Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare blog

I am back in Kenya for a quick half-term break and to catch up with some friends involved in eco-tourism, organic faming and also to see one of the charity projects we support. Grassroots is a wonderful ‘umbrella’ organisation that has many small ground-level projects under its wings. Grassroots itself is a Christian humanitarian aid charity and that supports initiatives in many developing countries around the world, including Kenya. One of these is something called Watu Wa Maana, a street children’s shelter in Ruiru, about an hour’s drive East of Nairobi. This is a project we, as a company, have supported for a couple of years now – the first year we helped to fund a bathroom block and this year we’re providing funding to help enlarge their tin-shack kitchen. Watu Wa Maana means Very Important People in Swahili, and these words are written large above it’s makeshift building.  Like almost every African city, Nairobi is full of street children – kids who live and sleep on the streets, begging and scavenging for food and scraps. Sanitation and health issues are inevitably very poor and the children are easy prey for pimps, dealers and criminals. Not all the children are orphans (although many have lost one or both parents to HIV-AIDS), some are just kicked out of home as there is no room for them to live or food to eat. Fortunately for some of the childen in Ruiru, there is Watu Wa Maana.

I arranged to meet one of the main directors of the project, Wanjiru, at a local petrol station on the main highway out of Nairobi, so she could guide me into the maze of downtown Ruiru. I spotted her immediately – a smiling African lady sitting in her battered white Nissan car, and followed her off the main road and down a series of dusty tracks. Pulling in to what looked like a derelict building site, we were at once surrounded by hoards of laughing, shouting, noisy young children, most of whom were clutching plastic beakers of porridge. “We’ve arrived at tea time!” smiled Wanjiru, showing me the enormous cooking pot filled with grey gruel-like sludge. “Would you like a cup?” they asked? “you save it for the children” I tactfully declined. Five or six of the smaller boys and girls immediately latched onto me, tugging at my hands and pulling me into the centre, keen to show me around. Wanjiru explained that they currently care for 52 children, from the age of 4 to about 16. They sleep in the centre (two to a low single bed, two beds to a room) and have basic washing facilities (a cold shower or tap with a plastic bucket beneath). Meals are cooked in huge steel pots over an open fire and seemed to consist mostly of porridge and a Kenyan culinary classic called ugali and beans (a bit like spinach and pulses mixed into a stew). Many of the children were literally in rags, most had no shoes. It was like stepping back in time to a Victorian workhouse, or worse. I have to admit it was hard to fight back the tears as these cheerful, outgoing, bright and optimistic youngsters proudly showed us their home: You are not likely to have seen anything quite so basic being lived in by children. Wanjiru caught my watering eyes and squeezed my arm, saying “don’t worry, I used to cry all the time when I came here, but remember, these are the lucky ones”. And she’s right. The work done by this centre is extraordinary. From housing, clothing, medical care and food, these young children are getting basic humanitarian care. “All we do is love them” says Wanjiru. Actually, she does a lot more – including helping to raise sponsorship and funding for school placements (there is no such thing as a free education here). About a dozen of her children have funded school places, the rest are waiting.

Before I left, the children grouped together to sing for us – a very moving song all about happiness and hope. I was also taken to see the Grassroot’s goat (co-incidentally named Wanjiru!) who had just arrived as a donation, to provide goats milk for the kitchen. I have been involved with several ‘send a goat’ gift schemes over the years – for my fortieth birthday some years ago I asked my family and friends for forty goats for Africa – but this was the first time I’ve come nose to nose with a donated animal. It’s great to see the end result and visits like these are vital to get good information for us when deciding where to spend our annual charity budget. I then got a list of the things they are most in need of, which include a new cooker and pot for the extra mouths to feed, as well as on-going children’s education. Wanjiru also said she had just received a quote for replacing all their light fittings and bulbs with low energy ones (electricity is hugely expensive in Kenya). It just so happened that this amount was exactly what I had in my purse, so I was able to hand this over for an immediate result. Fantastic.

I drove away waving goodbyes out of the Land Cruiser window and promising to return, so I’ll write again after our next visit which will probably be just after Christmas. With a bit of luck I may even be able to take a few books and toys for some festive cheer next time.

For further information visit www.grassroots.org.uk. If our Christmas gift catalogue has inspired you to think about your present shopping, you may also like to visit the Great Alternative Gifts section on the Grassroots website, where you can buy a school desk (£10), a safe oil lamp (£3), two mosquito nets (£4) or, if you’re feeling really flush, a pregnant cow (£200). You might even find a goat called Wanjiru.