Hi Tobi

Update: Shadrack is still at Jomo Kenyatta University in Nairobi doing Biochemistry and Molecular Engineering. He has lost a lot of time because of the university closing in March and only reopening in November so I suppose they will probably add 6 months or so onto the course. He is doing well though and it is a tough subject. He is disciplined and sensible so I am sure he will do well in life. He is a good kid. I never have any problems with him He is always happy to be at home here, does not go out getting into trouble, is happy to just be around and helping out here. He did a small chicken project while he was home all those months and is always willing to help me with the younger kids. He is reliable and we miss him now that he is back at university but he will finish his end of term exams soon and be home for Christmas break. His university fees are about kshs25,000 per semester (three semesters in a year so 75,000) and I am paying rent for his accommodation of kshs4500 per month plus his food, internet and phone costs, pocket money and transport. He will probably have about 6 semesters left to complete the course. Getting him through is my priority really. I really hope there are no more delays in his education.

Philip finished his course and has a part time job in Nairobi at the moment. His last job ended when covid came to Nairobi and they closed down. He has been offered a better job if he can get a driving licence but I haven’t been able to finance the lessons just yet. The course costs approx kshs20,000. I am subsidising his rent and helping him out a little as it is better he stays in Nairobi in hope of better work coming his way. I did have some issues with him earlier this year when he got involved with the wrong friends but he has really tried to improve and he is getting there. It is a very tough world out there as so many are looking for jobs right now.
Schools here all closed in March. The exam year classes in primary and secondary went back to school in November and they will take their exams in March/April (they should have been finishing them now). All other classes are still off school. It is hoped all children will return to school on 4th January. They have a plan to catch up the missed two terms over a two year period so that children will not lose a year or have to add an extra year. I really hope so but it is dependent on them being able to all return in January. There are so many kids on the streets or just idling around or getting into trouble. And it is likely that a lot will not be able to go back to school if their families are suffering the economic effects of covid 19 as just the costs of uniforms etc can be too much and families will be forcing kids to go and earn some money any way they can instead.

I will have four in university in January – Shadrack,and Marion who live here and two other former street kids Jacob and Abel who I support through university but who do not live with us and stay with distant family in Kitale. I also have 2 boys doing primary exams in March who hopefully will go to high school and I have another one already in high school. I have a total of 10 in primary school. I have been homeschooling since March to be sure they are occupied and won’t be held back for any reason. But, I am not a teacher and it is difficult teaching all those different ages on my own, and if we start getting any business in 2021 for the lodge, I will not be able to continue with that. At the same time, it will be a real struggle to cope with school fees, uniforms etc etc so I really don’t know what I will do in January. The ones in exam years and university I really want them to be able to go back and continue but I might have no choice but to keep the younger ones out of school for a term or longer until we can afford for them to return. Three of them are special needs cases with serious medical conditions. Alex has the same disease as the Elephant Man and is disabled and very disfigured. The disease affects his brain too and he is very slow at school work so has struggled to keep up. David just finished chemotherapy for cancer two months ago and has been very sick but we seem to be winning that battle and he is doing ok right now. He has been out of school since September 2019 because of his cancer but has been doing homeschool with the others to try and catch up. And Haron has rheumatic heart disease. He had to have major surgery and still has to have medication but he also has recovered really well. All the various other kids have come from abusive backgrounds or have lost parents. The four youngest ones are orphans.

So, I have 11 kids depending on me and 4 partly dependent on me. Usually, we have been managing ok but the Lodge has had no customers since the end of March when the lockdown went into effect. We had to close completely by government directive. And even though we are now allowed to open again, we have no bookings as all our bookings come from overseas and people are just not travelling. Maybe once the vaccine is more widespread there will be more customers willing to come but people are not only worried about catching covid but are worried about the lack of medical facilities in Kenya if they got it here. And I can’t blame them for that as we have no ventilators or good medical facilities in Kitale. So, I don’t think the Lodge will really see any customers until after March 2021 so we will have been for a full year with no income at all. I have managed to get by on my savings so far and borrowing some, but I had not counted on this taking so long and I will not be able to pay school fees in January – I have had to pay university costs for Shadrack, Abel and Jacob and the kids who are back in school for exams last month which I had not planned on as originally it was not intended for kids to go back until January. So, any help your friends can give me towards January costs for the older kids especially would be very welcome. If I can get help for the first term, I really hope to have some customers by the second term in April which will help. We have been growing our own vegetables and doing some takeaway meals for local people which has helped me feed the kids. But I have also been trying to help out our former staff/workers a little bit as even though they have not had any work here since March, they have families to care for so I suppose I have dependents other than the children!

Overall in Kitale, things are better now than they were between March and August which was a lock-down and most businesses were closed down and there were travel restrictions as well so the market was closed, the piki piki drivers were not allowed in town and anyone in non essential businesses – hairdressers, bookshops, hardware, tailors, hotels and restaurants etc were all closed up. This really made it hard especially for the poorer people who live from day to day anyway. We tried to help where we could and did food parcels for families badly hit and paid for medical treatments for some. Covid didn’t reach Kitale until October time and we have not had too many cases but I do know some people who have had it and I know of three local men who have died from it. Some people have had to be transported to hospital in Nairobi as our hospitals do not have the facilities. So, people are still having to be very careful and many businesses did not survive the lock-down. But, at least now people are allowed to trade again even with some restrictions but the numbers of infections are going up. The problem for all will be managing to put their children into school in January – especially paying for boarding schools.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can tell you. I know that apart from the kids I have been supporting there will be other people asking for help in January who have suffered because of the economic problems of covid on top of an already difficult life for them. I have attached some photos.
We hope that you and your family are well and have not suffered too much because of covid 19. It is a terrible thing but we hope that the vaccines will be able to restore some normality during 2021.

Regards to you and very happy Christmas and let us hope that 2021 brings hope!
From Theresa, Ibrahim and family