These are exciting times at Happy House as we proudly watch some of our young people step into a new chapter of their lives, full of possibility and promise
Baraka and Diana are settling well into college life, with Baraka studying catering in Voi and Diana pursuing hospitality studies in Mombasa.
Further afield, Mwende has begun university in Nairobi, where she is studying IT.
Closer to home, 10 children have started at Barani Secondary School this year, marking an important new step in their education.
Florence is currently waiting for the January intake to begin a bridging course, which she hopes will enable her to progress into nursing, her dream career.
In the meantime, she is keeping busy and gaining valuable experience through an internship at a dental clinic here in Watamu.
As our older children move towards young adulthood, we are also planning ahead for their future living arrangements when they reach the age of 18 and can no longer live in the care of a children’s home.
Today, we join Papa Dave at the site of our Halfway Houses.
We now have two houses completed: Hatch House, which has been home to a group of young men since 2023, and a second house which, after some delays, is just finished. It was funded entirely by a friend from the Netherlands.
By next week, it will to Priscilla, Purity, and Diana when she is back from college.
Work has now begun on our third Halfway House, with the foundations currently being laid, as Papa Dave explains from the site.
This will be occupied by boys who turn 18 this year and have nowhere else to move on to as they begin independent adult life.
At least half of the cost for this new build was raised through an incredible challenge undertaken by two supporters, Ben Heavers and Rees Flynn who climbed Mont Blanc, raising an aesome £8,626 for Happy House.
Since then we have now received more donations which mean we hope to complete in the next three months – depoending on the weather!
We are also very grateful for a £450 donation, ringfenced specifically for furnishings, from Wyre Masonic Lodge in Lancashire, which will help turn the house into a welcoming home.
Papa Dave has built a bungalow on the site which he will move into once his own house, now too big for him, has sold.
We are ever mindful that nothing we do is possible without you, our generous friends, wherever you are in the world.
It is your kindness and commitment that enables our charity, Children of Watamu, to transform young lives and to put hope into the hearts of children. You have all our thanks and our love.
