On Sunday 8th July, we set off to Kenya with Regenerate. Regenerate is a charity that helps teenagers get off the streets by getting them involved in charity work. At first I was nervous about going to Kenya when I was on my way to the airport because I had never been there before and I didn’t know what to expect. When we landed in Nairobi, we drove to a small town called Nakuru, it’s a 3-hour drive from Nairobi. As we drove into Nakuru there were people selling fruit on the side of the road and there were houses made out of rubbish lining the street. Kids were playing in the dirt outside their houses. Luckily the road had recently been tarmacked so the ride wasn’t too bumpy.

There we helped out at an orphanage by; painting the girls’ dormitory, buying food and funded for electricity in the girls’ dormitory. The orphanage also had a primary school close by so the children were able to get an education. It was really fun visiting the orphanage because we were able to play with the kids who lived there and there were really cute and friendly. The owner of the orphanage told us his story about how he was a street kid begging for money then one day he met a kind American man called Albert who bought Sammy clothes, food and paid for his education. After school Sammy started to work and save up money to build a plot of land on which he could build a home for street boys, where they were able to go to school and have proper meals. Sammy’s story really inspired me because he started life in the streets and now he runs an orphanage and is using his own earned money to help the less fortunate like Albert helped him.

In Nakuru we also visited a local dump where people were living, there we gave out food to the women so that they could cook it for their family. The smell at the dump was really gross and there were pigs and goats roaming around in the dump around where the family’s lived. I felt very uncomfortable at the dump because all the inhabitants kept starring at us and I also felt bad for taking picture of their homes seeing as this is where they live and it isn’t a tourist attraction. Many of the men there kept asking us for money which also made me feel very bad because we weren’t allowed to give them money because they would spend it on alcohol or drugs.

We stayed in Nakuru for 4 days and then drove to Nairobi. On our way there we stopped off at a viewpoint on the side of the road where we could look at the Great Rift Valley, it was such a beautiful panoramic view.

Driving into Nairobi was so different to Nakuru because it is the capital of Kenya so there was a lot of traffic and it was much more developed, with tall buildings and shopping malls. We helped out at a school in a slum. The school was run by 3 men who were brought up in the slum and they used to dream of having an education so when they grew up they saved up money to start a primary school where kids were able to work and have a meal for lunch. We did various jobs there such as cleaning, cooking and building new desks. The day before we arrived an old woman’s house had been burnt down so whilst we were in the slum we also helped build her a new house out of corrugated iron and wood. She was very grateful for our help. The adults and children who lived in the slum were very different to the adults and children from the orphanage because they weren’t used to visitors like everyone at the orphanage. The people in the slum just starred at you and didn’t smile and the kids were very invading, they pulled on your clothes and asked for money and food. I personally felt very uncomfortable in the slums and didn’t enjoy the atmosphere but I did like to help the locals. On the last day that we were helping at the school we played football against the locals and some children on a big piece of land by the end of the match there were about 150 locals watching us in amazement.

On Monday we flew from Nairobi back to London. It was an eye-opening experience for the entire group and I really enjoyed the trip. It was amazing to see the way people live in the slums/dumps and it also made me realise how lucky we are in the UK that we don’t have extreme poverty like in Kenya.

I am also very happy that I went because it has made me want to get involved in more charity work. It was completely different to watching one of the charity adverts on TV. There were times when I just wanted to go home and eat normal food but after I came back to England I felt like I had really accomplished something and helped lots. I obviously hadn’t put a stop to the world’s poverty but I had helped and made a small difference.

Blog Written by: Aysha Goodwin

2012 has been an amazing year for us at Rain Edge Kenya. One our greatest achievements is to have a home for the girls established and the doors officially opened in February; even before the completion of the facility. The girl's home has become a home for 37 girls who come from different backgrounds. We have girls rescued from the streets, from attempted Female genital mutilation (FGM), from arranged early marriages, the list goes on but most of the girls that have benefited have come from the dump site.

Meet Mary Wanjiru, one of the girls who has really benefited from our program.

Sometime in February, we visited the dump site Gioto and what a neighborhood I must say from houses whose walls were simply polythene bags to others that were made from sticks and card board paper.

She wasn't going to school and was only ten but already taking care of her two siblings as her parents scavenged through the dump and waste what they got on alcohol. We gave Mary a chance at sure 24 girls home to find out what a difference it has made in her life. On this day as some of the kids were having a time to visit whatever family they have for the Christmas holidays. Mary requested that she be she left behind even though hr mom had come to pick her. So I tried to find out why.

Mary said to me, “Dad I don't want to go back to what I was. Please let me stay here, this is where I have learnt that there is more to life. I can now read and write, and am not afraid of my drunken dad and all his abuses."

To cut the long story short, I made her and her brother come with me to her home where w located their dad and as usual he was drunk but we just wanted him to meet his children Mary and William who are under our care.

Here are photos of us together...