Latest News

BRACELETS FOR BOOKS Why not think differently to the usual company mug or desk calendar and instead stand out with handmade bracelets with your business logo designed and made by our families in Kenya? Instantly stand out to your clients & staff while helping support families in need of a hand up… – 10 bracelets purchased in the UK would see a primary school child have education and uniform for 1 year. – 50 bracelets purchased can buy all the furniture and utensils for a 3 bedroom house. If your company would like their own bracelets designed please get in touch through info@gathimbaedwardsfoundation.org

~ Staff Saturday ~ “Since I was a little boy my dad always said to me that if I get a chance to help someone, I should always seize that moment as the same opportunity may not present itself again. “This message was burning strongly within me during my first visit to the Pavilion Village children’s home back in 2013. “I had never seen children living in such desperate conditions. Although they were being looked after very well by Agnes and John, they were sleeping on thin pieces of foam which I had only seen used for kneeling down for gardening back home. So many of them were out of school due to a lack of fees and they were struggling to have enough food to eat. “I knew this was my moment. As John drove me back home that evening my head was spinning with ideas on how we could help..

~ Thankful Friday ~ Thank you to Susan, Pam, Susan, Susie and their families who’s sponsorship has enabled Fidelis, Ann and Faith to grow into healthy and happy young girls. As you can see GEF’s Gideon and James are always equally as excited as the girls for their visits to their home in Kabaru which was built by our volunteers in October 2017. Their families are now growing a huge range of crops in the Daniel Brown Memorial Garden – including the potatoes which were harvested this week

Maasai Mara isn’t only about seeing the amazing animals. The Maasai people themselves are truly fascinating and their culture is one of the most unique in the world. On our biannual trips to Kenya you have the chance to meet the Maasai men and women who follow traditions dating back centuries. You will have the opportunity to take part in the ‘adamu’ – a dance affectionately referred to as the ‘jumping dance’. The adamu is a mating dance, a way for a young Maasai man who has just become a warrior to demonstrate his strength and attract a bride. The higher a Maasai man jumps the more appealing he is to a Maasai woman. The young women, dressed in their most elaborate outfits, sing and dance as a manner of flirting, to get closer to the young warriors. They never touch the men, only..

🧳 SUITCASE APPEAL 🧳 We have a number of clothes, trainers, tools and Christmas goodies we would like to get across to Kenya this October and we are on the look out for old suitcases to transport everything over. Do you have an old suitcase you would be willing to donate to GEF? Contact Kayleigh on Kayleigh@gathimbaedwardsfoundation.org if you can help ☺️ #pleasespreadtheword

~ Transformation Tuesday ~ Martin (wearing multi-coloured jumper in middle right of first photo) joined the Pavilion Village children’s home when it opened in 2006. With hard work he completed primary and secondary school with GEF’s support but unfortunately did not quite get the grades capable of taking him to university. He has always held a passion for cooking and thanks to ongoing sponsorship from Alex Joseph he was able to join college in 2018 to study catering. Martin now cooks many of the meals for the children at Pavilion Village and thrived in his role of doing so at the graduation of his Pavilion Village brother Peter Muchiri last week. #TransformationTuesday

We are honoured to have one of the world’s best physiotherapists wearing one of our GEF bracelets🧡 Marc is a great guy and also physio to world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge In his own words: “How cool is it to have T-shirt and bracelet matching? I might not post many pictures doing physio treatments but, when I do, I look in style ” Get your GEF bracelet here: http://gathimbaedwards.wixsite.com/shop

Staff Saturday After supporting Asman through secondary school in Iten, we were able to offer him a full-time job at our GEF shop in Iten. Along with Enock, Asman runs the shop and makes many of the bracelets which we sell locally and online. He is a very hard working, reliable and polite young man. If we can find a sponsor for him before September, along with money he has saved, he hopes to study Geo Science at college in Eldoret. We currently provide employment for 7 people in Kenya🧡 #StaffSaturday

* Thankful Friday * (number two today because we are so lucky 🥰) Thank you to class P3B at Dyce Primary School who made a wonderful donation from their enterprise project following a presentation by Gillian Watt to the kids about GEF’s work in Kenya. The fundraising has meant the children have paid for, 9 year old, Victor’s school fees for the next three months! In addition, they drew photos and wrote messages for him and asked Gillian a lot of questions about life in Kenya 󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ❤️

* Thankful Friday * A huge thank you to Phil Anderson Financial Services Ltd. and Oldmeldrum Golf Club who presented us with a cheque for £500 this week after they raised the money through their annual Charity Open in May! We are honoured to be picked as your chosen charity this year; a donation of this size can go an incredibly long way in Kenya. We are also delighted to say that 10% of this donation is going directly to our local Neil Jaffrey Initiative supporting children with disabilities in Aberdeenshire with life changing equipment. #ThankYou #GivingKidsInKenyaaChance #NeilJaffreyInitiative

100 days until we greet our next set of volunteers to Kenya to take on our 2019 building project <3 Have you ever thought about volunteering abroad? There is still time to get involved in our October project, get in touch today to find out how 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=227-MSgjd7g Myles Edwards Darren Cocker Andrew Donald Kayleigh Paterson Chris Sloan Lorraine Lee Stephanie Breen Nicola Henderson Kenny Murison Scott Rollo Enock Kirop Caroline Tough Jackie Burke Fennick Deans

~ Wednesday Wisdom ~ We are so proud of Peter who has been part of the Pavilion Village children’s home since it opened in 2006. This week he became the second GEF sponsored child to graduate from University 🤩 Thank you to his sponsor Fiona Kirkcaldy who has supported and encouraged Peter over the past few years. With his newly awarded Bachelor of Economics we have no doubt that the sky is the limit for Peter. “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Sponsoring a child is a truly special gift… https://gathimbaedwardsfoundation.org/category/the-kids/

~ Transformation Tuesday ~ Part 1/3 of showing the power of an Instagram post, GEF bracelets and very kind runners called Marcelo and Renata🧡 Marcelo and Renata were in Iten recently for a 2 week training camp with The Kenya Experience. They and the other runners joined GEF for a morning whereby we visited talented young runner Simon Mwangi and his family who live in desperate conditions. We also visited Monica and her children who we built a home for with our volunteers in 2016 followed by a PowerPoint presentation by Myles on all things GEF. Marcelo and Renata were so touched by Simon and his family’s attitude in the face of challenging circumstances that they wanted to help. Combined with a personal donation Marcelo posted about his experiences and encouraged friends to purchase GEF..

Can you help? This year we are teaming up with the Aberdeen Arts Centre to hold GEF’s 2nd Christmas Fayre & we will be supporting them with some of the funds raised. Did you know the AAC is a Scottish charity? It is run by one of employee (Stephanie – she’s lovely!) and the rest entirely by volunteers. We are looking for a kind local business to support both GEF & the Arts Centre by sponsoring the Fayre to enable us to cover the preparation & advertising costs. Do you know a business that could help? #b2b #csr #aberdeen #support

From being a child sniffing glue and sleeping on the streets of Nairobi, Michael has now become a pilot. Anything is possible and ever child has potential!

Congratulations to reigning World and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon on her winning return to racing last night in the Diamond League 1,500m at the Pre Classic in Oregon. We are grateful to Faith for her support to GEF and the inspiration she provides to our kids🧡

~Monday motivation ~ We are happy to report in June we welcomed SEVEN new child sponsors – that’s 7 kids who don’t have to fear being sent home from school or miss out on an education all together. If that isn’t enough to motivate us on a Monday, what is?! 🧡 #childsponsorship #thankyou #givingkidsinkenyaachance

The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is best known for their work protecting elephants! The SWT operates the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world We are lucky enough to visit the centre several times a year as part of our volunteer program in Kenya. You get to see up close the baby elephants being fed by the very professional and caring keepers. We look forward to going back in October then in April; who wants to join us? https://www.gathimbaedwardsfoundation.org/the-kenya-22/

~ Staff Saturday ~ Kayleigh Paterson joined our team as Charity Development Executive in August 2018. Kayleigh was invaluable volunteering 7 days a week for a few months on top of her previous role with a company next door to the GEF office in Aberdeen. Kayleigh’s role is based in Aberdeen and is focused on the development and growth of the charity. The key emphasis is around being a point of contact for our volunteers, admin support, researching funding opportunities through grants, trusts and corporate sponsors in order to support the delivery of our work. Kayleigh returned from 2 weeks in Kenya last year where she and our other volunteers built 4 houses in 6 days. We feel that Kayleigh’s below post on return perfectly sums up her passion for GEF: “This picture of Sarah (9 years old)..

Thankful Friday… it was a pleasure to spend the afternoon with Pretty Rubbish Mosaic Art Maggie has been fundraising for GEF’s Bulls for Schools campaign for some time now, so far enabling us to buy 4 cows to help 4 families supply milk to their children & sell on to make incomes! If that’s not enough she is currently working on a collection called Art for the Heart for the North East Open Studios (NEOS) this September and all profits will help buy more cows which Maggie has enjoyed naming. It is difficult not to smile and be happy around the wonderland of mosaics; what a privilege to have supporters like you 🤩 #givingkidsinkenyaachance #NEOS2019 #ThankfulFriday