Newsletter Spring 2026
Hi everyone.
It’s finally Spring and as mother nature starts another productive cycle, we will be doing the same and working hard this year to ensure that the project continues to provide essential education to all the girls enrolled in the programme, tackles the problem of period poverty and provides breakfasts for all the children in our Nairobi schools.
News from Nairobi
Maqulate tells me that due to the war with Iran and all the problems around the price of fuel, that all the prices in Kenia have gone up 50%. So as usual, those with the least will be suffering the most as costs for basics like cooking oil and food will be too high to feed a family. The consequences will be terrible for the poorest.
Flood Aid for Soul Mercy
As you may remember, Kenya was in the grip of flooding in March which left the Mathare Valley and the Nairobi slums under water again. Our schools were affected by the floods and lives were lost due to the suddenness of the flash floods. The Soul Mercy Orphanage was hard hit and they lost belongings and were short of food and clean water. Thanks to your support we raised 600 euros which went towards food and clean drinking water for all the children in Soul Mercy. We were also able to find a tailor who could make the children new school uniforms to replace the ones that got washed away. Thankfully we had a budget which was originally meant to produce uniforms which could be sold at a reasonable price, where the money generated would be put back into the sewing programme and help towards sustaining it.
But we decided that as a charity we think its important to support the poorest and our budget has provided the orphans with something they really can’t do without.
Here are a couple of ‘Thank You’ video messages from Soul Mercy
They are so extremely grateful to you all!
In times of struggle I take hope from the fact that our fantastic team of volunteer teachers and mentors are showing us all what can be achieved by working together for the greater good. They show us how resilient, strong women are making a difference to the lives of all the children under their care and that love and empathy are what really counts in this world.
They and you, who support us, are making a huge difference to every child in our schools, their families and their communities.
The Future of our funding
The Contribute Foundation ( www.contributefoundation.nl ) has supported us and helped us turn our project into a very successful one. We started with 10 schools in Nairobi and now work in 25 schools. We’ve trained 50 mentors and 4800 girls have joined the Empowerment programme. We’ve provided breakfasts for 4,500 children in the Mathare slums and the impact is huge. More children in schools, better learning outcomes, girls in school during their periods etc.
Unfortunately for us Stichting Contribute will not be supporting us after this year. We are so grateful for all they have done for us. We now need to find funding to keep all our programmes going.
If you have ideas as to where we can find (corporate) sponsorship, please let us know. And maybe you would consider a monthly donation, which is tax deductible.
We would welcome any advice or tips and we can always use an extra pair of hands if you feel like lending yours!
Christmas Appeal for Soul Mercy
Every Christmas we like to provide a Christmas dinner to the orphans at Soul Mercy Orphanage School and we combine this with a Girls Summit for all the mentees in Nairobi who have successfully completed our Empowerment programme. For these girls there is a good healthy meal available cooked by teachers and mentors and we offer coaching and workshops for the girls giving them advice on making decisions for the next stage of their lives.
The children have few comforts and the living conditions are challenging. They lack funding for basic resources. One comfort we try to offer is a good meal and celebration at Christmas and this is the highlight of their year.
Students at Vathorst College managed to raise some funds for us. They did all sorts of things such as baking biscuits to sell to neighbours. We reached out to family, friends and the local newspaper.
The article was published just before Christmas and we received some very generous donations.
It was enough to be able to provide the Christmas celebrations and the Girls Summit.
Yet again! Huge thanks to all of you who donated!!
Students sew their own!
During our last Vathorst college project week I gave a workshop to a group of lovely enthusiastic 4th year students who learned how to handsew their own sanitary towels. We talked about Periods and what Period Poverty is. And we gave attention to the taboo around menstruation and discussed cultural differences between the Netherlands and Kenya. There were even a few boys who joined in and were very open to listen. Im so proud of them!
For all of them, sewing was something they’d never done before. “How do I thread a needle”? It was a challenge for them and they didn’t manage to complete them all, but that’s no problem. My sewing machine will do the rest. As far as I’m concerned the message about Period Poverty got across and that was a success.
I did this workshop together with Neha who is an ex student and who organises Culture Days at schools.( www.hetlabelneha.nl )
I hope we can repeat this event and bring more awareness of the problems around Period Poverty to more schools in Amersfoort.
Upcoming Benefit Concert – 6th June – Save the date!
On the 6th of June, at 19.30 we will be organising a special benefit concert in the St Rochus Kapel in Amersfoort.
This year’s musical event will be played by Kwartet Amersfoortste Klarinettisten, together with vocal quartet ‘Petit Four’ .
They will be playing music by Debussy, Brahms, Poulenc and Schubert.
Tickets cost 15 euro’s (including tea or coffee)
You can reserve via vierklarinetten@gmail.com
Don’t wait too long! The chapel is small and is quickly full.
