In house one we are ten children and one mother. We like watching TV and we really enjoy reading storybooks. We like swimming too. Our best food is rice. Many of the children in our house like playing football. We also play basketball in the courtyard where we have a hoop and compete with other houses. We also have opportunities to do martial arts, which many of the children enjoy as well.
We like listening to musical and we all like dancing. We also really enjoy going for trips, such as climbing mountains.
Our housemother Florence always wants the house to be clean but sometimes the children (the boys) disobey her! We always like hardworking children and not lazy people. God and hard work leads to success.
- Written by Sabina
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Welcome to House number two at Thomas Barnardo House report. The house mother in charge is Sabina Ngatia. Our current residential children members of our house are:
Our house is number 3. We are nineteen children plus our mother. Our age ranges from 3 and a half years old to 24 years old. Our house has five rooms – the boys’ room, the mother’s room, the girls’ room, sitting room and the kitchen and bathroom. We do care for one another and we live like a family, remembering the English saying that goes “A family that prays together live.
In our house many children have so many hobbies e.g. in sports Francis and Eugene can play football, they make our house shine and make us proud. In art, Richard can really draw and beautify the house with some of his pictures. Some can really sing, like Susan, Monica, Daniel, John and Jacinta. Also they can wash, clean, sweep and tidy up the house.
The mother cooks and bakes cakes for our projects.
Many in our house have dreams and hopes that one day they will be somebody in life. Determination is the key in our house.
- Written by Richard Otieno
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There are thirteen children – seven girls and six boys in our house. Of these, there are 3 secondary pupils, 8 primary pupils and 2 babies who do not attend school. Six of the house 4 members school at Jonathan Gloag Academy.
We have a very good housemother called Doris Aluma. In our house we have rules and regulations which we are supposed to follow and respect. There are even duties which we do. These include mopping the house, washing dishes and cleaning the table for young ones. We also do some things together in the house, these are watching television, eating together and feeding the babies together, playing together, praying together and singing together. We also do other things alone, like making the bed, washing our own clothes and doing homework. All of us enjoy playing together and working hard in school. NOBODY in our house likes fighting, abusing and stealing. We respect other people’s property and we don’t like lazy people. We appreciate active and hardworking pupils. EVERYBODY likes watching TV, listening to the radio, doing our duties, respecting others, loving others, reading the Bible, and working hard in our schools.
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In our house we are getting on very well. On Saturday we are going to the KWS to see different kind of animals. The weather is currently really affecting our house because many people are very sick with flu. It is winter for us here in Nairobi and it has been raining! The ones who go to boarding schools have already come to join us as it is holiday time, so there are many of us in the house! Even if school is closed we still need to study everyday except on the weekends. It is important we do our holiday homework and read books from 2pm until 4pm. The young teenagers are also being talked to every Wednesday at 6pm in a session that aims to tell them about life out with Thomas Barnardo House and also taught morals.
We have started doing work experience as well. Every one is given a job then when you do good work you are paid. Jobs include looking after the chickens, cows, poshomill, laundry, working with the landscape gardener in the grounds or helping out in our crèche and nursery.
Classes 7 and 8 go to tuition from 9am until 1pm where they study and read. There is just one member of our house, who is in class 7 attending this tuition. Another house member is studying catering in college, she will be finishing the course this year. The smaller children, who are about 5 years old go to crèche where they are taken care of before coming back in the evening. When the weather is good we go swimming in public. We swim and relax our minds after a long hardworking day.
On Saturdays from 6pm until 8pm we always watch a movie that we are allowed to choose and watch in any house.
Our house project is to look after the turkeys and chickens but they scare us a lot. There is a hostel for big boys and girls – only one of us in our house is in that hostel. Every day we always watch television from 5pm until 9pm.
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We are all getting on well and are putting more effort into school as well as working hard in the house. Everybody is co-operative with Aunty and obeying her. Our new baby boy Kamau feels at home and he has known a lot of Kiswahili – even talking and understanding, with the ability to count from one to ten without any problem. Our house project is looking after the chickens and they are getting on well and are exciting to feed. Purity and Sharon did their interview and were happy to pass. Next year they will be promoted to Class One. Yusuf is reading many books and he is writing good composition. Njeri is going on well with her holiday homework. Rama is happy as he has been back home and he has really been enjoying school. I am going well with my tuition too. We are punctual to school and always do our duties without complaint. We have planted flowers in a vase and the house is now very beautiful. After school we watch movies and we do our homework. Mum has gone off for a break, but she will be back on Saturday. This week we are on duty and we hope we will co-operate with people.
- Written by Judy Wanyiri
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We are a family of twelve together with our mum – five boys, six girls and our mum. We are a happy family and share our happiness together as a family. We have chores for the house that we share. We as a family have our own principles. Our mum rewards us accordingly to our deeds and academically, of which is a challenge to all of us. We teach our wee ones the chores that they are able to do and try to live on exemplary life for their benefits. We share the little knowledge that we have with them. We enjoy everything as a family together.
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We are the House 8 members. Our family is of five girls, nine boys and the mother. When we wake up at 6am we do duties and one elder person prepares breakfast. After everything is done in the house we go for work. It starts from 8am to 1pm. The small children go to the crèche. After 1pm we take our lunch. At 2pm we do our holiday homework and read storybooks. At 4pm we are then free until 6:30pm. We take dinner at 7pm – 7:30pm. We watch the TV until 9pm when the children go to bed. The elders watch TV until 10pm. Most of us like watching TV, some like playing, and others like singing. Our mother likes cooking for us and taking good care of us. We have cows for our project and we take care of them according to our duties with our mother.
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