A busy Reception Home visit

5 Dec 2022 | Newsletters

We are so grateful to all those of you who have already donated to our Christmas Appeal, moving us to well over half of our target of £60,000. If you would like to make a difference and get your donation doubled, please give whatever you can to enable our children to have a positive future.

I would like to make a difference

Since our last update, we have left the Children’s Village in Mkuranga and travelled to the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. We are staying at a little hotel just round the corner from our Reception Home. Our aim has been to talk individually to all the staff and children, as well as visiting some of the workplaces and colleges attended by our young people.

We attended a graduation ceremony for two boys who have just completed their 3-year course in carpentry.

And not the class of 2022! Much to our surprise Francesca, Alison, and I were dragged up on stage to present some awards

We have also talked to some of the children who are supported in our Relatives Support Programme. They are typically primary school children who were delighted to be given some balloons to play with while waiting to talk to us.

The Reception Home is at maximum capacity, with 19 children sleeping there every night. In addition, five of our older children are living in rented accommodation a few minutes' walk away, paid for by us. The staff see them every day as they come for supper every night. They will shortly be joined by four more in the rented property, as four children presently at the Children’s Village will move to Dar to start college courses early in 2023.

We were impressed by our visit to Don Bosco College, a not-for-profit organisation that trains young adults in practical course such as carpentry, electrical installation and welding. Five Malaika Kids study there and we hope to send some more in the near future. The emphasis is on finding jobs after graduating, a cause very dear to our hearts with youth unemployment conservatively estimated at 50%.

One of our boys has just finished his first year in Heavy Duty mechanics at a different college and is clearly very popular with his class mates. Here he is on a mechanical digger and at the wheel of a simulator.

Two of our more academic girls are studying marketing and social work. The latter has two years to go before she receives her Bachelor’s degree. She, alongside a boy who is studying accountancy, will hopefully be our first Malaika Kids to attain these advanced qualifications.

It was a great pleasure to attend the graduation ceremony of two of our students, and enormous fun to eat with all the staff and students on our last night in Dar es Salaam. There was a power cut so the room was lit by the headlights of our car! There was a unanimous request for a sing-song and 'There were ten in the bed' was universally acclaimed as the song they sang with us at the Village when they were small. Here is a short video to give you the flavour…

Singing in the power cut

Also, we have more short videos on our YouTube channel. You can watch the RH children singing the national anthem and playing with a balloon in the village. All donations to our Christmas appeal are being matched, please give whatever you can and have double the impact. Currently, we are only 24% short of our target. Thank you.

I would like to support your children

With very best wishes

Alan signature

Alan Edwards Malaika Kids UK Chair

P.S. If you are doing any festive shopping at Amazon, please use Amazon Smile where you can donate to your favourite charity, at no cost to you.

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