Fr Francis Preston SDB writes from Nairobi about some of the children kind Salesian donors in the UK are helping to educate.

During my first year in Kenya, I came to understand that many children here in Kenya don't attend school, or only very irregularly, because their parents or guardians can't pay their school fees. So when Caroline, a Catholic social worker based at St Monica's parish in a very poor area of Rongai, a dormitory town outside Nairobi, asked if I could help pay the school fees of two or three children, I readily agreed to do so. Over the last three years, the number of children that the generosity of friends back in the UK is helping to support has increased to nearly twenty.

Many are "total orphans", a local expression that denotes both parents are deceased. They live with elderly grandmothers. A few of the children come from families where the mother is the only carer and is too sick to work. All the children and their carers depend on the weekly allowance of maize flour and rice they receive from the local parish to survive.

One afternoon last week I arranged to travel out to Rongai with two of our Salesian students, Br Jackson and Br Val, to meet the children whom Caroline the social worker had gathered together. It turned out to be a very enjoyable celebration. While Br Jackson and Br Val had played games with the children in the parish hall, I had the opportunity to meet Fr Angelo, the parish priest of St Monica's for the first time. He's a very impressive Italian missionary who's doing wonderful work in a very deprived area of Rongai. We brought cool drinks and bars of chocolate, sweet and biscuits to share with the children at the end of the afternoon.

The first photo above was taken in the parish hall and shows Br Val entertaining the children. I'm in the background organising the party "goodies". The other photo was taken at the back of the parish hall at the end of the afternoon. It shows nearly all the children we are currently supporting plus the infant in the white T shirt and yellow shorts on the extreme left who gate-crashed the occasion! On the extreme right of the photo is Caroline, the social worker, who is my link with the children. She visits their schools, pays children's school fees and collects their school reports for me to read. Fr Angelo, the parish priest is on my left and in front of me are the two youngest children we are supporting, two wonderful youngsters: Tobias wearing the woollen hat and little Martin wearing the yellow T shirt.

I feel very privileged to be helping such a great group of young people continue their education, and I am very grateful for the kindness and generosity of those back home in the UK who make it possible. They can be certain that the children keep them in their prayers.

Francis Preston SDB