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| People & Purposes |
Lambert House - It was 9:30 a.m. I was working at Kwawatoto, a little school on the edge of the Soweto Slums in Kenya. The mission for the day was to set up a health clinic. I was standing with a bottle of Albendazole [de-worming medication] in one hand, when Caroline N’deta approached me. “Mum,” she asked, “can you come into my office?” I followed Caroline outside onto the dirt where we walked to her office, a cinderblock building. We pushed aside the curtain covering the doorway and bent inside.
There stood three little girls: twelve, nine and five years old. The oldest I noticed had a swollen tummy. The five year old didn’t have any hair, a result of malnutrition. Caroline recounted, “Their father came here last week. He asked me to take care of these girls. Their mother is dead; AIDS. Their father has also recently passed.” She then looked at me with concerned eyes as if to ask, “What should I do?” I suggested the girls be placed in the Lambert House. Caroline explained the Lambert House could not accept the girls currently because there were no house parents and no money to pay for rent or buy food.
- Account by Kathy Kay Brewer from her trip to Kenya in Aug 2006.
Caroline N’deta and her husband, Nehemiah, started the Kwawatoto school in 1999. Their school is in an impoverished area of Kenya. Currently, Kwawatoto serves over 780 children. Thirty-five of these children reside in the Lambert House, a safe-home for orphaned children, ages 3-15 years. Kwawatoto provides the children at the Lambert House education and one meal a day. The Lambert House was started in 2002 and is currently not being funded. Funds are needed to pay the rent, pay for house-parents and pay for one-two other meals/day for the children staying in the Lambert House.
This is where the $10 donated from the purchase of every One Wish World tee or tote will go. It is our goal to help support children like the three little girls and also provide funding to the Lambert House.
Jane
Jane is another little girl living in the Lambert House. She is nine years old.
Last year, a volunteer noticed her. Jane was sullen, quiet and did not associate or play with other children. When seeking to understand why, the volunteer was told, “That child does not look at anyone. She has a badly infected eye.” After investigation, it was discovered that Jane did not have an eye—she kept her eye lid closed to hide the empty socket. The volunteer paid $120.00 US and was able to have a glass eye made for Jane.
It is now reported Jane is acting like a new little girl. She plays with the other children, makes eye contact with people and is progressing in school.
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