Mellow Autumn Loveliness & Keyrings for 'Kits'

 Autumn heralds cooler crisper mornings, golden sun-kissed evenings and the creeping advent of shorter days.  New terms are under way, and summer languishing seems a distant memory!  This year it’s been stranger than ever, as none of us know ‘what next’ – but that’s ok. We’re all learning to live for the moment and be grateful for the small things. Days are getting shorter.  Any Christmas plans appear to be on hold for the moment.    

Sadly, the news in Kenya is not great. You don’t need me to tell you about the increased findings of ‘bushmeat’ (aka poaching) - and I recently read about majestic giraffes in Tsavo hacked to death, and the meat sold off in nearby  markets. Not pleasant reading, but people are starving. Other reports claim there are thousands of unwanted pregnancies. Orphanages are full. There are no jobs and people are scared. For many, their last pay cheque was at the end of February.

Mwana (our school principal) told me she's acting as counsellor to about 20 of the older girls in the neighbourhood. They come in daily, sitting quietly to read or help in the shamba (the school’s vegetable plot). The girls are scared, their parents have no work, and food is scarce. Mwana feeds them from the school's crops and provides them with a safe haven. These are sad times.  There is so much unrest, pent up anger and fear as all local economies have all but fallen away for many in Watamu. 

In September, we ran a 'keyrings 4 kits' campaign and were over-whelmed with your response.  52 feminine hygiene kits were purchases thanks to your support, and Mwana has been handing them out to the older girls at the school  It gives them some dignity when so much else in their lives have changed. 

We teamed up with our  partners at ‘Mabel’ and it's good to know that a simple gesture of you buying one of our key rings pays for these feminine hygiene kits.  Small acts of kindness having such a huge impact.  Thank you to all of you who supported this.  More keyrings to come and we'll continue this initiave - just put 'K4K' in your notes at check out.