Newsletter May 2015

This year, from February to mid-April, Janet went to Kenya again for the projects that run there, however, she had classified this visit differently.

For the first time, she spoke to the various parties involved, including even the children. She visited the grandmothers and talked to them about how the children are doing. She also went to the schools to talk to the teachers, to hear how the children are doing in school and whether they have progressed. She has also had conversations with the children themselves, to learn from them how they experience everything and what their wishes are for the future with support from the Rigii Children Foundation.

Janet has never done these visits this way before and she was gladly surprised to speak to the grandmothers and hear how their grandchildren are doing. And she's seen and heard that fortunately the children still have big dreams. But what was more important to experience is that the children are very happy with the support of the foundation, because without us they cannot go to school. There are still a lot of children who need help to go to school, but unfortunately we can't support all children with financial help. It is also true for us that we cannot raise enough funds for this.

During her visit to Kenya Janet also found out a very sad story. One of the girls (16 years old) who has supported the foundation so far has decided to quit the school because of the marriage it has entered into (at a much too young age). With this girl we started supporting when she was in grade 5 of primary school, now she was in high school in class 2. This is very regrettable, we have tried to persuade her to continue but unfortunately this has not benefited. This way you can see that we too are running into things that we have worked very hard for, but unfortunately that we do not end well in one way or another.

One of the people we support received a mobility scooter from us a few years ago. Unfortunately, we got the message last year that his mobility scooter could no longer be repaired. We have been able to hand him another mobility scooter with the help Molenaar Nunspeet. You can imagine how happy he was with this, this means freedom for him again and being able to continue his kiosk. When handing over it turned out that he is now married and has a baby, so this adds extra to the joy of celebration.

This year Janet went to Kenya again from February till mid April to visit the projects of the Rigii Children Foundation, but this year she did it differently than other years.

For the first time she has spoken to various parties involved, including even the children. She has visited the grandmothers and talked to them about how things are going with the kids. She also went to the school to talk to the teachers, to hear how things are going at school and if they went ahead with the children. She also talked to the children to hear from them how they experience everything and what their wishes for the future are regarding the support of the Rigii Children Foundation.

Janet never did these visits this way and was very happy to talk to the grandmothersand to hear how their grandchildren are doing. She saw and heard that the children luckily still have big dreams. But more important it was to experience that the children are very happy with the support of the foundation, because without us they can't go to school. There are still a lot of children that need our help to go to school, unfortunately we can't help all of them with financial support. For us it also applies that we can't bring in enough funds for that.

During her visit to Kenya Janet also found out about a very sad story. One of the girls (16 years old) who has been supported by the foundation, decided to quit school, because of her upcoming marriage, which she commited to (at a to young age). The foundation started supporting this girl when she was in grade 5 of primary school, now she was in grade 2 or high school.

This is very unfortunate, we have tried to persuade her to continue school, but unfortunately this didn't help. So you see, with our foundation we also encounter things we worked really hard for, but sadly somehow do not end well.

One of the people we support received a mobility scooter from us a couple of years ago. Last year we unfortunately received the news his mobility scooter was beyond repair. With the help of Molenaar Nunspeet we could give him another mobility scooter. You can image how happy he was with it, for him this means more freedom and being able to continue his kiosk. When handing him the mobility scooter it appeared that he is now married and has a baby, so that contributed to the fun!