Read all about it - hot off the press!

Our December newsletter is hot off the press with news and photos of our fabulous fundraiser held last Friday night, new ventures and hair-raising bravery - read on ... 

Hair-raising fundraising by Sophie Shaw

Sophie Shaw - bald but beautiful! 

We have talked before about how humbling it is to be at the receiving end of a generous and unsolicited donation. On Tuesday 27^th November, FDC committee members, Linda and Charlie, were invited to Hillcrest Secondary School to witness one such kind act at morning assembly. With cameramen, photographers, and supportive family by her side, a somewhat nervous Sophie Shaw took to the stage and thanked everyone who had donated to her Crowdfunding page. She had set a goal, with the understanding that if the goal was met, she would shave her hair off and donate it to a UK cancer charity that makes wigs for cancer patients and then give a cash donation of Ksh 100,000 to Children with Cancer at Kenyatta Hospital and she also pledged Ksh 200,000 to Friends of Dagoretti Children.

Her brother, Callum, had organised for his hairdresser to attend and he swiftly put a gown around her and cut off her pony tail first – to be set aside for the wigs. The whole school cheered, clapped and whistled in loud and moving support for this incredibly brave and selfless girl. Next came the sheers and then the razor! And the cheers, clapping and support continued throughout.

Sophie, we can’t thank you enough. Now bald, but beautiful – inside and out!

Fundraising fun featuring DJ Kuzi and Jay Sax Duet

Please see our poster for all the details of our fundraising party to be held at the Karen Country Club on FRIDAY 30th NOVEMBER at 7.30 pm.

Tickets will sell out fast, so please do book early! The event promises to be a spectacular evening of music, dancing, auction and raffle (thanks to our many generous donors).

Tickets are 5,000 ksh per person, including dinner and a welcome cocktail. There will be a cash bar available, so please remember to bring cash with you on the night!

With our very best wishes

Linda, Charlie, Vanessa, Wendy and all the FDC committee

Contact details: on the poster

‘Tagging you’ this Christmas

Christmas gifts are already starting to fill the shelves! We are thrilled to show you our new Christmas card designs, which this year are accompanied by some fun and festive gift tags. So get down to the shops and fill your bags, to make sure that far flung friends receive your greetings and news, this side of Christmas! Our thanks to Laura Cuthbert for once again devising these seasonal and original designs, some with a Kenyan twist. You can find both cards and tags on sale at: KPS, HPS, Zawadi, Westland Sundries, Utamaduni, Langata Link, Fairseat, The Shop, Shabby Shack, Gorgeous Hair, KCC Pro Shop and periodically at the organic market at Marula Mercantile on a Saturday. Christmas cards will sell in packs of five, and Christmas tags in packs of ten.

If you are in Karen, then you can also give Charlie Taylor a call on: 0733 614796, as she will keep a stock to sell direct.

Our new Christmas card designs:

Our new Christmas tag designs:

Manna from Heaven

We never cease to be amazed by spontaneous acts of kindness. Recently, FDC was the recipient of the most astonishing, varied and extremely generous gift. The delivery came from a group of people from “Xapo” in Switzerland who had been visiting Kenya as part of an offsite company event. They wished to give something to needy people here and had been supplied with an MPESA account through which to purchase these articles. They'd been advised as to what would be most welcome and useful and you would be amazed to see what we, as just one of several recipients, have received. The items were grouped under the following categories: clothing, foodstuffs, household, linen, school equipment and toiletries.

On behalf of the entire student body, the committee and numerous thankful parents  – thank you to all those at "Xapo" in Switzerland! 

Committee members sorting through all the goodies

Read more about us!

Our May 2018 newsletter is out! 

We always welcome your feedback! Enjoy the read.

Notice of AGM – Tuesday 8th May 2018 at 2.30pm

We would like to announce that the Friends of Dagoretti Children AGM will be held on Tuesday 8th 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! Do join us if you can! 

Take note of our new notelets!

Send a friend a little bit of Kenya by supporting FDC and buying a packet of our newly designed notelets. These are now selling in packs of five cards, at Hardy Provision Stores, Karen Provision Stores, Utamaduni, Langata Link Shops and Karen Country Club.

Again, our huge thanks to Laura Cuthbert for her beautiful beach-themed drawings, below.

One good turn deserves another

This week we had a visit from John Chege, one of a group of young men sponsored by FDC in the early days. As, happily, they are all working, only John was able to get time off work to bring a donation of Ksh 8,000 to FDC - on behalf of all the group. It was wonderful to hear about his life and family and where he is today - working for Britam Insurance, who took over Real Insurance. The others in the group are Aaron Njoroge, Bernaud Wanjau, Daniel Muiruri and Joseph Kamau, all of whom went to Mutuini High School. Given that all of them, apart from John, are now married and some have begun their own families, this really is an extremely generous gesture. 

We have always been hugely proud of these young people and this kind thought and action on their part, gives us even greater reason to smile and continue doing what we do! 
Thank you! 

John Chege hands over the group's donation to Catherine and Pop.

First of February round-up of FDC news 

As ever, our year has started on a busy note. We have taken on seven new Form 1 students who have all now started at school. It is very difficult deciding who to support out of a wonderful and worthy group of candidates who present themselves at our door in late December to early January, hoping to be taken on. We wish this fortunate group all the best as they start out at secondary school. May they continue to work hard and make the most of every opportunity.

Our year ended in equally busy mode, with the Christmas party and prize-giving. Many thanks again to all who attended – committee members, visitors, sponsors, parents and students alike. Our huge thanks must also go to KPS who once again kindly donated food for the party.

Our guest speaker, Anthony Muriithi, was such an inspiration to all our students and had a captivated audience. Despite being disabled by polio at the age of two, he has not let this disability stand in his way. He managed to attend Alliance High School and then Nairobi University. Not only has he found a fulfilling and interesting job at Safaricom, where he is a Team Leader, he has also married, has a baby boy, and has set up and runs his own business together with his lovely wife. With great humour and honesty he mapped out the challenges of his life and the great pleasure he derives from it. His main message was that in order to succeed in life one has to first want success and then be consistently determined and hard working to achieve it. He also spoke about self-esteem and insisted on the benefits  of staying strong and believing in yourself through good and bad. His famous phrase is that “You cannot control what people say and think about you, but you have control on how to react. What is important is, what do you think about yourself?”

He also shared what he referred to as his ‘five power points’ to start each day:

1.      I am the best

2.      I am a winner

3.      God is always with me

4.      I can do it

5.      Today is my day.

Everyone left at the end of the day wiser, inspired and possibly a little humbled by his positive attitude to life.

The party was also the occasion to recognise our prize winners. Below we see Solomon Murithi receiving his prize from Pop Gunson as top Form Three student and next is Jackson Kanyua receiving the prize for top Form Two student:

Solomon receives his prize from Pop Gunson

Jackson receives his prize from Pop Gunson

Proud parents and guests enjoy food provided by KPS

The full list of prize winners is below:

Form 1-3 best academic prizes:

Form 1             Grace Wambui

Form 2             Jackson Kanyua

Form 3             Solomon Murithi

Top in class prize:

John Kibue

Effort and participation prize – Karen PCEA Church luncheon:

Emily Ngina

Chairman’s Prize:

Jane Wanjiku

We wish you all the best for 2018 and hope that you will enjoy following FDC throughout the year. Thanks for your continuing support and generousity.

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.