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!