Prizes, Peter and Principles

A great believer in the adage "better late than never" it is a huge pleasure to now be able to put up a few photos to go with our list of 2016 prize winners, who were announced and congratulated at our end of year party. Our congratulations went to:

John Kibue receives the top academic prize

Academic - No. 1
John Kibue: John, despite missing school for a month and then transferring to a new school, managed to achieve an overall B+ grade and was among the top ten students in his new school.
Academic - No. 2
Solomon Muriithi: Solomon achieved a B grade and is mentioned again below.
Academic - No. 3
Centrine Wairimu: Centrine achieved a C+ grade. 
Most Improved Student
David Maina
Most Helpful Student
Solomon Murithi: Solomon coordinated holiday activities during the year, took charge of the kitchen and always volunteered to do the jobs that no-one else was prepared to do!
Recognition for Hard Work
Esther Wahu had promised us that she would catch up having missed quite a large chunk of the school year due to poor health. She did just that and managed a respectable C+ grade and came top in History! 

Well done to them all! 

Centrine receives third prize for academics

Esther receives her prize from Pop

Gerry Downes gives Solomon one of his two prizes

FDC prize winners at the 2016 Christmas party

FDC tertiary student, Duncan Wataka, addresses the guests

Apart from the giving and receiving of prizes, all of our students were able to mingle, and share experiences at the end of year Christmas party. A highlight was having Peter Ouko come to speak. Peter Ouko was released from Kenya’s notorious Kamiti Prison in October 2016, having served 18 years there for a crime he did not commit. He cautioned that a large percentage of prisoners are young people and most of the crimes that they commit are as a result of intoxication. He warned about the dangers of drug abuse and peer pressure and spoke of the importance of honesty, integrity and good principles. Boys, he mentioned, are particularly at risk as they are often overlooked during their childhood and he kindly offered to return at some point to counsel our cohort of boys. His talk was inspiring and we hope that his first hand experience and cautionary words will have made each and every student sit up and think! 

The Senior Chief of Mutuini also came to speak and was particularly interested in meeting students from his area. He counseled the students on the importance of good discipline and of conducting themselves well in their holidays, not just when they are under the eye of school authorities.

The party definitely served up 'food for thought' as well as for normal enjoyment!

Peter Ouko

The Senior Chief - Mutuiini

Wishing Heather and Henry "Health, Wealth and Much Happiness"

All of us at FDC would like to wish Heather Cuthbert and Henry Davis all the very best this Saturday as they 'tie the knot'! We would also like to thank them for their huge kindness in asking for donations to be sent to FDC in lieu of wedding gifts. We are all so touched and enormously grateful for this spontaneous and generous gesture! 

May Saturday be the beginning of a long, happy life together!

Happy New Year and Many Congratulations!

FDC would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

The new year has started on such a happy note for all of us with the wonderful news that Catherine, our social worker, and her husband Nick are now the parents of three - with the safe and happy arrival of Elsa! Catherine is now home from hospital and we wish her and Nick, and siblings - Adrian and Tessy - much love, as their new year starts with such a precious gift!

We have also been assessing prospective Form 1 students and look forward to announcing which lucky individuals will be joining our cohort in the next week or so, once home visits have been undertaken and needs assessed and prioritised. This is never an easy process as there are so many worthy individuals to choose from. 

We look forward to the year ahead and thank all of you whose loyal support and interest keeps us going year in, year out! 

'Splashing out' at FDC

Our supporters splashed out in every sense of the word on Friday night – braving the raindrops and puddles, to party and dance with us into the wee hours of Saturday morning! The spirit of giving was not dampened by the weather and we are absolutely thrilled to report that we raised Ksh 1.95M (the equivalent of GBP 15,350 or USD 19,300). What an amazing achievement, as this is nearly half of what we need to raise to keep our cohort of secondary and tertiary students in education for a year!

As anyone in the fundraising business will be aware, it is not easy to raise money year in, year out – particularly within a small community. We are so grateful to our supporters and sponsors who give the vital auction and raffle prizes with such good cheer and it is always wonderful to see them round our tables on the evening itself, to witness first hand how their generosity reaps such reward for our students. Four such lucky individuals (Festus, Monica, Jane and Frederick - pictured below) came to help out on Friday and were a) so touched to see all the effort that goes into preparing for such a function and b) pleased to meet some of the supporters who bid and bought (for auction prizes, raffle tickets and wine) throughout the evening.

A big hand must also go to our merry band – Mojo, and to the Karen Country Club team for the poolside venue. Last but not least, "asante sana" to our MC and auctioneer, Alastair Addison – who with his easy wit, winkles out a ‘bid’ from nearly everybody! 

And here begins our long list of thank yous:

Peter Thande - for blowing and hanging up a ridiculous number of balloons!

Festus Wachira, Monica Kibaru, Jane Wanjiku and Frederick Kingara for 'manning' the wine sales.

Rea Vipingo for sponsoring Mojo the Band

Wines of the World

Wildfire Flowers and the Murray family for all the roses

Karen Country Club Events Team

Auction:

Governors' Camp Collection and Governors' Aviation - Dominic Grammaticas

Alastair Addison

Lapigems - Sheelagh Zagoritis

The Safari Collection - Tanya Carr-Hartley

Crista Cullen

Elewana Collection - James Haigh

Safarilink - John Buckley

Stuart Cohen

The Cuthbert Family

Raffle:

Hemingways Collection - Dicky Evans and Alastair Addison

Air Kenya - Cheryl de Souza

Emakoko - Emma and Anton Childs

Patrick Mavros - Lucy Freemantle

Summit Recruitment - Sue Withers

Talisman - Stuart Herd & Satyan Patel

Serenity Spa - Petra Somen

Sophie Walbeoffe

Joss Taylor

The Cuthbert Family

Damon Ansell

Flying high at FDC

Thursday brought great excitement at Mahali Pa Watoto School, where we have our office, as it was installation day for the 40ft container, kindly donated to us by Kenya Charity Sweepstake. The container will be used as a 'resource centre' - library, IT/study area and store - helping us find more space for the future. 

The exercise was carried out with great professionalism and provided huge excitement for both children and adult spectators alike as the crane driver first had to lift the container into the compound and then swing it round and raise it up again in order for it to land safely on a support carefully measured out and built for the new container to sit atop an existing smaller container - providing valuable parking space and shade below. All we need now is a set of steps to access our wonderful new space and we look forward to branding the container with the team from Kenya Charity Sweepstake, in the near future! 

The photographs say it all. We would particularly like to thank Kenya Charity Sweepstake, Mahali Pa Watoto School, the expert crane driver and Patrick our 'fundi' who has built the supports and will be finishing the steps, paint work and internal refurbishment of the container! We can't wait to get in and get working! 

Book your tickets/table now for FDC's festive fundraiser!

Tickets are selling fast already for our annual fundraiser, to be held at Karen Country Club on Friday 25th November at 7.30pm by the pool, and the event promises to be another spectacular evening to kick start the festive season!

Thanks to some very generous donors we can once again offer some amazing auction and raffle prizes!

So please continue to help us educate the bright and needy in the Dagoretti area by buying a ticket or better still, booking a table through Linda, Charlie, Wendy or Louise. You can email us by reply (frodach@gmail.com) or do call us!

Tickets – 5,000 ksh per person, including dinner, a welcome drink and an evening of lively entertainment, featuring Mojo! You can pay by cash, cheque or Mpesa us on: 0727 409378.

Cash bar available. Dress Smart.

Thank You.

Linda – 0733 718599

Louise – 0733 479372

Charlie – 0733 614796

Wendy - 0701 166017

Get ahead and buy our new Christmas Cards at the Farmer's Organic Market at The Purdy Arms 

We will be at The Purdy Arms at The Organic Farmer's Market from 9am this Saturday morning, 5th November (and the next - November 12th) selling our new range of Christmas cards - Ksh 500 for a pack of five. Do come and join us there! 

Our Christmas cards can also be bought at KPS, HPS, The Shop at Hardy, Karen Country Club, Siafu and Westland Sundries at Village Market. Thanks again to Laura Cuthbert for her wonderful and creative designs.

Tickets for our fabulous, annual fundraiser to be held at 7.30pm on Friday 25th November at Karen Country Club, will also be available - we accept cash, cheques or Mpesa: 0727 409378. Tickets are Ksh 5,000 each - and include dinner. We hope to see you there!