Christmas at Happy Life - Day 7 – Skates, Trees and School Uniforms

We made the most of our final day at Happy Life by setting the alarm early and getting up ahead of the kids. Breakfast for Steve was some freshly baked sweetbread from the on-site bakery with a some PB&J. Sharon opted for the more healthy cereal.

The older kids start their day with their chores and its great to see them all pitching in to help the Mamas. We headed over to the Shamma house where Leah lives. Mama Mary looks after the 28 girls in the house, the oldest of whom is 15. It’s incredibly calm as they all have toast and tea and Mary explains that’s because they are girls. They delight in seeing the videos we’ve taken showing Leah skating. She’s the only one that knows how having learnt over in Kasarani before transferring across. They decide they want to record a short hello to everyone.

We take some time with Leah to visit the field behind the school where they have planted a few trees and we hope to support them with a ‘plant a tree’ campaign in 2020.

On our way out of the house we find one of the staff making school uniforms. We ask him how many he has to do – he smiles and tells us ‘only fifteen more to go’. He’s making school shirts from sheets of white material and plaid skirts too on a foot pump sewing machine.

The school supports over 400 children now. 91 from Happy Life itself, and more than three hundred from the local community. The secondary school will be housed in the new building for two terms whilst they build the new secondary school 5km down the road. The new school will start off mixed but as it grows will split into two schools, boys and girls which we are told is the trend now in Kenya. Leash wanted to show us her classroom and her desk.

We grab a few minutes to record a quick video tour which is very enlightening watching it back as so much has changed since our last visit a year ago. 

One of the kids needs to visit the hospital so we have a couple of extra passengers on the way to the airport and stop off at Kasarani to drop them off.

A quiet evening meal at the airport hotel to see the new year in as we have to check in for our flight around 8am in the morning for Rwanda and the Nairobi roads are not for navigating at that time of day.

It’s been a wonderful visit – already looking forward to the next visit.

Sharon and Steve

Co-founders MX Publishing and proud ambassadors for Happy Life

(more info on Happy Life........Five Ways You Can Help Us Change Lives This Holiday Period)