Happy Turkey Day!

Sorry that this is a day late. I was unable to move yesterday after the huge feast we had at the compound. Thanksgiving is said to be the best celebrated holiday of the year here and now I understand why. There were about 40 people at dinner last night, and each person brought something interesting and delicious to eat. Everything from 3 different types of stuffing to sangria to pecan pies.

Here are some pictures from the feast!

Beautiful decorations from the states...(when you don't see decorations like this for several months, paper pumpkins suddenly become awesome)












Getting ready...












4 15kg turkeys!












My stacked plate...

Tumaini Children's Center: Can you help?

I've been trying to spend more of my free time at Tumaini ('hope' in Kiswahili), a street children's drop-in center here in Eldoret. There are over 1,000 children who live, part-time or full-time, on the streets in Eldoret. Some are orphans, others have families who cannot support them financially, and others ran away to escape mistreatment.

The center is run by wonderful Kenyan staff and volunteers, some of whom were once street children or orphans themselves. The center provides the children with meals, education, showering facilities, a safe place to play, and clothing. The center is currently open 3 days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) and on Tues, Thurs, Sat, the children get together with some of the staff to play soccer.

Before the center, many of the children spent their days sniffing glue (which can be purchased for approximately 25 cents in town). They barely made money for food by selling plastic bags at the market, and many of them were lucky if they made a dollar or two a day. With the creation of the Tumaini center, the children have a fun, drug-free environment where they can come to learn, play, eat, and relax. Eventually, once a child transitions to coming to the center consistently, the center attempts to place them into schools if funding is available.

The center has also recently found a soccer coach to help create an actual Tumaini soccer team that will compete against the other teams in Eldoret. Playing soccer really empowers the children (particularly the older boys), and the staff often spend time after practice discussing and teaching important life skills that can be related to soccer. One of the staff members told me on Saturday that they are desperately looking for uniforms, old sneakers, and cleats. I was inspired to try to help them get these items.

My plan is to collect donations while I'm back in the states for the holidays and surprise the Tumaini team with a late Christmas gift when I return. If you, your children, your siblings, your neighbors, or anyone else you know might have sneakers or cleats that you are willing to donate please contact me (szkwarkd at gmail). Right now, many of these kids play barefoot so yes your worn out sneakers with holes will mean the world to them. If you happen to know a younger boy's soccer team who has old uniforms lying around, PLEASE let me know. These are tough to find and they are expensive so it would be amazing to get them some uniforms donated from the states.

Other ways to help:
Christmas is coming soon and the center is planning on giving each child a new set of clothes for Christmas. Each set (shirt, pants, flip flops) costs about $5.
So...
$5 = Clothes for 1 child
$25 = Clothes for 5 children
$50 = Clothes for 10 children
Also, school fees cost about $400-800/semester and the center costs about $2000 to operate. ANY contribution towards operational or education costs would also be greatly appreciated.

Since I will pass the donation along directly to the Center, I will make sure to send you a picture of the specific children that your donation personally helps!

If you want additional information about the Tumaini Center, please check their facebook page!

Below are some pictures from Saturday.

Playing soccer with some of the kids...













Snack time after soccer...