Hot off the press - our November newsletter

Rather than a pinch and a punch on the first day of the month, please take a look at our November newsletter - hot off the press!

Christmas cards with cheer

Announcing the sale of our three new designs of Christmas Cards, which from Monday 30th October will be selling in packs of five in Westland Sundries at Hardy and Village Market,  Karen Country Club, Coast and Country and KPS. On Saturday 28^th October they will also be on sale at the Purdy Arms Organic Market.

Thank you Laura Cuthbert, once again, for your imaginative and fun designs!!

With a little help from my friends...

Each year we encourage our secondary students to attend holiday tuition over the long summer break. This year it was led by past student, Jack Omondi and other helpful senior students who gave up three weeks to come to Mahali Pa Watoto kindergarten, where our office is based, to use the classrooms and new container to teach our Form 1-4 students. 

All the subjects were taught, but the main emphasis, as always, was on maths, chemistry and physics - the subjects which the students seem to have most difficulty with.

It was the first time we used the container, and it proved to be a very good learning environment with good space and ventilation.

Thank you, Jack, for leading the team of senior students. We are sure the Form 1-4s will reap the benefits this year - particularly those Form 4s taking KCSE in November. We wish you all the best of luck and hope that you achieve the results that you deserve!

Alice flies the Kenyan flag in Turkey at the "Deaflympics"

It is with such pride that we are so pleased to let you all know that Alice Atieno achieved fourth place in all her events at the "Deaflympics" Deaf Olympics in Turkey, held over two weeks this summer. It was her first trip overseas and what an adventure it proved to be! 

She was the Kenyan representative in the 100m and 400m running races and also for the javelin - scooping fourth place in all three events! Having narrowly missed out on bronze medals this year, she is aiming for silver next time round! 

Well done Alice - all of us at FDC are immensely proud of you! Good luck next time and thank you for these photographs! What a role model you are to fellow deaf students. Your happy face says it all! 

Summer fun and fundraising - Part 2

The second generous donation came from SAWA (South African Women's Association) in Kenya, who kindly put us forward as the lucky recipient of funds raised at their Blue Moon Ball - held at Muthaiga Country Club at the end of June. The evening was a huge success and the auction saw many bidders vying for some great offers in the auction and Muthaiga Club once again did a very professional job with much creative input from all the SAWA organizers - with beautifully decorated tables and a delicious three course dinner adding to the convivial ambience of the evening. Dancing to the live music aided digestion and all in all a great evening was had by party-goers and organizers alike!

Our huge thanks to all at SAWA - the 1.8M donation will make a huge difference to our 52 secondary and tertiary level students and their future education!

Summer fun and fundraising - Part 1

We are extremely fortunate to have received very generous donations from two separate sources over the summer.

The first donation came from a fabulously fun (and luckily not too hot!) tennis fundraiser and dinner in June. This was organised by past Karen residents, Clare and Hugo Norman (now living near Winchester, UK), who drew together a great bunch of tennis players, who were equally good at digging deep into their pockets to help raise the phenomenal and record sum of 2,200 GBP.

Clare had prepared the most delicious dinner, and with free flowing drink and "on the ball" entertainment thrown in, the evening was always going to be a huge success. Many thanks to Clare and Hugo who really went the extra mile for us - and to all those who paid and played!

 

Our Annual Fundraiser - postponed until 2018

We would like to let you know that our annual fundraiser, scheduled to have been held once more at the Karen Country Club on Friday 3^rd November, has been postponed until next year.

We will be back in touch with a new date in the New Year, so please watch this space!

The Fundraising Committee, FDC

A Great Meeting - Our AGM 2017

On Tuesday 16th May we held our AGM - which proved to be a very lively and informative meeting. Many thanks to those donors and visitors who attended and to our tertiary students, James, Grace, Monicah and Peter who came to present to us at the end - telling us what courses they are doing, why they chose them and what part they particularly enjoy.

Before the meeting started we were able to hand over to Dennis Chomba's mother, one of the laptops that have kindly been donated to us. This will help Dennis enormously with his studies at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology - studying Control and Instrumentation Engineering. We are always on the lookout for laptops and printers - so please do think of us if you have any old ones, in working condition, that you no longer need. At the end of the meeting we were able to give our visitors a tour of our new "Resource Centre" - a refurbished container, bought with money donated by the Kenya Charity Sweepstake; giving us an invaluable space for report reading, holiday tuition, study and the storage of books etc.

It is always interesting to hear more about the FDC programme and this year we were so thrilled to announce that during the academic year of 2016/17 we admitted our 100th student! These young people's lives are so enhanced by the education they receive, and it is wonderful to see many of them 'popping out the top' now with a good number in full time employment, able to support others in their family and encourage other family members to stay in education! It is not always a smooth ride, but it is always fulfilling to see a student succeed - often against the odds. Thank you once more to our students, supporters, friends, social worker, auditor, committee members and office holders. The success of FDC is all in the team work! 

From left to right: James, Grace, Lydiah, Gerry, Monicah, Peter and Catherine.

Dennis Chomba's mother receives a donated laptop for Dennis.

From left to right: James, Grace, Monicah and Peter

Taking a tour of our new "Resource Centre"

The FDC "Resource Centre" 

MAY NEWSLETTER - HOT OFF THE PRESS

We hope that you will all enjoy reading our May newsletter. This issue highlights the achievements of three students who are now out in the workplace - two on internships and one on a contract basis.

You will note that our AGM is on Tuesday 16th May at 2.30pm at Mahalai Pa Watoto School and we would encourage any of you who are free, to come along and meet us. Tea and refreshments will be served afterwards and if you need directions, please drop us an email on: frodach@gmail.com

Another date for the diary is the SAWA "Blue Moon Ball" on Saturday 24th June at Muthaiga Country Club. Contact details are on page two of our newsletter - we are hugely appreciative that they are donating the funds raised at the Ball this year to FDC. 

Friends of Dagoretti Children - Notice of AGM - Tuesday 16th May at 2.30pm

We would like to announce that our AGM will be held on Tuesday 16th May at Mahali Pa Watoto School, Karinde (off Dagoretti Road) at 2.30pm. Refreshments will be served afterwards.

We do hope that those of you in Nairobi will be able to attend. RSVP by email to frodach@gmail.com by 1st May and we will send out directions, if required, and the agenda. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet the committee and to find out more about us and our students!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter

The FDC committee

Jane Wanjiru - working hard for a good outcome

It is always such a pleasure to report back on success stories and particularly when a student's hard work has paid dividends! 

Jane Wanjiru has been standing in for Catherine, our social worker, during Catherine's maternity leave. She has been covering the FDC office to meet parents and students alike, offer sound advice and and help the committee, in all sorts of ways, to provide a constant presence until Catherine returns.

Jane Wanjiru

In between all of this she has been looking for permanent employment in the environmental sector and we are pleased to report that following an interview in Kitui with a company called Machine Centre Ltd, she has now secured a job on a contract basis - working one week in every month. 

Machine Centre Ltd is running a very interesting sounding project, contracted to them by the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development through the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Program (KISIP). The project will encompass the improvement of Informal Settlement infrastructure in Kitui - including roads, sewer systems, water connection, installation of street lights and solid waste management.

Jane will be working on the following:

• helping the youth in these informal settlements to form a community based organisation (CBO).
• training the youth how to run these CBOs, highlighting the opportunities and challenges.
• training them in solid waste management
• training them on how they can earn a living from waste collection

Jane will also be in charge of occupational health and safety issues for the project.

She will be busy - but we have every confidence that she will do an excellent job and be a credit to herself, FDC, her educational institutions and last but not least, to her family! 

Good luck Jane! 

Jane shows round a visitor from Scotland while manning the FDC office

Aiming for the top with Summit Recruitment and Search

Last week, two of our post-tertiary students, Festus Wachira and Nixon Lihanda, who are now both looking for permanent positions, were lucky enough to attend a Careers Advisory Clinic at our sponsor Summit Recruitment and Search. Here, they were able to access help from Summit consultants and received a great deal of advice on possible jobs and careers. The day started off with some tests, as shown below. We would like to thank Summit for their support - not only as a financial sponsor, but in giving valuable time and advice as well. Next up will be an Interview Techniques training half day course. Thank you to Sue and the Summit team! This type of help is immeasurable and vital in helping our students find the right jobs for the future.

Festus, left, and Nixon work on a number of tests at Summit Recruitment and Search

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!