Unfortunately the kids at Shepherd's live bellow normal leaving standards, they have no regular nor sustainable   funds. They rely on hazardous donations for they survival.

  Bellow are letters sent by volunteers to spread awareness, gather ideas and funds. They summarize chronologically the status of the orphanage, the needs to be fulfilled plus give an idea of the amount of progression and the areas still to be considered.

  Letter 1: dated 4/9/06

A Cry for HELP

56 children, 8 single beds, no electricity, no running water, no toilets, no washroom, food and drinking water is a daily uncertainty due to lack of funds, rooms put together by scrap bits of old corrugated tin, classrooms bare except for an old blackboard and the occasional wooden bench, others with some empty plastic jerry cans or the dusty floor for seats…welcome to Shepard’s Orphanage in the heart of a slum in Nairobi where I am currently volunteering.

 Eager to learn, these children deserve the opportunity to a better education and a more comfortable shelter and working environment. Education brings hope and is their only chance to escape from poverty. Brian, an ambitious twelve year old orphan hopes “that one day if I study really hard, I will be able to find a cure for AIDs and stop my people from dying.”  

 Such simple things can put the biggest smile on these children’s faces…and you can help make this happen!

 Your help can come in many forms:

-         Ideas for workshops/ games/ songs/teaching themes…

-         Suggestions on ways to improve children’s conditions

-         Spreading awareness about these children and help collect funds:

o       By forwarding this message

o       I am working on a website for the orphanage, will share the link with you as soon as it is constructed

-         In goods:

o       Shipping address:  P.o Box 14675-00800- Nairobi                                                                         

o       Please let me know ahead of time what will be sent and quantities to be able to control receipt of goods

-         In cash

o       Money transfer through Western Union (no need for me to have a Kenyan bank account, you just have to give me the transfer number and details + cash amount for me to pick up from any Western Union outlet)

Below is a table detailing approximate budget needed to cover short term necessities and long term investments. Note that these figures are subject to change since they are retail prices and hopefully we can arrange more suitable affordable prices:

  Bear in mind that i will personally make sure that any donation given won’t be misused. I hope  reading this email, and seeing the pictures posted online, will give people the opportunity they’ve been waiting for to make a difference.

 Letter 2: dated 19/10/06

During less than a month Shepherd’s kids have witnessed considerable changes and amelioration in their living conditions. Thank to the staff motivation, the volunteers hard work but mainly thank to your generous donation or indirect contribution

The kids experienced many of their “FIRST TIME” last month:

FIRST TIME I eat cheese, jam, pineapple, eggs or water melon

FIRST TIME I sleep comfortably in my bed on my clean sheets and new mattress without sharing my bed with 5 others

FIRST TIME I go out of the orphanage and watch a spectacle

FIRST TIME I take a clean shower not in a black water bucket

FIRST TIME I dry myself with my own towel and not a piece of dirty cloth

FIRST TIME I can move in my classroom or dorm room without inhaling dust and sand due to my new floor carpet

FIRST TIME I can look at a clock and tell the time

FIRST TIME I can shelter when it rains without having the roofs leaking

FIRST TIME I have lamps to see at night and electricity through solar panels

FIRST TIME I have a balance diet with fruits and protein

FIRST TIME I brush my teeth and use shampoo

FIRST TIME I can comfortably sit on my desk and concentrate in class

FIRST TIME I am checked by a doctor and given appropriate treatment

FIRST TIME I pick a birth date to have a day to remember that I EXIST…

This is the effect of your contribution:

BEFORE:

  AFTER:

 This Angela, the same Angela you saw in my first letter, the Angela that was found in a gutter and abused by the police…She is out of her silent trauma state and she is now talking, singing and smiling! Her skin problem is being treated and her health condition is much better…Angela wants to say THANK YOU

 Despite all this good work we still have a long way to go, the orphanage is still in much need of work; the children are still living in very poor conditions even for African standards. Plus, the initial funds are slowly running out and we need to keep this project running.

 You can help by:

-         Spreading awareness about the children and helping to collect funds   by forwarding this message to your friends

-         Sending advice, support and ideas

-         Researching and sharing with us contacts of potential NGOs that could cover monthly expenses (specially for food) and could support continuity of project

-         Sending us funds or goods

-         Child school sponsoring: A decision has been made to send the children to schools next term, as primary education is free in Kenya. We all agreed that the children would have a better chance of education this way as the current education scheme at Shepherds is not consistent. The only fees involved for school will be paying for uniforms, shoes, textbooks, a desk and exam fees. A yearly fee of : 75$

  Letter 3: Dated November 2006

Shepherds orphanage was opened in 2004 and is a charitable organization which provides care, shelter, food and basic education for vulnerable children and orphans. Our aim is to reduce the number of vulnerable children loitering in the surrounding slum areas and to protect them from being introduced to prostitution, child abuse, drug dealing, child labour and all other forms of exploitation.  Our project hopes to empower children by giving them basic knowledge to allow them to contribute positively towards their development and to enable them to improve their lives in the future. Guidance and counselling are given so the children will grow up to have good moral behaviour in society.

Currently the children at shepherds are living in very poor conditions and are in much need of your help. There are limited funds and lack of sponsors/donors which means we cannot guarantee decent living conditions for these children.  We cannot ensure sufficient food for them each day, good medical treatment or a fair chance at education.

We have decided that we must first focus on improving the basic needs of the orphans. These would include:

Obtaining further funds and donors for food/Water: Shepherds is currently relying on kind donations from the community for the majority of their food products, these donations are not consistent or may just be a one off donation which means some days we cannot feed the 50+ orphans that stay here.  We want to encourage regular donations so that we can guarantee the children will have 3 balanced meals per day as well as clean drinking water.

School Sponsorship: A decision has been made to send the children to schools next term. We all agreed that the children would have a better chance of education this way as the current teachers have no formal qualifications and do not follow any syllabus. When the children are sent to school the current teachers can focus on 1 to 1 tutoring in afternoons for those who are struggling. The fees involved for school for each child will be; paying for uniform, shoes, textbooks, a desk and exam fees.

Medical Expenses:  Many of the children have health problems that need to be followed up and medication needs to be given. Currently there are children with skin problems, chicken pox, malaria, HIV, dental problems and many are purely becoming ill from poor hygiene and lack of nutrition. Each time a child needs to go for a check up there is an initial consultation fee.  With so many children needing medical attention it is becoming a problem for us. We also wish to take all children for the necessary immunisations in the near future.

We feel that the best way forward would be to start establishing regular donors for the above areas on a permanent basis. We can then be assured that each area is supported financially and is sustainable. This would then allow us to focus on one of the many other development projects we wish to implement.

We have drafted prices for many of the medical and educational expenses as well as menus with quantities and prices of food needed monthly. Please take the time to read through these and let us know if there is anything you can help with, be it a donation, fundraising or putting us in contact with somebody you think may be able to help.                                                   

We would also like to invite you to visit us at Shepherd’s so you can see how we run things and have the opportunity to meet our incredible children. Everyone at shepherds loves to welcome new people and we will all be most grateful to you for taking time to visit us.

    Children's words about donors:

 "My name is Nicholas from Shepherds orphanage, i am 15 years old and i am in grade 8. I would like to tell you a story about our donors.

 In 2002is when our orphanage started. In that time we were not anything, we only had mattresses. In October of the same year we got a donor from the Lions club and they got us some food, we started became healthy.

In 2005,we got a donor from California who brought us text books and exercise books. We started  learning well than before.

In 2006, we got a donor from USA who bought us 2 beds . Before we were sleeping down.

 Now we got other donors and they have done a lot for us, we were brought new beds and mattresses and now we are comfortable.

There before if you could see us i don't think you would like us and you wouldn't come to visit us again because we were very dirty. But now we got a shower and we improved very much. As we knew cleanliness is the second from God"