Newsletter December 2022

News from Kisumu

Nynke in Kisumu

Project Care St.Clare: children on holiday, school reports

Project Therapy: new therapist, wheelchairs

Project: Sport Urusi: funeral

Activities

Protestant Christian Elderly Association Uden

Music in the Family , Langenboom

Sale Jeu de boule PLOP Uden

Agenda

News from the board

We travel to Kisumu again

review 2022

News from Kisumu
Mambo? My name is Nynke and I have just returned from Kenya. 16 years ago I was in Kisumu with
Carmen and now, after 16 years, I have gone back to visit friends, but also to see Amara projects and
make people happy with donated items. To begin with, on behalf of all those people: asante sana!
My first visit was in the adjacent Kibos to George and his wife Ashley. George attracts attention with
his welding company and was very happy with the donated work gloves. I was also visiting Ayub and I
made him and the chairman of the football club Urusi happy with football boots, shirts and
goalkeeper gloves.
December 8th I was able to see all items in action, because then a friendly match was played
between the children of 10-14 years. Great to see all those kids playing football, talking to them
(about football 😉 ) and also to see that it is really well organized. The coaches are involved and the
children visibly have fun, but also listen to the coaches. The chairman does everything he can to
repair torn clothes, shoes and balls, you can only have a lot of respect for that. What is still needed?
Good footballs, cones, more football boots size 36-42 and a lawnmower.
Finally, a visit to Sister Lydia, Sister Beatrice and the children of St. Clare’s was on the program. I was
greeted with songs and dances and the children made beautiful drawings of their hobbies and wrote
pieces about themselves.. New children have recently joined and Sister Lucy has indicated that
money is needed for school materials. I also see that with other friends with schoolgoing children:
the fees are skyrocketing and education is becoming more and more a privilege, which is of course
very sad. The home now has a beautiful location (compared to 16 years ago) and I get the impression
that the children have a nice place there. As a surprise I have left behind two new i-pads that will be
used for education. In addition to the various visits, I brought a suitcase full of beautiful items for the
web shop. Are you still looking for an original gift for yourself or someone else with which you can
make all creative people in Kisumu happy at the same time? Take a look at the web shop!

Project Care: St. Clare Children’s home reintegration
From Sister Lucy we received the reports from almost all children from the reintegration project last
week and from some children, who are in secondary education, a letter of thanks for sponsors and
board of Amara. We have known Mercy from a young age when she came to live on St. Clare with
her sister. From 2018, together with her sister, at a school boarding school, she attended he last
years of primary school. In January she starts in the 2nd year of the secondary school. During all
school holidays she lives with her grandmother. The letter below: Addressed to the board of Amara
but also to all our “members”.
I will be co-operate you and your members. I will achieve my goals to you. May you have the same
heart for to help others. May the Lord help you in your life. And I wish you a blessed Merry Christmas
and a happy New Year.
Yours faithfully. Mercy”
This year the item “expenses for the reintegration project”, the payments for school costs for 22
children placed with family, was €12,414. In the new school year, which starts on 23-1-2023, the
costs will certainly be higher, because prices (as in the Netherlands) are also rising in Kenya. Because
these costs will remain high and we would like all children to be able to finish their school with our
donation, we have decided to make this a Christmas promotion. So if you want to support us, in this
festive month, with regard to the post: reintegration, education, then we would have been greatly
helped with that. Click on the link or scan the QR to make a donation directly.
Asanta sana!

Project Therapy
Since the end of September there is a new therapist who gives therapy on location at the school of
the disabled children. We experienced these first months as very pleasant in communication and
cooperation. In the new year we will meet Robert Kasi and see how he will shape the therapy.
Welcome Robert! Meanwhile, many of the children need a new wheelchair. Because the first
donations for this have been received, we now have some on order. Hopefully we can deliver them
ourselves in February and adjust them.

Sports: Football club URUSI
Urusi reported that they were very happy, because for the first time in 2.5 years they had received
materials, such as clothing, shoes and balls. Unfortunately, they also reported that they had sad
news. A father of an Urusi player under 14 and a mother of an Urusi player under 16 have died. In
such a situation, they learn at Urusi that you should be there for each other as a team. The whole
team goes in full uniform to the funeral where they walk together past the coffin. And of course, as
usual in Kenya, on behalf of Urusi, they contribute to the funeral expenses. It is wonderful to see the
sense of community and togetherness again!

ACTIVITIES

Protestant Christian Elderly Association Uden
On November 1, Maria gave a presentation about what Amara Foundation does. Many people
attended and there was a good sale of the products from Kenya. Thank you for your interest and
contributions to our projects.

Music in the Family, Langenboom
What a beautiful, musical and communal afternoon it was 27 November! 9 local artists performed
beautifully. The pews in the church were all full and many people standing in the back still enjoyed
the sounds. People were really interested in the work of Amara Foundation, with a nice return from
the sale of drinks, purchase of beautiful things and donations! With this donation we are one step
closer to the wheelchairs for our Therapy project. Thank you all again.

Sale Jeu de Boule PLOP Uden
On 12 and 14 December, Maria really enjoyed enthusiastic PLOP members who made a contribution
by making a donation or by purchasing beautiful products from Kenya.
Webs hop
Take a look at our web shop! We have new cards and the beautiful banana leaf nativity scenes are
back.

AGENDA

• 9 to 22 December: Christmas goal ’t Stekske Langenboom with actions by the students
• 12 to 23 December: Sale of products in the staff room of the Heerbeeck College Best
• 13 to 15 January: Book fair Vincentiusvereniging Den Bosch
• 12 January to 25 February: Visit projects by board members
  

News from the board: we pack the bags…..
After three years, the board members of Amara Foundation will visit the Projects in Kisumu again.
Lisanne leaves for Kisumu in January for 6 weeks together with Isa, the granddaughter of her sister.
Isa really wants to get an impression of the world in Kenya, the different culture, the totally different
world. On the spot we will see where she can offer help / support. In any case, giving football training
is already on her wish list. After three weeks, board member Maria Vermeer will join them and ….
after another two weeks, board members Carmen and Evelien will also come to Kisumu for more
than a week. In all projects there is a lot to discuss with managers and participants in the projects
over the past period. But there are also new plans that require consultation. We will enjoy the
moments together but certainly each other’s stories, in the evening at table, when everyone has
returned from the visits that were planned for that day.
The year 2022 was the year of our 15th anniversary. We want to commemorate this in a festive way
with all participants of our projects in Kisumu. Five years ago, the 10th anniversary, we also
celebrated in Kisumu. It was the first time that the people of the four different projects met. That’s
when Amara was first given the name “ONE BIG FAMILY”. What we are also looking forward to are all
the items from our stock that we can take with us in our suitcases or what we are approaching
sponsors for in the coming period. During our trip we will of course inform you extensively about our
experiences via social media.

Looking back at 2022
In this last newsletter of 2022, we would like to look back on the past year. A lot has also happened
in Kenya in 2022. They have deployed a new school system that is more similar to our Dutch school
system. They now have 6 classes at primary school, after which the children can move on to
secondary education. As we wrote in the previous newsletter, Kenya has a new president. Despite
some tensions in the country around the elections, this year has clearly been quieter than previous
elections. We also wrote earlier about the economic crisis that does not make life in Kenya easy.
Nevertheless, we were able to do so much again last year. Thanks to generous donations for our health insurance campaign, all families of our children from the therapy project have had NHIF health
insurance. This means that the basic care for the whole family has been covered in 2022.
There are also some people this year who have started to support us with a periodic donation. This is
a donation for at least 5 years with a minimum donation amount of 60 euros per year. This donation
is fully tax deductible. Elma also started as a new volunteer this year. We provide her with texts and
she designs and future newsletters for us. We greatly appreciate this help. In October we were able
to take over the payment for 7 students from the Klaartje Derks foundation. In May we were invited
to attend their farewell party and we made online contact with the Klaartje Derks contact person in
Kisumu. Next year we will personally visit Richard in Kenya. Last year, several of our acquaintances
were able to travel to Kisumu and to bring items on our behalf, such as sheet material for braces and
sportswear to both the therapy and sports project.
Fortunately, we have been able to sell a lot of beautiful Kenyan items in the Netherlands. We do this
ourselves, but now there are also several world shops where, among other things, our cards are sold.
Because we have not been to Kenya ourselves, packages with cards from Kenya have been sent to us
several times. We are grateful that this is going well and that in this way we were able to continue to
meet the demand for our products.
In this retrospective we also want to recall the death of donors and loved ones in Kisumu. We would
like to remember donors Jose van Vught and Hermien Schieven, Mercy, Triza and parents of our
therapy project and the deceased relatives of Urusi club members.

We would like to conclude with a very warm thank you to all our sponsors; money donors, donors of goods, our volunteers who support us with services, people who have helped us get stuff in Kenya and people who help us
during fairs and events, selling our stuff or setting up their own action of which the proceeds go to
Amara. Without you, we have no right to exist. Also thank you very much on behalf of our whole
“family” in Kenya.

WE WISH YOU ALL HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A WONDERFUL 2023!! ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD AND ALL
THE PEOPLE FROM KISUMU!

Evelien Hommes-Romonesco – Carmen van Bergen – Lisanne Henuy-Rooijakkers – Maria Vermeer –
Martine Plantinga

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