On 12th of April 2012 one of the children of Macheo Children’s Centre was taken on a home visit. Her family recently moved to live with the family’s in law, just across the border in Tanzania. A far end from Thika! It took a journey of about 7 hours one way to reach the family’s home.

The child was accompanied by one of Macheo’s drivers, a housemother and one of the social workers. Because the background and current situation of the family members is not stable enough to let the child stay with the family alone, one of the housemothers came along to accompany the child during the entire duration of her home visit.

For the child, it is very important to visit her family members once in a while. She needs to stay in touch with them while growing up to be able to re-integrate with them later in life. The family also needs to be given the opportunity to watch the child grow up and to spend time with her. At the same time the child needs to have protection and to be assured of being safe when she spends time at home. Because Macheo encourages contact between the child and the remaining family members, those who cannot go on a home visit alone are accompanied. In this way, the child stays in touch with the family, has the opportunity to build a good and stable relation with them and at the same time is assured of being safe.

When the small group of Macheo’s staff reached the home of the family, they were being welcomed with great hospitality. They were invited into the house and were given a big plate for lunch. The mother talked with the social worker about her past and the reason for the child to be admitted to Macheo Children’s Centre. She showed understanding of the things that went wrong before and seems to be more able to live a stable life. The investments and time Macheo spent in family building and in keeping close contact with the family really seemed to pay off.

Although the child was a bit shy at first and needed to get adjusted to the different situation of having her mum and sibling around, she started to smile and play after a while. When the child got back at Macheo, she was happy and excited and seemed to really have enjoyed her time at home. This clearly showed the importance of letting a child go home once in a while.

All in all, it was a very positive encounter and the family seems to make progress. Still, the risks are currently too high for the child to stay with the family alone. Macheo will therefore continue accompanying the child on her home visits as long as needed.

11^th of April 2012 will remain a historic moment in the books of Macheo Children’s Centre; this is the day Macheo children, staff and our friends wished baby Ishmael Mbugua the best in his future life after he got new parents.

Baby Ishmael – in house purple

Baby Ishmael Mbugua was born on 6^th February 2011 in Thika Level 5 Hospital. He was abandoned by his mother on 9^th February 2011 at the same hospital and to date her where about is not known, despite the Kenyan Police trying to find her. She clearly doesn’t want to be found.

From then baby Ishmael has walked a long journey before he got the new parents; first he had to stay in the hospital nursery which was not good for his growth and social development. The hospital social workers and the children department called Macheo for Ishmael rescue which was done through facilitation of relevant departments.

Since then; baby Ishmael has been staying in Macheo Children Home where he has grown to a cheerful, active and charming boy. Through his stay in house purple; Ishmael had developed a strong bondage with all children in Macheo Children Home and with Aunty Teresia Wangari his house mother.

During his farewell party children were reluctant to release baby Ishmael although they had to, because they understood that it was for a good cause as said by one of their own Samuel Wangondu. Aunty Teresia was emotional when making her remark during this occasion just as many did; all of us were happy with baby Ishmael success and wished him the best as we look forward of him to grow and became a responsible, honest, wise and good citizen.

Macheo Children’s Home tries to do what is best for each individual child. If a child is totally abandoned, we (and the Kenyan Government) believe adoption is the best way forward. When there is family left we try to work with this family as much as possible to see if a future reintegration could be possible.

Goodbye, Ishmael, we will dearly miss you!

Today we would like to share with you a story from our Family Empowerment program; in this program we try to empower people to become better parents. The small amount for seed capital given to them is used as the first step in starting a business.

Elizabeth (left) with her children – looking on is Okoth & Monica (Macheo staff)

This is the story of Elizabeth Atieno who stays in Kiandutu slum in Thika.Elizabeth is a victim of 2007 post-election violence. All of her properties were damaged during that time and she was lucky to escape safely with her 5 children and husband. Her children have never been in school as she and her husband could not afford their school fees. Elizabeth’s first born Fredrick Omondi, benefited from Macheo’s education empowerment program which helps children that have attained school going age but have never attended school. Others in the program are children who dropped out of school for various reasons such as being not able to pay school fees, lack of uniform and neglect. Fredrick was 9.5 years on during enrollment. Elizabeth’s other children are aged between 4.5 years and 7 months.

Elizabeth unpacks a sack of charcoal

Elizabeth’s last born Melvin is malnourished because the family is not able to eat properly. Some time they sleep hungry especially when the father, a casual labourer does not get work. Elizabeth sometimes washes clothes for pay but it proves difficult because she does it with her child at the back.

Elizabeth demonstrates a 2kg measure

On Friday 30^th March this year Macheo through seed capital program bought a sack of charcoals and provided it to Elizabeth to start a small business near her house where she can look after her children as she runs her business.  She sells the charcoal in small quantities, tins of 2kg. During our follow up on Monday we found that she had already sold the whole bag and bought another one which she was selling then. Elizabeth is now happy and told us that she will save the profit and later buy basic necessities, she really need such as bed, Kitchen utensils among many. She can also feed her family at least twice in a day.

Macheo is also helping them to get the document they lost like national ID card and also register for National Hospital Insurance Fund. Elizabeth is also attending our seminars where participants are trained on good parenting, entrepreneurship, good family planning methods, among others.

Susan – Bring the water from a bucket

Last Sunday, volunteers of Macheo Children’s Centre organized a small event for the children of Macheo Children Home with some traditional Dutch games!

We started with a game with a spoon and a ball. The kids had to walk through a racing track while the ball should stay on the spoon.Every house had a team; even the house mothers joined in. Besides this game we had other games which included:

Rope pulling where we had two teams pulling each other in a test of strength…

Paul Kiragu – Balancing the ball while his team cheers

Jumping rope is also among the games that were played during this event, it involved three participants two of whom turn the rope and another one jumps. Many children enjoyed this together with the house mothers and volunteers.

Sack race followed; balancing the body as you jump forward towards the finish line was a challenge to many of the children but brought joy to the spectators who cheered their team enthusiastically.

The last game was a challenge between the girls and the boys. Both teams had to bring the water from one bucket to another at the other side of the track. When the boys realized that they would not win the game, they decided not to bring the water cup by cup, but bring the whole bucket instead. Result: a lot of discussions between the children, but especially a lot of laughter and joy.

Grace – skipping the rope

The kids enjoyed the day very much and we are sure that they will repeat these games in the near future.