Sad news from Butere

We visited our Butere project last week and received very sad news on our arrival. Last Thursday one of our students suddenly took very ill and tragically passed away the same day. Nancy Adema leaves behind her husband and two young children. Teacher Carol said that Nancy was one of the most dedicated students and was the closest to completing a dress on her own. She was always kind and humble and will be greatly missed by everyone in our Butere branch. Grace, the manager of Butere, told us that Nancy often cared for the baby of one of SMAK's neighbours while her mother worked. On Thursday she was kept awake all night by that baby crying for Nancy. 

Our deepest thoughts, condolences and prayers go out to Nancy's family as they bury her this weekend, she will be a great loss to all who knew her. 

Nancy, taken when we visited Butere back in March

Meet our Team Part 4

Thanks to the funds we have received from the Global Giving Challenge, we have been able to employ a teacher to help with our day care. Emmis started work at SMAK last week and has made a big difference already, helping the children and day care givers. 

Baby class teacher Emmis

Name: Emmis Kathambi

Role: ECDE Teacher

How long have you been a teacher?
I have been a teacher for one year, this is my second job

Why do you like teaching young children?
They are easy to understand and handle and they are not stressful.

What improvements would you like to see in the day care?
I want to create more awareness of the place so we can get a bigger intake of children. I would like more teaching and learning materials for the older children.

What do you think will encourage more parents to use SMAK day care?
Being friendly to parents and better communication with the community, showing their children love and good care will encourage others to come.

What would you like to see happen at SMAK in the future?
I would like to have a pre-school and see the place grow, so that children don't have to move to other schools when they are too old for baby class. There is space here and it would be good to share experiences with other teachers from different classes and with different ages of children. It would be good to enroll a new intake for the baby class in the new term in September.

What do you do in your spare time?
At the moment I do a lot of reading as I am studying for my diploma in Early Childhood Development. I like doing things with my hands, such as bead work as well.

Thank you for helping us reach our target!

The Global Giving April Challenge is now over, and we are delighted to say that we have met and exceeded our target. We raised £2143 during the challenge, which means that we will now have a permanent page on the Global Giving website. From here we will be able to receive donations- either one off or monthly contributions- and we can keep the site up to date with progress on our projects.
We hope that you will continue to keep in touch through this site and our Global Giving page as we will be adding reports and photos as we grow, as a result of the money you have so generously given. We have already begun in-house training sessions with our day care staff and we are pleased to say improvements in care can be seen already.

Demonstrating basic first aid with the help of a teddy!

You can also easily stay connected by 'liking' our Facebook page here.
Thank you thank you thank you from all at Single Mothers Association of Kenya.

Meet our Team Part 3

We are half way through our Global Giving April challenge. Here we can meet one of the people who will benefit from some  of the money we are making, and she tells us how we can use the money to allow more mothers to benefit from SMAK day care.

Name: Jaqueline

Role: Day care assistant

How long have you worked at SMAK? 
I used to train with SMAK when there was a tailoring department here. Then when I had my daughter I had some time at home with her. I was given a job in day care three months ago. It has really helped me.

What do you like about your job?
I can take my daughter here so I am with her during the day.

What improvements would you like to see at the day care?
The floor really needs to be improved as it is not very safe for the children. I would like more training so I can do more with the children. It would be good to have more children here as well, and another teacher for the older ones

What do you think would encourage more parents to use SMAK day care?
If we could put the fees down so more people could afford it. And we need to advertise so people know what we have to offer.

SMAK day care

We are well on our way to making the target amount for April. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far! We are very excited about improving our day care. Below are some photographs of the children currently in our center. Please give a little if you can, there are 21 days left to make our target!

Gift and Awino

Baby Adams

Smiling faces

Brooklyn

Playing outside

Global Giving Challenge

SMAK are delighted to have been given a fantastic fundraising opportunity. We have been selected by the Global Giving Foundation to participate in its Open Challenge, an opportunity for charitable organizations working around the world.
In order to succeed in Global Giving's Open Challenge, SMAK must raise £2000 from 50 donors by the 2nd May. If we meet this target, we will be given a permanent spot on Global Giving's website, where we have the potential to benefit from corporate relationships, exposure to a new supporter network, and access to dozens of online fundraising tools. SMAK do not currently have an online fundraising platform, so a permanent page on Global Giving would be of huge benefit.
Please help us reach our target of £2000 from 50 people. All you have to do is click on the 'give now' button on  the right of this page or click here. The money raised will be used to make vital improvements to SMAK's day care, provide essential training for staff and assist struggling mothers to provide for their families.
Please share this opportunity with anyone who may wish to offer their support for this important project.

International Women's Day

On March 8th SMAK celebrated International Women’s Day. We were delighted to share the occasion with friends from other organisations and local women and children. Our IT teacher Ann was Master of Ceremonies for the day and did a veryprofessional job introducing everybody.

Entertainment came from Development Centre for Marginalised Children (DECEMAC) who performed some lovely songs and poems. Two boys from SMAK’s own Chipukizi Talent Group danced some impressive self-taught routines and the Gender Based Violence group wrote and acted out a play about husband beating which the audience enjoyed very much.

Refreshments were served by our volunteers afterwards and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

Below are some photographs from Women‘s Day 2012. More can be found on our new flickr page here.

Director Angelina Nandwa addressing the audience

Master of Ceremonies for the day, Ann

Chipukizi Talent 

Some of the ladies in the audience

DECEMAC members and children

Gender Based Violence group perform their drama

Acting out the fight scene!

Phrander from DECEMAC performing her poem

Roselyne discussing human rights

Meet our Team Part 2

Judy in the VCT reception

Name: Judy Namasaka


Role: Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) counselor and Chairlady of Hope Beyond Boundaries group


Tell me about Hope Beyond Boundaries:
Hope Beyond provides psycho-social support and counselling to those living with and affected by HIV. We hold support groups where we discuss how to live positively. This involves how to accept your HIV status, nutrition, referral for opportunistic infections and how to support family members. We also carry out home based care, where by we visit those too sick to leave their beds and take care of them. This involves nursing and counselling patients. We discuss the side effects of drugs and what action to take and train members to carry out these visits on their own. 


What other activities would you like Hope Beyond to become involved in?
In the past we have assisted members in starting income generating activities so that they can be self-reliant. We hope to begin a greenhouse project this year if funds allow, so that members can grow vegetables which can then be sold for profit. 


What are the challenges you face in your work?
It can be difficult to recruit members. Unfortunately people expect to receive an allowance for participation in support groups, and we cannot afford to provide this support. Instead, we encourage members to join so we can help them start activities to create their own income. For this reason, recruiting members initially can be difficult. We also ask members to contribute a small fee, which some people struggle to pay. 


What have some of your achievements been so far?
Despite the challenges I mentioned, we have recruited 38 members and registered the group with the Ministry of Gender. We have attempted some income generating activities, and whilst these have not been successful so far, we have learnt from them and look forward to starting a new project. 


What do you like about working for SMAK? 
The work has helped me to talk openly to different people and exposed me to many different issues. I have gained a lot of experience in counselling and have met many challenges which I know will lead me to bigger achievements. Chairing Hope Beyond has taught me transferable skills which I hope will help me expand my career.


What one thing would make your job easier or improve SMAK? 
With more funds we could really expand our income generating activities and buy more home-based care kits to cover a wider area with our home visits. 

Judy with some of the Hope Beyond Boundaries Members

Meet our team

Ann began working for SMAK in November 2011

Name: Ann Waithira


Role: Computer tutor and cyber cafe attendant


Tell me about IT classes at SMAK: 
Students always receive one-to-one tuition and follow a set course covering several different programs. Depending on the student's goal, we will focus on some areas more than others


What about services at the cyber cafe? 
We offer printing, photocopying, binding, laminating, scanning and internet access. 


What do you like about working for SMAK? 
The relationship between employees and management is good. The environment is conducive and friendly.


What one thing would make your job easier or improve SMAK? 
More up to date computers and a reliable internet connection would make a big difference to the cyber cafe


What other activities would you like to see at SMAK? 
I would like if there were more activities for staff, such as sports tournaments
What do you like to do in your spare time? 
I  like singing, travelling, reading and socializing.