Many people have given their time and resources to make a difference for the lives of people of Kenya. These are some of their stories.

Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown

From: Cambridge, New Zealand

When Olympic medallists Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown returned home from London 2012, it wasn’t long before they were stepping onto another plane, only this time it was Africa bound for a volunteering trip lined up at Kitendo Childen’s Charity. They spent two weeks with us and in that time gave motivational talks in seven schools across Naivasha, were filmed for a TVNZ Close Up story and learned some of the Kenyan customs and the way of life. While they were in Kenya they heard and saw the long-term vision for KCC and with this understanding thy set off to start fundraising with a specific focus on our sustainability projects.

After returning to NZ they were invited to talk about the Olympics, to pupils at Te Puke Primary School. When they arrived the pupils and teachers had organised a sausage sizzle fundraiser, after seeing the TV story the ladies had been on while in Kenya. From the sausage sizzle the school raised NZ$671 in one day, all of which has gone into a new farming sustainability project. Through their combined efforts they have raised over $2500 for the farming sustainability projects.

Myriam Fillion

From: Quebec, Canada

In November 2009 Myriam  came to volunteer with her traveling friend JP. When she arrived the project had barely been running for two months. Her journey with KCC  began by being thrown in the deep end to help get things organised and set up.

I totally fell in love with the place, project and also with the people. The project was running with minimal resources and most of the programmes were running on a farm under the trees. It was at this point one of the challenges needed to be addressed; Older brothers and sisters were bringing their younger siblings, babies, (0-3 years) to school tied to their backs as they the responsibility of taking care of them.
As I was not home for my birthday,I decided to give my family and friends a challenge. Through my blog I asked each person to give as a birthday present in the form a donation to help us at the build a safe place for these little ones to play . With that challenge, I raised CAD$700.

 All the money went into building a new nursery. Painting it with bright colours the nursery is still intact and is now used as the baby class now. For me, KCC is not just a project, it is like a human. Always: growing, developing and improving. I am proud and happy to be a part of this story.

Phil Hacket and Claire Wheldon

From: Auckland, New Zealand

In February 2013 Phil and Claire started their six month African adventure by volunteering in Kenya at Kitendo Children’s Charity.

They were planning to climb Mt Kilimanjaro to raise funds for KCC and during their time in Kenya they decided to raise these funds direcly for the farming sustainability project.

They made it to Uthuru peak and in the process raised US$1295.

It wasn’t easy and we definitely didn’t love every minute of it but it was an incredible experience. We both think it was probably the most physically challenging thing we’ve ever done. Giving up was never an option but there were moments when we were definitely asking ourselves why we were doing it but the memories of the children at KCC definitely helped us to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Chichester High School

From: Chichester, UK
Chichester High School was one of the first schools to start fund raising for Kitendo Children’s Charity in 2010 when the Year 10 students nominated Kitendo Children’s Charity as their fundraising charity of the year for two consecutive years. During this time the students organised a non-uniform day and made a special fundraising effort after the January 2012 fire. The Sixth-Form under their own initiative also got involved with fundraising events in these two years as well.

From Tom Rudbridge

I was involved in fundraising for the KCC as part of the Sixth-Form Council in my last year at school. Annually the Sixth-Form organised a charity week, supporting a range of local and national charities; so the local hospice for instance was supported by a chicken-nugget gorging early in the week. My own particular responsibility came with a Quiz Night on Friday evening, which I decided would go to support the work of the KCC.

With some dedicated pushing and promoting we were able to gather very good interest in the event and on the night from entry fees and the flogging of wine left over from the previous open-evening we managed to raise £250, making it the most successful event of the week. The main reason the event was a success however was not the result of sheer stubbornness on my part, but because it was easy to attract support for an event which supported such a worthy cause. I would definitely recommend to anybody fundraising for the KCC, it is a very rewarding endeavour personally and one of those times when you can be sure that every penny you raise is going to a community where that money makes such a huge difference.

Hilary Steele

From: Halifax, Canada

From: Calgary, Canada

In May 2012 we received an email from the Grade One Pupil of Catherine Nichols Gunn School asking how they could help after the the January 2012 fire. They made posters, flags, a fundraising tally wall and set Kenya as theme of the week.

From the school

The KCC fundraiser was an overwhelming success! The excitement shown by our students was so inspiring and I am so proud of them all. Every day I had kids from various grades talk to me about the cause, show interest in how much has been raised or ask questions about life in Kenya. I have seen students writing about it, heard them discussing the topic with their friends and have been told about family time spent looking at KCC on the Internet. Our school community has really connected to this project and truly made a difference in the lives of those in the slum.

Heather Douglas

From: Halifax, Canada

What was your event? A Kenyan Cook off & Silent Auction with live music from a local band.
How much did you plan to raise and how much came in? I had hoped to raise $2500 and I raised CAD$2722.78
What did you learn from your fundraising initiative? Planning well ahead of time and getting an awesome group of committed volunteers. While fundraising is the main cause, ensure you plan an event that people will really enjoy, even if you may raise a little less money. If you have an awesome event, people will remember that in the future and want to become more involved.
What would you do differently next time? People love bidding at silent auctions – make the bidding portion of the evening the main event and get lots of donations, big or small, so as to include as many attendees as possible!
Best memory Seeing everyone from four generations and many different social circles coming together for a great cause and having an awesome time! And not having anything go wrong!

Short Stories

Find some inspiration from reading some of our short stories. Below is a handful of unique stories from people who have fund raised for KCC.

Before Dannyi came to volunteer with KCC in 2009 she ran an event in her hair salon called Cutting for Kenya, where all sales for the day went to KCC. With the funds raised we built a classroom and a kitchen, sponsored an orphan from the slums into school and ran a field trip to a game reserve for all our children.

From: Porthleven, UK

Emma and Beth decided to start fundraising for KCC through running a raffle at an art exhibition. This generated some funds and awareness, so the pair decided to run a black tie masquerade ball at the Wilmslow Revolution. Sixty tickets were sold and on the night there was a heavy snowfall! In total Emma and Beth raised over £500, all of which went into running the school and feeding programme.
From: Manchester, UK

Norm thought the KCC kids needed a New Zealand style BBQ and a day out on Lake Naivasha to see the hippos and other wildlife. He sent an email out to his rugby network and friends back home asking for support. Over the following three weeks he managed to raise enough funds to pay for the whole field trip. Funds were also raised for the hire of PA gear for a special NZ Athlete’s Schools Tour and two sixty litre cooking pots.

From: Christchurch, New Zealand

Kelly and Dan began fundraising in January 2012 after hearing about the horrific fire in KCC slum. They wrote to 500 schools, sold Cadbury chocolate bars, ran a large sausage sizzle at Bunnings hardware, received Colgate product donations, printed KCC branded hacky sacks, and bought new clothes for the children. Through their huge efforts KCC’s first building project, a stone security wall, was started and completed.

From: Adelaide, Australia

Rachel and Stuart decided to raise donations for their upcoming volunteering trip by cycling the 26-mile-long union canal cycle path from Edinburgh to Falkirk. They found cycling an economical way to fundraise – the only cost they incurred was energy! In total they raised £350, all of which went into building cement, stone blocks, steel and other materials for the construction project.

From: Edinburgh, Scotland

When Julie heard about about KCC from her home in Australia, she decided to get in touch with us about fundraising through selling KCC Eco Bags. She then arranged the printing of the bags and mobilised people from home to help sell each one for five dollars. All the funds she raised went into the feeding programme to buy flour, vegetables and rice.

From: Geelong West, Australia