On our last day in Kenya we took the four sponsored boys Charo, Safari, Kaingu and Emmanuel to visit their family in their rural hometown of Takaungu.This is a coastal town, but it is very sprawling and much more spread out than many of the more urban areas closer towards Mombasa. Poverty is extremely prevalent here and there are many fundamental issues and challenges faced in normal daily life for all the families living here. For our part, the determination and cheerful optimism of everyone you meet inspires and deserves the utmost respect and admiration. This was also our opportunity to say hello to the family, for Rich to become more familiar with the background and tribal culture of our boys and for us to let the family know all the details of their sponsorship.

They were very pleased to see us all and very proud of the boys when we told them how well they were all doing in class and how hard they are working. Charo settled into his role of photographer yet again and lots of funny photos with fingers over the lens ensued, just as at Riziki!

The boys rural home is still dilapidated, although the walls of the house have been partially repaired. There is still no furniture to speak of but there appears to be slightly more food with less mouths to feed and the boys' older sisters, Mariam, Mpenzi and Kadzo, all seem healthy and strong. They are also all attending school, which is some improvement, although we got the impression their attendance is not very consistent and that the school is far from ideal.

The boys really enjoyed meeting with their Aunts, Uncles and sisters again and we encouraged the family to be visiting them in New Light Childrens' Home as regularly as they possibly can. It was a wonderful way to spend our last day and gave us some true perspective on the trip before we returned to England. I really hope some of the brilliant atmosphere and the pure honesty of Takaungu itself has been translated in these photos.

We gave Charo and Kaingu bags of boys and clothes to distribute among their sisters and cousins. They clearly adored this responsibility and we hope you enjoy the photos of it as much as we have!

Thanks again, congratulations to those of you who can spot the toys and clothes you have donated personally among the chaos! Im sure you can tell how well used they will be!

Hello All, Today we went into Mtomondoni, this a village which is inside the Mtwapa area and near where new light children's home is located. We visited a few old friends and made some new ones! Mtomondoni is a very poor area and a large proportion of the houses are made of wood and mud although there are some concrete buildings popping up here and there!

We attracted quite a big crowd of children who decided to follow us around the village singing and laughing. The children were fascinated by the cameras and loved to see themselves on the screen.

The area is mainly residential with only a few people working there. Those who do work in the area are often farming maize which they dry (see photo below) and pound to make flour, or selling fruits, veg and other foods at small stalls called 'duka'. 

We also managed to visit the Government school for the area, 'Mtomondoni Primary'. At Government schools tuition is provided free of charge and the pupils are required to buy uniforms and their school lunches. However the class sizes are huge a typical class size can range from 50 to 200 students. The buildings in the school are generally of a comparatively good standard but they lack any basic facilities, this includes books, desks and chairs. This means that the quality of education is very low and children often fail to reach their true potentials. 

We have also inserted a photo of a traditional 'Giriama' building, with it's low roof and wood and mud construction. The Giriama are a local tribe originating from the coastal region of Kenya, so there are many Giriama people in this area. There are many different tribes around Mtwapa and Mtomondoni who all now live together. Each tribe has their own language which is often spoken in the homes alongside Kiswahili. Children therefore already know how to speak and write in two separate languages, and those children who attend school will add English to this number at the age of 5.