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