We were lucky to be able to visit most of the families who received mosquito net donations thanks to the christmas packages and the donation from Old Mill PTA.

Many of the families we visited were in truely desperate situations. Tiny houses with just one room and very many children and adults staying together. No electricity or running water made daily life difficult for the vast majority.

All the mosquito nets were clearly being used, although many people did not have a bed to hang them over! Instead babies and children were sleeping on the floor under the nets. All the mothers were extremely grateful for the nets to protect their little ones, one mum told us she had been really worried due to the heavy rain Mombasa has had this year resulting in lots and lots of mosquitos. Malaria is rife in these kinds of conditions with stagnant water everywhere. However thanks to your mosquito nets not one of her children has suffered from Malaria so far this year. An incredible achievement - well done everyone!

Enjoy the pictures, they say more than I ever could!

Hello everyone! We just wanted to say a big thank-you to Old Mill Primary School in Broughton Astley for all their support with Milele.

I am also really excited to announce that they are the first school in the UK to be getting on board with the new Bring a Book project!

Their involvement and commitment will mean that children in Kenya will have greater access to books than ever before, all from old or unwanted books that are no longer useful to their owners here.

Also, a big thank-you goes to the deputy head Mr Davies and the year 6 classes for making me so welcome in their school last week. We had great fun singing and dancing (as well as learning a bit of swahili) and also learnt lots of interesting facts about Kenyan culture and different tribal traditions. Want to know which Kenyan tribe removes 6 teeth from the lower jaw as part of tribal initiation? Which is famous for their signiture dancing and which tribe most commonly practices traditional medicine and witch-doctors? Ask the year 6 children at Old Mill!

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the children were really engaged with a lively and passionate debate, deciding what would be the best use for the £200 they fundraised at the school christmas fayre last year (kindly donated by the school PTA). After a very close vote, the class decided that 40 new mosquito nets should be given to families in Kenya to help protect babies and young children from fatal Malaria; a disease which is one of the biggest killers of children under 5.

In the words of one of the children in their 'persuasive writing':

"It will be like Malaria doesn't even exist any more"

What a wonderful thought - it sounds pretty persuasive to me!

Thank-you once again to everyone at Old Mill, in particular to Helen at the PTA for making this visit possible and to Tracey and Lorraine in the Library for your support with the Bring a Book project!

Photos of the new nets will follow - keep your eyes peeled!