Children Of Watamu

WORKING FOR THE CHILDREN OF WATAMU

HAPPY HOUSE PROJECT

Working for the Children of Watamu is a registered charity whose aim is the advancement of education amongst children in Watamu, Kenya East Africa, by the provision of educational supplies, and the reliefof poverty by the provision of financial assistance towards school fees for children in Watamu.

For further details / hard copies of the project & / DVD please contact Sue Hayward
Tel & Fax (0044) 01253 352430 / 07706677634

 e-mail sue@childrenofwatamu.net

 

THE PRESENT

The charity was registered in June 2003. Since then it has re-furbished one school and built 2 others. 700 children are now in full time education due to this work. 250 of the children are sponsored. The Primary School has a library containing 15,000 books. If children can read, children can learn.  There is also a computer room with 25 computers, ready willing and able to change lives through education. Both of these rooms are used by the children attending the school, and also as community projects. Local people can use the library as a lending library, or sit and read in a relaxed atmosphere. Children from the age of 5 years are now taught computer as part of the school curriculum. Lessons are offered to children from other schools and adults at a very low cost. Education is the road out of poverty for both children and adults.

HAPPY HOUSE PROJECT

The next project that is so desperately needed is to build a Happy House for the many orphans now in Watamu and the surrounding areas. Scores of children are orphaned, due to Aids, Malaria, and the many other diseases these people have to contend with on a day-to-day basis. Frequently children are abandoned.  Children are living rough begging for food, searching for scraps amongst rubbish. Children disappear from the village. Where are these kids? Are they still alive? In England a child goes missing it is headline news, in Watamu a child goes missing, who notices? ‘Well, it was an orphan!’ Where has that child gone? A place must be built to take care of these very vulnerable children. A place where they can go to sleep in a bed and wake up to a breakfast. The Happy House has to be built before even more of these little people are raped, killed, or die from malnutrition and sickness.

As the children grow in the Happy House environment they will become secure in the knowledge that someone does care about them, they do have a future to look forward to. A future where they can become a well adjusted, well educated person in their own right, where they can hold their heads high and say ‘I was a Happy House Kid.’ They will grow as a family looking after and caring for each other as brothers and sisters should. When the girls leave to start a life away from the Happy House, they will come back to get married from ‘their’ own home. The only home the majority of these children will have ever known.

THE EXPENDITURE

Preparing to build

4 acres of land has been donated to the Charity, and a 99-year lease secured upon it.

The plans have been drawn and passed.
 
The perimeter of the land has been secured by fencing and an access gateway.

A well has been sunk.

Fruit trees have been planted. Spiky plants called Bougainvillea are being planted around the perimeter for added security
The land is being cleared in preparation for the commencement of excavation work, ground settings and foundations in September 2008.

The Charity has enough funds to complete this first stage.

Building supply companies such as Bambouri Cement in Mombassa are being approached in a bid to secure charity donations of materials or items at a reduced rate.

 

Building the orphanage

Construct walls and reinforcements
Construct major walls and divisional walls
Rentals and top slabs. Walls on the first floor
Wood works and Top roof
Electrical, pipe works and plumbing.
Top roof.

Finishing

All finishing works – plastering, floors tiled, fittings & fixtures etc.
The Happy House will then be ready to take in the children – it will accommodate 76 children in total.
The some of the basic items inside that will be needed will include:
 
Beds sheets blankets and mosquito nets. Cups, bowls plates and cutlery. Dining tables and chairs. Washing machines, freezers, fridges. Cooking facilities to accommodate 100. So many sundry items are needed to get the Happy House up and running.

ITEM	NUMBERS	COST	TOTAL	IN-KIND
Land to build on	4 acres			Donated
Total Cost to the building including all the works to the finished product – see blue prints for construction details			£174,858
Breakdown of the steps to deliver the Happy House
GROUND WORKS Excavation works Ground settings Foundations and ground slabs
			£26,929	Funds secured
WALLS & REINFORCEMENTS Walls & reinforcements Major & divisional walls Rentals & top slabs
			£36,570
TOP FLOOR & SLABS Walls of the 1st floor Wood works Top roof
			£52,854
FINISHING All finishing works – floors, plastering etc Fittings to details
			£49,854
Handing over of building and other costs			£8,651
Essential Equipment and stock
Bunk beds	50 sets	£100 each	£5,000
Sets of bed linen	200	£10 each	£2,000
Pillows	150	£2 each	£300
Mosquito nets	100	£20 each	£2,000
Bedside tables	100	£10 each	£1,000
Chairs	25	£10 each	£250
Small tables	25	£10 each	£250
Sets of drawers	25	£25	£625
Large tables	10	£50 each	£500
Chairs	100	£10 each	£1,000
Cutlery sets	100	£3 each	£300
Plastic bowls	150	75p	£113
Plastic plates	150	75p	£113
Water jugs	20	£2	£40
Chicken	20	£1	£20
Cows	2	£50	£100
Goats	10	£20	£200
Ducks	10	£5	£50
TOTALS			14,861

SUSTAINABILITY

The 3 schools that have been built thrive due to the sponsorship of 250 children. The children at the Happy House will be similarly sponsored for their needs to be met, wages and bills to be paid. Fund raising has always been a large part of our work, and will continue to be so. The Trustees of the Charity work as a team, to secure funding from various sources.

Polymer Manufacturing Company based in Wollaston Northants, donated £9,200 in December 2007. Abbey Bank gave a matched donation of £3,500, which was received after a Charity Night in November 2007. This is the third year that donation has been received. Volunteers do sponsored slims, swims and runs. Organise golf days and charity events in schools, pubs and clubs.

Part of the 4 acres is being prepared to enable cows, chickens, ducks and goats to be housed and provide fresh food for the children and staff.
Produce such as potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, beans, carrots, pumpkins, and melons will be grown. Fruit trees, including bananas, mangos, and oranges have been planted. Negotiations are also ongoing with local hotels and businesses to provide the basic needs on a regular basis such as bread, rice and ugali.

A children’s clothes collection is gathering pace through sponsors and the website.

The 3 schools already built by the charity will provide a guaranteed quality education. Some of the orphans attending school will become Happy House Kids, as their living conditions at the present time are very unsatisfactory. Some are living with relatives or neighbours who are unable to care for them and their own children. These children are already sponsored. There is also a clinic at school where their medical needs will be attended.

The Happy House will thrive with caring, supportive staff and the backing of its sponsors, volunteers and trustees. Without it, these children would be destitute, finding scraps to eat in the bush and sleeping rough. They would have no home, no medicines and no education no future and the great possibility of – not surviving at all.

This project will provide a vital link for so many children, who will pass through its doors over the next 99 years and beyond. Children who will hold their heads high and be proud to say  ‘I was a Happy House Kid ‘

 

 

 

Latest Plan

 

For any further information please contact: -

Sue Hayward
 Working for the Children Of Watamu
 Registered Charity No. 1098731
Castlemere Hotel
13, Shaftesbury Avenue
. North Shore
 Blackpool.
FY2 9QQ
Tel & Fax (0044) 01253 352430 / 07706677634

 e-mail sue@childrenofwatamu.net
      

Thank you for caring.
Please Help to make them Smile

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