OUR 'FUNDRAISER FORMIDABLE'!

Wow! Last night was a night to remember! Thank you SO MUCH to all those who sponsored, donated, supported, organised, attended, spoke, auctioned, bid, played, sang, ate, drank and made our evening merry - all the way into the wee hours of this morning! The rain could not have dampened any spirits!

More details will follow but the photos speak for themselves! A great evening was had by all and once again the generosity of our local and further flung community will help to support our deserving students in education for another year. ASANTE SANA!

Spread Some Christmas Cheer with an FDC Christmas Card!

Christmas is coming - have you bought your Christmas cards yet? If not, then please head to KPS, the Golf Pro Shop at Karen Country Club or contact a committee member for a packet or two or three of FDC's latest Christmas Cards. They will not only brighten a friend's mantlepiece, but will also bring a smile by helping to pay the school or college fees of a needy student. 

The cards are selling at Ksh 500 for a pack of five. Many thanks again to Laura Cuthbert for donating her fabulous designs.

For card orders, please contact one of us:
Linda: 0733 718599
Charlie: 0733 614796
Louise: 0733 479372

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:

Inspired and Inspiring

Many thanks to local businessman and entrepreneur, Brett Sievwright, who gave up his Saturday morning to deliver an inspiring talk to our post-KCSE students. His life skills and motivational talk covered many topics - including the importance of choosing the right attitude in life; how to channel your energies (physical, mental and spiritual) to optimize your potential; the importance of integrity in all that you do and having SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) goals.

Brett captured everyone's attention and there was a lively and animated question and answer session at the end. Many thanks Brett for giving up your valuable time and for treating the students to pizza and sodas! We all look forward to your next session on IQ and intelligence. Asante Sana! 

Well Served by Winchester

Many thanks again to Clare Norman and her Winchester tennis players for raising the fabulous sum of 1,250 pounds sterling (Ksh 192,500) for FDC at her annual tennis fundraiser. This money will be supporting Alice Atieno and Sospeter Ngandu.

Alice is now in her second year at the Karen Technical Training Institute for the Deaf (please refer our post below for details) and will go on attachment in September which she is much looking forward to.

Sospeter Ngandu (pictured below) completed Muho Secondary School and to his credit scored a D plain grade at KCSE in 2014. He was not taken on by FDC for his academic potential but rather because his oldest sister, who was also supported by FDC, died tragically as she was just starting her first job – leaving her family without a breadwinner. In order to help his mother provide for his brother, FDC took on Sospeter and is now very pleased to help him with a catering course.

Signs of the Times

This week we visited Alice Atieno (below, second from the right) at the Karen Technical Training Institute for the Deaf. We are so pleased to report back that she is making huge progress there, and has achieved good term grades.

We found her cooking up a storm with her fellow students - but whilst the class room was quiet there were obviously many animated exchanges going on, and the ingredients were being mixed with much culinary cheer! 

In September, Alice will be going on attachment, which she is much looking forward to. She spoke to us of her excitement at being exposed to more of the outside world and of how much she wants to learn new techniques and meet new friends and colleagues. 

When we asked her if she had encountered any particular challenges this year, her confident reply was that challenges are normal and to be coped with on an every day basis - one way or another, without fuss. This pragmatic approach to life was echoed in her recommendation to the Dean that it would be great to have more items available for their practicals - budget permitting. 

On our way out, Alice, realising our inability to follow what she was  'signing', rushed off to bring us her signing text book - which we will now do our best to delve into and learn from - so that on our next visit we can do better than our weird and wonderful gestures, that must have made a few of her class mates giggle! 

Alice with Catherine in the Dean's office and Catherine with Alice's 'signing' book.

Alice with Norah Joy Iganza, the Dean of Students

Making the most of our Post-KCSE students

Last week we completed another good communication skills training course for our fourteen post-KCSE students, together with five from Karen Street Children's Trust. 

The three day course covers good communication and presentation skills; English grammar; letter and CV writing; emailing and texting: time management; social media; and good etiquette - with a good amount of the course spent role-playing and presenting. A lot of fun was had by all and the students all leave with their comprehensive documents, which will help them in the future! Certificates were presented to the students at the end of the session, by Pop Gunson and Romi Grammaticas. We wish them all the best of luck now with their tertiary education, and will be supporting them through the next exciting stage of their lives!