HURUMA PROJECT COSTS

What will the Team be doing?

Large building that contains 2 classrooms - water tank in back

As our Kenya team prepares for our time serving in Huruma this coming August things are moving along at a very swift pace.  Our project has several parts that include repairs on the school, visiting families, a trip with the kids to a park and sharing our God Story and material goods with each student's family along with those we work with and those God brings into our path.


Kitchen

Our construction project is to remove and replace the roofs of both buildings that contain the 3 classrooms & teacher's storeroom and construct interior ceilings to keep out the rain, heat and dirt.  The classroom floors will be cemented and tiled.  They also need to do repair work to the kitchen and run a water line from the water tank (behind one building) to the kitchen in the play yard.  One of our team members is looking into the possibility of a stove that can be constructed that would be much safer (rather than an open fire) and would use less wood.

While 1/2 the team is working on construction with the local people, the others will be in two teams with an interpreter and each team will visit 10 families each day (total 20 families a day x 4 days = 80 families).  During the visit we will build relationships with the families, ask for prayer needs and pray with the families.  We will deliver a food package (a week's supplies), a Bible in Kiswahili, first aid kits, a coloring book & crayon for each child.  Each boy will receive a shirt and pair of socks and each girl a dress and socks.

The first Saturday we are there we will take all the children to a nearby playground on a bus.  For so many this will be their first time out of Huruma or in a vehicle.  We'll also provide them a picnic lunch of hot dogs - a first for all of them.  We hope to be able to purchase 1 or 2 sewing machines and teach a few of the moms how to sew uniforms and start a sewing business to help support their families.
 
..........PLUS MUCH, MUCH MORE!

Nursery School

Lunch & a smile

North Albany Community Church has supported the Lower Huruma Nursery School since 2007.  Our support includes a morning break of porridge and daily lunch of ugali and sukimi wiki (vegetables).  We also provide the salaries for 3 teachers and the cook.  There are presently 95 children divided into 3 classes from ages 3 years to 7 years.  They are the Baby Class, Pre-Unit and Kinder classes.  For the past 2 years we have also provided uniforms and ongoing school supplies and basics.  In 2012 we were able to provide them with their first set of books for all the classes and they were able to participate in exams. We also were able to provide some of the children shoes, medical help and uniforms for those entering Primary school outside of Huruma.

Most of the children & teachers - April 2012

There are 3 teachers; Regina, Gladys and Beatrice who have been with the school since it's beginning approx. 12 years ago.  Parents are asked to pay the equivalent of .50 a week, but often that is too much for the family.

Mji wa Huruma

Mji wa Huruma ("place of mercy") is a small slum surrounded by upscale homes, Karura forest and foreign embassy homes.  There are close to 5,000 people existing in an area a little larger the NACC's total grounds (7 acres) living in shacks usually made of tin and whatever scrap materials they are able to salvage from the local estates' garbage.  There is little to no room for farming.  The people lost their coffee plantation jobs and a place to live when the surrounding plantations where sold for upscale housing.  In 1979 government granted the people the present piece of ground "out of mercy"  where they have struggled to make a living ever since.  It is estimated that the unemployment rate in Huruma is 90%.  Those that do find work find temporary work doing odd jobs, mostly in coffee, house cleaning, gardening and unskilled construction.  The people are a homogenous community in that most are Kikuyu, one the largest tribes in Kenya.  (history by Suzan)

 

Helping Support the Children

If you're interested in helping support these children, please email Suzan Bellis at suzanbellis@comcast.net We are needing donations for school supplies, clothing, hygiene items, uniform shirts, and shoes.
Thank you so much and God Bless!

Smiling Faces

These are the children we will be helping on our trip to Nairobi, Kenya! Don't you just want to smooch those faces!

The Admin

Joy and Suzan (pictured in Port au Prince, Haiti - Aug. 2011) will be the administrators for this blog and we're so excited that you are going to be following us before, during, and after our trip to Huruma. God has been helping our team in so many ways to make this trip a success. Stay Tuned!