J&D Children's Centre

Floice's letter: I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all the friends of Julius and Dora Children’s Center who work so tirelessly to ensure that the disadvantaged and vulnerable children at J and D Children’s Center are well taken care off. We sincerely appreciate your support and thank God for each one of you.

Currently we still rent property in Kakamega for the children. This is a big expensive £250 a month. We are therefore in the process of building the first housing unit in Maseno and this is halfway to completion. The Maseno house will take the 10 children we currently have after which we will continue fund raising for other units to be built.

We currently have ten children at J and D Center, five boys and five girls. Below is some brief information on each child

NAME	BORN	REMARKS
Moses Alpha Amatsi	26th October 2007	Found abandoned by the riverside early one morning by women who had gone to fetch water. It is believed that he spent the night by the river.  Probably his mother intended to drown him but when she got to the river she did not have the courage to do so and abandoned him there. He was the first baby to be received at J and D in April 2008. He has got over his traumatizing experience and is now a happy child and nicknamed "Boss". Amatsi means Water.
Baraka Melvin Obama	28th April 2008	Baraka came to us when he was only one day old. He was born out of incestuous relationship between cousins. As such his mother could not breastfeed him, wash him nor keep him for longer than a day. (Incest babies are seen as a curse in the Luhyia community and are usually killed) he is now a delightful boy. As you micht expect he has been nick named "Senator". Baraka means Blessing.
Tumaini Job	20th May 2008	Tumaini is also an incest baby. His grandmother planned to kill him but his great grandmother ran away with him and stayed with him in a government hospital until  the Children's Department  requested that we have him. He came to us when he was approximately one week old. He has been sickly and has been admitted into hospital on three different occasions. According to the Luhyia, it is believed that his grandmother, who wanted him dead, has cursed him!! However we know we have removed the curse throught prayer and he is now a healthy boy. He is nick named "Officer" Tumaini means Hope.
Lulu Tamara Winfred	17th May 2008	Lulu was found abandoned in a school compound. She was in very poor health when she arrived. She is a very emotional girl but is precious like her name. Lulu means Pearl.
Imani Daniel	4th July 2008	Imani came to us at three weeks. He was abandoned at the government hospital. Children abandoned at the hospitlal with nobody to tke care of them are often left to die, as the nurses are too overworked and are not provided wth facilities to take care of such babies. At the time he was very malnourished. He has recovered and of all the babies at J and D, he is the least problematic health wise. He has been nicknamed "Mugwana" (Gentleman). Imani means Faith.
Neema Joyce	9th September 2008	Was brought to the centre at one day old. The paedatrician recommended she receive speach therapy which she attends at the provincial hospital twice a week. Despite the speech problems, she is a cheerful girl and has been nicknamed "Esimwenyi" which translated means the smiling one. Neema means Grace
Emmanuel Shikuku	9th October 2008	Emmanuel was abandoned at School near the centre during the  christmas period 2008 and brought to the centre by passers by. By the time the Christmas holiday was over and the matter reported to the Children's Department, they said they had nowhere to take him and insisted we had to keep him. Shikuku means Christmas
Riziki Rael	14th September 2008	Riziki was brought to the centre at 3 days old. She had problems with her umbilical code which needed an operation. Her legs were also bent and without a course of physiotherapy treatment she would have been crippled.  We thank God we were able to get the right treatment for her. Since then she has continued to thrive. She is intellegent and beautiful and has been nicknamed "Khalayi" (beautiful meaning both inward and outward beauty). Riziki means destiny.
Zawadi Elizabeth	19th August 2009	She was brought to the centre after being abandoned at the hospital in Mbali when she was three weeks old. Zawadi and Zubeda are the youngest and continue to go once a month to the Provincial hospital for check ups and immunisation. Zawadi means Gift
Zubeda Monica Achien'g	4th November 2009	She was abadoned at the hospital and brought to the centre when she was three weeks.Zubeda means purity (the best one).

Finances

With the support we receive, we have been able to buy furniture, beds and beddings for the babies, baby clothes, napkins and blankets. We are able to feed the children who are now on solid food. when they were babies the doctor  recommended they should be fed exclusively on formula milk until they reached six months old, as they had not been breast-fed at all. We are also able to take care of medical expenses for the babies. All the children occasionally have health problems. And everyone of them has been admitted in hospital on different occasions. At one time Baraka, Tumaini and Riziki were all admitted in hospital at the same time. There are three permanent staff members that take care of the babies. These are Leah, Jackline and Mary. There is one handy man employed to take care of the compound and doubles as a watch man. With your support we are able to pay the staff a minimal salary of Kshs 6,500/ each. They are also provided with food and housing.

Support from the Kenyan Community: Several people from the community volunteer their time to visit and ensure that the children are fine.  This includes the Government Provincial Hospital pediatrician Dr Anashwa who visits whenever possible and is on call incase of emergency .

Rev, Ashilutwa of the Kenyan Anglican church kakamega visits to pray with the staff and for the children. He also assists incase of emergency e.g. the other day we had to pay a huge hospital bill. We had not anticipated this and didn’t have the money at hand so he lent us the money to pay so that the children could be released from hospital.

There is sister Sarah who is a retired professional nurse. She has volunteered to visit the children at least once a week and stay with them the whole day to ensure that every thing is in order and that the staff keep high standards of hygiene. This comes as a result of the sicknesses the babies have had in the past.

Two ladies from the community, Grace and Joyce visit often especially when I am away incase there are community related issues that the staff are unable to deal with.

I have received some support from friends in the form of baby clothes and toys. I have tried to get support from our government but all in vain as they are concentrating on the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) who are in camps as a result of post election violence. However, I will continue to talk to the officials.

Challenges

Medical: The main challenge we face at the moment is dealing with health related problems of the children and the resulting expenses. If it were possible, it would be good if the children could have medical cover incase of serious sickness where they can be admitted into a private hospital or a government hospital and good care would be guaranteed.

Feeds: The doctor has recommended that when we take in new babies they should be fed exclusively on formula milk until they are six months old.  Every child arrives before they reach six months because they are usually abandoned at birth. Each baby uses two tins of milk per day in accordance with the feeding schedule the doctor gave. This is quite expensive as one tin of Nan milk costs Kshs 610/. While the children are babies feeding is expensive and we are thankful that the ten we have have now passed this stage and are now on solid food.

Education: There is universal free Primary Education in Kenya. However, this is not quality education as classes are congested whereby you have up to 120 children to one teacher in a classroom or at times learning from under a tree. There are inadequate facilities such as textbooks, desks, toilets and teachers are few, they are frustrated and demoralized. They therefore have no time or interest to teach those who lag behind but move a head with the most bright students. It is therefore almost impossible for any slow learner to catch up with the rest. This is a huge challenge that needs thinking about as the children are soon coming to school age.

We thank God for giving you kind hearts to support these children. We hope that one day you will be able to visit and see them.