Village Projects

The proximity of the volunteers house to the villagers is fantastic, enabling numerous opportunities to share ideas and jointly develop plans for new initiatives.

Women’s Singing and Sewing Group

A few years ago, thanks to a generous donation, we were able to buy a treadle sewing machine which has been used week in, week out ever since. The ladies of the village come together to share their sewing skills and as well as repairing clothes, many school bags, decorative brooches, dresses and skirts have been made. The photo below shows the ladies making colourful rag rugs.

Generally the ladies of this group are members of the ladies choir and they practise singing hymns whilst they sew.

Adult Literacy Programme

A group of 22 women and one man have attended sessions learning to read and write and what an amazing success it has been. In July 2023 they all achieved a standard which saw them graduating from the group.

With literacy skills tucked under their belts the enterprising individuals have set up their own bank, similar to a credit union, have set up a business making and selling soap and thanks to the instruction given by a local man they are now proficiently making clothes and bags for themselves and for sale.

Children’s Craft Workshops

Most volunteers bring with them memories of fun filled crafts that they learned as children themselves. Many volunteers are parents or granparents and they bring to the table craft activities they have shared with their own children and granchildren.

The local children are full of excitement and a willingness to learn those new crafts in creative workshops.

Prison Visiting

Just a couple of miles away from the volunteers house is Mikuyu Prison which holds around 400 prisoners in very cramped conditions. The prisoners all aged between 18 – 25 years have been sentenced to maybe 3 – 5 years in prison most of them having been convicted for theft. During their imprisonment very few of them see their families quite simply because their families cannot afford the bus fares to come and see them, many of them being 200 miles away. Volunteers accompany the priests on their regular visits taking with them some much needed supplies such as soap and skin cream as well as the occasional sweet treat. Then, when the young men are leaving, we provide a complete set of clothing to take them into the outside world.