invest in a girl and she will do the rest.

This is a brilliant video and I couldn't resist watching it 3 times in a row.  It left me with chills and feeling very inspired. 

There are 600 million adolescent girls around the world living in poverty.  By giving one of these girls a chance, you start what can be referred to as The Girl Effect.  When girls have safe places to meet, education, legal protection, health care, and access to training and job skills, they can thrive.  And when they thrive, everyone around them thrives too. 

If you want to end poverty and help the developing world, the best thing you can do is invest time, energy, and funding into adolescent girls.  It's called the girl effect, because girls are uniquely capable of investing in their communities and making the world better.   The following poster outlines 10 things that are standing in their way...

If you want to read more, go to girleffect.org

Kev does Kisumu

Our friend Patchy insisted that Kev had a visit to the pool! So here he is enjoying the sites of Kisumu along with a refreshing dip and an ice cool drink at the Imperial Pool! 

Australia Day celebration

I hope everyone celebrated Australia Day in style! b+c cooked up an aussie feast of anzac biscuits, lamingtons, vegemite toast and a good old bbq! 

Kev the Kenyan kangaroo made his debut appearance, he was a huge hit...

snapshots from Nairobi

women of Katolo

school open day

Despite the bumpy road this week there have been some great days here in Kenya and one of these was the Tumaini School Open Day held at Katolo. It was a chance to invite the whole community to come and learn about the project, ask questions and sign up for groups and committees. 

Although the day kicked off 4 hours late, typical Kenya time, it was a great success! There was a big turnout with alot of support for the project shown throughout the day, especially from the women in the community! 

A marquee, chairs and sound system arrived in the morning which in Katolo is no mean feat! There were posters pinned up, speeches and talks made, discussions and performances by the children from Kanyangoro Primary school. Kimberly, our resident film maker captured it all! 

bumps in the road

The past week has thrown up a few bumps in the road for bricks + cartwheels in Kenya.... One of the main issues we have come across that is causing us more than a few problems is the acquisition of land for the school. 

The land has been put aside ready to be sold for over a year but there are numerous issues coming up now that we are in Katolo. Demands and ultimatums are being placed on bricks + cartwheels and the CBO by the land owners. So the process of buying the land has turned into a much more lengthy process than we anticipated. 

After a week of negotiations and meetings and stress, the job of finding the best piece of land has now been handed over entirely to the CBO members. So here's hoping that they can sort this out.

Below are some photos from a meeting held under the tree at Kanyangoro  Primary School discussing the land and other matters relating to the Tumaini Secondary School.