Welcome Wendy to the FDC family

We are so pleased to welcome Wendy Turmel to the FDC committee. With a background in social work, Wendy brings in some much needed support to Catherine and to the rest of the committee and we much look forward to 'working' with her in the months to come.

In Wendy's own words: "I came to live in Kenya towards the end of 2012 from Jersey in the Channel Islands. During my time here I have been involved with the Kamgemi Resource Centre and completed an assessment for Jersken, a small orphanage based in Machakos, which is a charitable organisation run by a Kenyan lady who resides in Jersey. 

I am a social worker by profession working latterly with a Fostering & Adoption Team concentrating mainly on local and overseas adoptions plus the assessment and support of long term foster carers. I also worked for a number of years with an Adult Social Work Team supporting vulnerable adults and spent time with the local Probation Service. I did voluntary work for the local Hospice whilst I was working part time as a member of a team supporting a young quadriplegic man to live as an independent life as was possible.  

I am married to Bob and we have three adult children. Currently my main interests are golf and exploring beautiful Kenya."

FDC's 'FUNDRAISER FORMIDABLE' 2015

FDC's 'Fundraiser Formidable'  will be held on Friday 20th November at 7.30pm at Karen Country Club. Please join us for another fabulous evening - all for a good, local cause! We are taking bookings for tables now! 

Many thanks, once again, to our very loyal and generous auction prize donors.

See the poster below for details and contacts:

Graduation Glory and Pride

On Saturday 23rd August, FDC held its first Graduation Ceremony for eight of its students. Rather than read all about it, sit back and enjoy this short 'movie':

(Warning - this is a large file and may not play on an ipad or smart phone).

Our graduates and their courses:

Bernard Kibera - Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology
Aaron Njoroge - Diploma in Telecommunication Engineering
John Chege - BSC in Mathematics and Statistics
Harrison Mugo - Certificate in Food Technology
Fred Opel - Diploma in Clinical Medicine
Catherine Kangethe - Diploma in Journalism and Media Studies
Susan Mbugua - Diploma in Beauty Technology and Hairdressing, Revlon College
Paul Waruhiu - Degree in Sociology and Diploma in Business Management
Zacharia Gakunju - Diploma in Clinical Medicine

Absent:
Veronica Robe - Degree in Electrical Engineering
James Muniu - Diploma in I.T.
Winnie Njuguna - Diploma in Teaching
Margaret Ngugi - Degree in Business Management (Aviaton option)
Anthony Njuguna - Course at Graffins College
Joseph Kamau - Diploma in Electrical Engineering

Some additional photos:

Pop with John

And with Paul

With Aaron

With Bernard

With Susan

Limbering up for the award ceremony

Bernard with Linda

Susan, Mary, Linda and Catherine

Bridging the gap to make fundraising fun

On Tuesday we held a fabulous bridge afternoon - to ring the changes with our fundraising! The event was exceedingly well supported by friends and 'members' of Friends of Dagoretti Children and with nine tables of competitive (and some not so competitive!) card players and a raffle, we managed to raise just over Ksh 80,000 - which was wonderful! It was also the perfect opportunity to launch our new range of aprons, notelets and bridge pads for sale - which all went down a storm! We are also so grateful to the Murray family for donating their beautiful roses for sale and to Hemingways for donating dinner for two as a prize. Many, many thanks to all those who played, and/or contributed the most delicious cakes, sandwiches and biscuits - some of which, were even themed - a kind and creative thought, Denise! 

Last but not least - very special thanks to Linda for coordinating all the bridge players and to Charlie for hosting the afternoon at her beautiful home. 

The photos say it all:

Well done to all those who won a prize and "better luck next time" to those of you who missed out! We will definitely be doing this again!

Visiting and Volunteering - Part 2

Signs of the Times

Next on our list of visits was to catch up with a new FDC student, Alice, at the Karen Technical Training Institute for the Deaf.

We were there to pay her term's fees and were lucky enough to sit in on a class for her food and beverages course - on table setting, presentation and serving. 

She has settled in well and has made a great group of friends, with whom you see her 'signing', in a group of four, above! We hope that she will go on to find a fulfilling job at the end of her course. She deserves to succeed, demonstrating to us and her teachers, huge amounts of cheer and enthusiasm!

Hard workers

Duncan and Dennis were last, but not least! Like Wilberforce, they took their KCSE exams in November and are now working to earn some money for living expenses, to enable them to do their volunteering work at a special needs school in Waithaka. They have 'networked' with friends in the area and found jobs on a building site in the Lavington area - doing 'finishing work' on 'new build' homes.

Dennis, above and right, is hoping to then move on to a catering course for his tertiary education, whilst Duncan, bottom left, is keen on pursuing a career in mechanical engineering and is hoping to either win a place on an internship at a well-known automotive company in Nairobi, or to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. 

Visits and Volunteering - Part 1

This week has been one of visits and volunteering. Catherine, Louise and UK visitor, Kezia, spent a morning out and about in Nairobi visiting four students. Wilberforce, below, sat his KCSE last November and as part of the FDC programme agreement, is now giving back to the community, in a volunteering initiative which is compulsory for all FDC students. Without this voluntary work and the necessary KCSE grades, students will not be considered by FDC for sponsorship of their tertiary education. 

Wilberforce is volunteering at a primary school in Kawangare, which is 15km west of Nairobi City Centre. Below, we see the wonderful and thought provoking tour he gave us:

Above, we see Wilberforce with the headmaster of the primary school, which has been funded by a church group within Kawangare. He was full of praise for Wilberforce's enthusiasm and dedication - which was wonderful to hear. The Wikepedia description of Kawangare is as follows:

"Kawangare is a slum in Kenya with hundreds of thousands of residents, many of whom are children. Water supplied by the city authority is not available every day. Safe drinking water is expensive in Kawangare. Many children in the slum do not attend school. The population is ethnically diverse, and many persons are HIV-positive. Most people live there on less than $1 USD a day."

So these children are relatively lucky - they are being provided with an education up to Year 3 of secondary schooling - but as you can see, their facilities are incredibly basic and teachers have to work with the bare minimum - one text book per class if they are lucky, and the children share exercise books and the rare calculator.

But apparent to us all, was the total enthusiasm of both teachers and students alike - keen to teach and be taught! Well done, Wilberforce, for contributing your time and knowledge!

Thanks must also go to Robert, Wilberforce's old school friend, for enabling Wilberforce to work in Kawangare, by sharing his lodging with him, as pictured below:

Work Experience

Thanks so much to John, Patsy and Derek for taking Hannah Mbugua on for some work experience at the Sercombe Veterinary Practice this week! 

We visited her there yesterday where we found her, all smiles, helping with the various pets and learning all about daily life at a busy vet's practice. Hannah is keen on pursuing a career in animal husbandry or agriculture and this experience is invaluable in giving her a glimpse of working with animals - and their owners too! 

Welcome to Friends of Dagoretti Children's blog - a new venture to make finding out about us easier and more interesting!

Please bear with us, whilst we set up the posts and pages, and once up and running, we would love to receive your feedback!