Onwards and Upwards!

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Hi Everyone............

Welcome to our June update from Gap Kenya. It's a while since our last newsletter and we are really hopeful that our next newsletter will be coming to you from Mombasa!

Paul had major surgery just before Christmas 2015 and has just had his third and final operation a couple of weeks ago. Our hope is that we will be back in Kenya by early September.
The photograph above shows foster mum Brigid with our youngest child, Joseph. Joseph came to us 2 years ago - both his parents live on the streets, dad Thomas has TB and is in and out of prison, whilst mum Monika works as a prostitute, disappearing for weeks on end and leaving Joseph in the care of other street people. They were happy for Joseph to join the project to be taken care of and attend school. Although we assured both mum and dad that they were able to visit Joseph, neither have taken the opportunity to do so.

Joseph has progressed so well since joining the family. 2 years ago he didn't know how to talk and had several other developmental needs.
Without your support, Joseph would have grown up on the streets, eating mouldy, discarded food, involved in crime and violence, abused physically and sexually, surviving the best way he could. He may have even been one of the many children picked up by traffickers.

By supporting Gap Kenya, you change the lives of children such as Joseph. He is now 4 years old and has been attending Kindergarten for around 18 months. his speech has improved enormously and developmentally he is now like any other 4 year old.

Paul is on the mend!

Such good news - Paul has had his final operation now and is on the road to recovery! This may take a few months, but once he gets the 'all clear' from his consultant we will be able to return to Mombasa.
This has been such a long time in coming, but we have been so very encouraged by the fact that our staff in Mombasa, managed by Timothy Mutasia, have continued to run the project without too many difficulties. We are also grateful to our friends Sean and Kim, missionaries in Likoni, Mombasa who have provided valuable oversight of the work.

Paul with Paul and Joseph.

Raped and Abused..........

.............Meet Lilian

A couple of months ago, we received a report that a number of young girls had been raped (and worse) by the older street men and youths. One of these girls was 13 years old Lilian, pictured above. Lilian is now part of the Gap Kenya home and being loved and cared for by Timothy, Brigid and the rest of the family.

It's children like these that people like you are helping.

Without your support, Lilian would remain on the streets at risk of further rape and abuse until she eventually began working as a prostitute to provide money for the gang leaders who offer 'protection' for the girls in exchange for money. Thank you for changing lives, thank you for making a difference!

Huge Thanks to Chris!

Chris Tollett from Dukinfield near Manchester took on an amazing challenge to help raise funds for Gap Kenya. He successfully completed the Fred Whitton Challenge, riding 112 miles through the Lake District which included 8 major climbs and has raised Â£650 for us so far.
Chris remarked that this was one of the toughest challenges he had ever undertaken but he wanted to do something to raise money to help the street children. Chris works as a Patisserie Chef for his day job but is a keen amateur cyclist in his spare time.

Click on his picture to view his video.

You can still donate to Chris on the following link:
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/christollett1

Schooling........

All the children who become part of the Gap Kenya Family Home attend school. Gap Kenya choose to send the children to fee paying schools as the Government schools can be quite some distance away for the children to walk to and have class sizes of around 100 children!

Because our children have spent varying amounts of time living on the streets, educationally they are already 'behind' and we know that the smaller class sizes in fee paying schools give our children the best chance to learn.

Brian and Martin are part of our Gap Kenya family and have been attending Rising Star Academy Primary school in Bombolulu. They sat their end of primary exams in November 2015 (KCPE) and this year moved to St Peters High School in nearby Kisauni.

St Peter's High School in Kisauni.

Eli and Evans did exceptionally well when they sat their KCPE examinations - Evans in 2012 and Eli in 2013. Both attained excellent grades which allowed them to attend Concord Boys High School in Eldoret. This is a boarding school in Eldoret approximately 600 miles away from the family home! Evans was repatriated back to his family in 2013 with Gap Kenya continuing to pay his school fees. Eli returns home to Mombasa in the school holidays to the love and care of Brigid and Timothy.

Evans completed his time at High School in November 2015 and was one of only two boys who attained an A- grade, the highest in the school. He is hoping to find a sponsor so he can begin university, his dream of becoming a doctor coming ever closer!!
Eli has now completed his first year at High School and ended the year with a C+ grade which is excellent. He has 3 more years to complete.

Gap Kenya are extremely proud of all our children and applaud them on their continued journeys through school. It isn't always easy for the children to adjust to the disciplines of school after the freedom of street life, and knowling that people like you are supporting them and willing them to succeed makes a huge difference, encouraging them to be the best they can be - they don't want to let you down!

Thank You Saddleworth Rotary Club!

Saddleworth Rotary Club

A massive thanks goes to Saddleworth Rotary Club who have provided the funds to pay for the children's schooling for the coming 12 months!

Some of our amazing fund raisers!

St Helen's Wigan Gospel Choir
A huge thanks again to this wonderful choir who held a concert at the beginning of December and raised a wonderful Â£200 for Gap Kenya! Unfortunately, we missed it as we moved house on the same day as the concert! I am however reliably informed that it was brilliant - how could it not be with such talented ladies!!

So yes - we have finally moved! We now have a lovely little house which is our base for the times we are in the UK and our bolt hole for times when things get a bit 'dangerous' in Kenya!

We need to say a huge thanks to Home Estate Agency who facilitated the selling of one and the buying another house, but a massive thanks to them for donating their fee of just under Â£3000 to Gap Kenya!

Big Shout Out and huge thanks to Patsy and Sarah who have raised over Â£900 with their Bingo night fund raisers!

Thanks also to Body Shop and Stephanie who has facilitated a couple of Body Shop parties donating 25% of everything bought to the charity! Along with your generous donations, we received Â£306!

Grafton House School in Ashton under Lyne held an 'Odd Shoe Day' raising Â£57........plus 26 bars of soap, 55 sponges, 30 tubes of toothpaste, 118 toothbrushes and so much more!

So a huge thanks to them along with all our other fund raisers. You are making such a difference to the lives of so many children!

Coming Up..............

Please support our super stars Charlie and Jane Haughton.
They will be taking part in the English Half Marathon on September 18th 2016 to raise funds for Gap Kenya.
They have already completed a couple of 10k runs and Charlie has recently completed the 3 Peaks Challenge.

Click on the link to make a donation now at
https://mydonate.bt.com/events/charlieandjane/308695

To find out more about the English Half Marathon you can visit http://ehm.contest-sports.com/

So life in Kenya goes on. We are so grateful to all our Kenyan staff who work so hard to ensure that all the children are loved and cared for, both in the day care centre and in the family home.
We are also indebted to Sean and Kim, missionaries in Mombasa who also help to ensure the project runs smoothly, visiting the centre and family home and encouraging the staff in our absence.

The children continue to attend our Stepping Stones Centre for food, showers, wash their clothes and to have fun!

The centre has served over 2000 meals to the street children over the last 6 months with over 1000 children attending for day care.

The children in our Family Home remain happy and healthy, attending school and sharing in family life.

So thank you once again for all your support - we couldn't do it without you!

Please follow us on Facebook, and if you would like to give a one off gift or a regular donation, click on 'donate' - it will take you through to our BT MyDonate page.

Copyright Â© 2016 Gap Kenya, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
4 Manor Farm Close,
Ashton-under-Lyne
Lancashire OL7 9LS

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