Visiting the Children at their Homes in Kilema

We set out this morning with Joseph and with our backpacks full of art materials, cameras, records binder and packed lunches for a full day of hiking through the hills of Kilema on our way to the homes of 8 children. We saw beautiful panoramas of forests and hills on our way along the red clay trails.


The first home we arrived at was that of the Mbuya family* and we were greeted very warmly by the mom and dad and the children; Abeli, Richardi, Anna, Emanueli. You can see them in the picture above. It was heart warming to be remembered so fondly by them all. So the procedure for these visits was established… interviewing the children and parents, recording the data, photographing, giving out the gifts and art from Canada and getting the children to do more drawing for us. The best part was, telling the parents that the education of the children was being paid for by ABCD: Art Building Children’s Dreams! They were so happy and grateful. We are happy also to report that a fifth child from this family has been added: Veronica, who just turned 6 on Jan. 1.


When we moved on to Christina’s family we also added 6 year old Monica who is being looked after by her grandparents. The grandfather, Godfrey, is disabled and the grandmother is 67 years old. Glad to report that Christina is doing well. You can see them above in the picture.

After a brief stop for lunch and rest we carried on to Airini’s home. Airini is recovering from malaria and should be back at school next week. Her mom was proud to tell us that she was 3rd in her class of 27 last year in school.

Next stop was the home of Nobati. He had a huge grin on his face when he saw us and was also proud to report that he was 2nd in his class of 50 last year! We’ve been giving the family one of the printed posters and when Nobati’s mom saw hers she was moved to tears. Nobati signed his artwork by himself this year without assistance.

Last stop for the day was Yasinta. This family is living is dire poverty and needs help with clothing and food. Yasinta requires some medical help which we are arranging through Kilema Hospital.

All in all it was an exhausing day both physically and emotionally but we feel we are definitely going to make a difference in these children’s lives.

3 thoughts on “Visiting the Children at their Homes in Kilema

  1. Great work everyone – just fantastic. Please say hi to Godfrey if you get a chance? Godfrey – I hope you and your folks are keeping well and that you are enjoying school. Best wishes from Ken and Angela in Australia.

Comments are closed.