Back in Naivasha...

I'm beginning to settle back into life here in Kenya. I seem to get a culture shock in both directions - it's a bit of a wake up call really. It's funny - it's when I'm in the UK that I feel more detached from reality and purpose and I feel bombarded with things that are unimportant and have no eternal significance. Although having said that it was really good to be back home, and I do miss it.

Some of the Sunshine Boys were asking me how my time was back at home. My response was that it was great to see my family for some time. It suddenly hit me in a new way that many of these boys have no families - I knew this of course, but it is easy to forget it. It was a moment when I realised how blessed I am, and how different our lives in the UK really are. What they boys do have though, thanks to the work of Footsteps, Mission Care and the Sunshine staff, is a new home that is being built around them and staff who act as father figures - caring for them and making sure that they get an education. These boys are blessed boys here in Kenya.

This reminded me of the week before I returned to England. During April I spent time organising for a group of professional and ex-professional Kenyan footballers to visit Sunshine and coach the boys. They represented an international NGO called Ambassadors in Sport. They work across the world using football as a tool to bring hope and empowerment to people from many backgrounds. These were some of the most inspiring men I have ever met. Not only were they awesome footballers (something that excites me) but they wre really genuine - meeting each of the Sunshine Boys at their level and loving them.

The footballers gave the boys an incredible couple of days where they not only had a fantastic time playing sport, but also received insight as to what it is to be a man - and a good man. Kenya is full of men who are poor role models and most of the Sunshine Boys have firsthand experince of fathers who were drunkards, abusive, unloving and disrespectflu to women (including their mothers). Whose footsteps can these boys follow in that case?

For two days there were men to look up to, men to follow and men to be inspired by. It was a really special time. I was delighted to have been able to organise it. As part of the new building of the Sunshine Centre, Mission Care International are including an international sized football pitch - I know that it will be well used by the football-loving boys.

A pencil: a sign of hope...

I visited the IDP camp in Naivasha today taking with me gifts from Bickley Primary School.

The teachers and children were both so grateful. These small tokens of interest were much more than writing implements. Although the pencils and pens and paper sent by Bickley Primary will make a real practical difference in the "classroom" - the tent used for schooling - they also mean something more to the displaced people here...

For these children and teachers, without a school building, without a house to go home to, many miles from their hometowns, having fled in fear for their lives, a pencil is a sign of hope. These pencils show that people care, that people outside of Kenya are aware of the situation in which they find themselves, that people want to help.

A big thank you to the children and parents at Bickley Primary for helping Mission Care International to bring hope to the camp today.