Newbury Freegle - Thank You from Twiga

I was not disappointed when I arrived at Twiga with toys and games for the children! I will be thanking people personally when I can get the details back (my laptop died in Kenya), but in the meantime, the children have asked me to say a big thank you to everyone who donated toys, games and clothes.

In particular, we were given a giant snakes and ladders and a junior twister game, both of which were big hits with the whole age-range (3 to 16).

Several of the boys also asked to be taught chess. Many are already accomplished draughts players but as we had been given a set with both games, they wanted to try the game they knew nothing about.

I have to confess that, other than the movement of the pieces, I do not know a lot more than they do. I had to explain that it was a game of strategy, then left them to it. It kept them occupied for hours, with potential players staring over the shoulders of those actually involved in a match.

Toy cars and Barbies were distributed to the younger children. One little girl braided and re-braided the hair on a Barbie, each time running around showing everyone the "new" hairstyle - another hit!

So, all in all, Christmas came early at Twiga. Clothes were given to those most in need and money donated went towards the swing and food.

Oh, and we were also given some vegetable seed. The children were introduced to seed sowing on my last visit, so they attacked the chore with enthusiasm. Before I left, there were peas and bean plants up to 2" tall growing on the Twiga plot.

We also handed out seed to the children who had a plot at their home. I visited them just before I left and saw the loving care these children have put into sowing their seed.

So, this trip was another success. I left a lot of very happy children, which, if you saw the living conditions of some of them, you would wonder just how they survive!

Of course, they survive due to the untiring work of the Twiga volunteers, and Vincent and his wife, Abigael.