30 school going teenagers received their first cosmetics for the year 2009, which include body lotions, glycerin, 2 x bath soaps, 2 x roll-ons, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, school shoe polishes x 2, sanitary towels for girls. And children and grandmothers each has received 340ml tub of Vaseline lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, 2 x bath soaps, 2 x shoe polish for school going children and roll-ons. The distribution came during the month when Community based organizations in Alexandra embarked on a massive campaign to keep our environment clean and primary and high school kids and teachers came on board. It is through this campaign that I decided to design programmes that our community care workers will work on to help and educate young children on basic health issues for example, the importance of washing hands to eliminate germs, brushing of teeth every morning and evening and simple skills such as polishing school shoes, to tie shoe lace, doing and undoing their buttons.
Most of our grade 0 and grade one children never brushed their teeth before because they didn’t have toothbrushes and it was very emotional to see how excited they were and immediately after receiving toothbrushes and toothpaste they started brushing their teeth and asking us if they are doing it right. This made me realize that the small things that most of us take for granted, are things that the majority of children from disadvantage communities can really benefit from them. Each day that I spend with children in Alex, I learn something new and even things that I never thought are important in life but through working with children in Alex, I have learnt to value everything in life no matter how small it can be.
70 school going children and teenagers have received Kings school back-bags distributed Wednesday afternoon. Kings bags are recommended by most schools, as a strong bag for school children and carry lot of books. Each child received a bag and was given a chance to select their favorite colours. They couldn’t believe it when told them the school bags belongs to them; they immediately started packing their books in their new school bags. They were all so happy and teenagers were amazed and said, they never thought I have noticed that carry their books in shopping bags because most of their grannies couldn’t afford to buy school bags for them. The following week after distributing the school bags I received overwhelming number of notes from the children thanking us for thinking about them and making their dreams a reality.
Each family for the month of May has received extra 2 x 425g tins of Pilchards and 2 x 425g tins of Corned Meat and as a result each family received a total of eight tins including the 4 tins that we provide for the families on monthly basis. This has really made a difference in many of our orphaned families especially household headed by children. Pilchards and corned meat are high in protein and are served with pap or rice, but pap is a staple food for us here, families makes tomato and onion relish and mix it with a tin of pilchards and it makes a meal for everyone, even big families. Thank you so much for always thinking about children and grannies affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. We truly appreciate your ongoing support and May God Bless each and every one of you. *****************************