Students and staff at Regent High School in Camden, London have been getting involved making dolls or teddies to be given out to children in Kenya. The teddies have been distributed and the students in the UK now have a photo of the child who received their toy! These dolls were absolutely fantastic, putting a smile on lots of children's faces. They were very excited to have a toy of their very own to play with, and loved to have the photograph of the student from the UK who made their doll.

A huge thank-you in particular to Trishna and Clarity along with their group of girls who got so involved in this project!

One of the biggest achievements of the trip so far was the books distribution. Some of the books collected from each participating school in England were carried to Kenya and handed out to schools with very limited resources in Kenya. Each school received between 90 and 100 books, which were age appropriate for the children there.

The kids were so excited even to be holding the books for the photographs, and just kept staring at them! One of the teachers at a kindergarten school was telling me that since receiving the books they have begun a daily reading session and at the end of the hour they have to practically wrench the books out of the children's hands. It is so lovely to see them using the books and enjoying them so much.

As time goes by I am hopeful that reading will become an important part of the school day for children at these schools, we will be doing lots of follow up work to keep you up to date with what is going on.

Enjoy the pictures!

Hello everyone! Thank-you for your patience waiting for all the photos and news from the trip to Kenya! The internet was pretty sluggish so we struggled to make updates as regularly as we wanted to!

First and foremost let me tell you about one of the most important things we did on the trip - sponsoring three new children.

The first two are 8 year old girls Linet and Peris.

They live together with their two younger sisters Janet and Naomi, elder brother and the girls' guardian who is Linet's mother and Peris's grandmother in a mud built house in Mtomondoni.

She works in a local Shamba (farm) as a farm worker to try to raise money to feed her family; but unfortunately she has never had the money to send the girls to school at all. By 8 years old, it is crucial that they begin as soon as possible so that they do not feel too out of place in the lower kindergarten classes. Whilst starting school late is common in this area, at their age we wanted to be careful not to make the girls feel too conspicuous whilst still ensuring they begin in the appropriate class for them academically. Both girls have begun in Kindergarten 3 with a view to moving them up into Standard one as soon as possible. Whilst we were not able to sponsor all four children, the director of the school we send the sponsored children to has agreed to take on the two younger girls as 'complementary' students, allowing them to study there for free without paying fees.

They are both such lively and happy girls, despite having a very difficult home life. Their positive attitude and energy is quite incredible. Linet is clearly the 'big sister' of the other three girls, always making sure she is looking after them and that they are ok. Peris is the quietest of the four, but is super excited about being able to go to school, full of smiles and happiness. All four girls were understandably nervous on their first day - Just the experience of being in a concrete building is enough of a shock for them, and I found them following me around like little lost sheep! Everywhere we turned there they were, grinning at us! But very quickly they have adapted and begun to make friends and feel more comfortable in their classes.

When we collected them for their first day at school they were clearly wearing their sunday best clothes, but despite this none of them even had any underwear. Kindly, the JCC school group who were also in Kenya at the same time as us donated some clothes to them, and their faces absolutely lit up. They were twirling around feeling like a million dollars. Seeing Peris's reaction when I pulled even the most bare essentials out of the bag of donations was one of the most wonderful moments of the trip for me. She immediately jumped up and down with excitement pointing and shouting 'For me! For me!'

To see them all so smart in their new uniform for the first time on the last day was extremely emotional, and they were so so happy and pleased, they couldnt stop saying thank-you and kept asking us to take photos so they could see themselves in their posh clothes.

They are all incredibly excited and cant seem to stop smiling. I can't wait to watch them grow and progress in school, to begin to feel like they belong there and to do well. This opportunity truely has changed their lives, I cannot thank all our donors on their behalf enough for what they have done for them.

Enjoy the photos - as always they say far more than I ever could!

During yesterday morning we went to visit three local schools which are in the residential area of Mtomondoni. The first school was called Rescue Centre Mtomondoni .

It consisted of 165 children aged between 2 and 7years. The classrooms were made from iron sheets and they were lacking basic resources such pens, books and desks. Rescue Centre has 3 teachers and a school director, however since the children can only afford to pay 200 shillings per month (around £1.60) they are unable to employ qualified teachers and instead rely on volunteers.

They are attempting to run a food programme for the children at lunch time, however the kitchen facilities are limited and they have no reliable source of food. Despite these challenges the school seems determined to provide local children who aren’t able to afford to go to school elsewhere.

The second school was called ‘Victory Academy’. It is a nursery school with 65 children between the ages of 2 and 5 years. They have a small building with three classrooms and two fully qualified teachers and a cleaner, since this school has been established for several years now. They also make a lot of their own resources, demonstrating their dedication and hard work attempting to provide the children with the best quality care possible. Each child contributes 300/= per month (around £2.80). For example, the teachers often do not get paid; or receive very small amounts each month. The school runs a feeding programme and each child can pay 25/= per day for school lunch (around 20p). Alternatively children can bring packed lunches from home, many struggle to receive food at lunchtimes. We were really impressed with the positivity and motivation of the two teachers here. They were overwhelmingly dedicated to providing a high standard of education to local families who cannot afford normal school fees.

Finally we visited New Life. This school only consists of 1 classroom with around 40 students attending each day. The school starts at baby class and finishes at SD4 also; there are only 2 teachers at New Life which are only qualified to teach up to SD2. This school doesn’t have its own resources as it’s rented so the equipment is along with the building. As they are renting they have to share a toilet with many other students in the building.

Each student is expected to pay 300 shillings per month (around £2.80) ) this is not including food as this school does not have a feeding programme so students are expected to bring it from home or buy from the local places. New Life is a school which puts education before anything else; they give their best to provide good education and care to all their students. They are hoping to soon move into a building with 4 classrooms, a toilet and only them on the site.

All these schools were a pleasure to visit and were truly inspirational. We look forward to taking some resources for them as soon as possible

Thanks for reading!