In October of 2005 the students of transition year in Holy Faith Clontarf were introduced to Nyumbani Children’s Home in Kenya. It is a home for HIV+ Children who have been abandoned by their parents and have no living family.
It holds at present 94 children. We were given various talks about the orphanage and its situation. On site, it has a state of the art laboratory, which gives the children the highest possible treatment and medication. This means that they now have a large number of teenagers living there who have futures and lives ahead of them thanks to the excellent medication. We were informed then that our goal was to raise €55,000 to build a new separate house in the home so that the teenagers could live relatively independent lives to prepare them for when they leave the home. It will house up to 16 teenagers which will also allow 16 more babies or young children be admitted and have their lives saved.
Today the proceeds from this football blitz will go towards our €55,000 fund. Our school has carried out many fundraisers and have many more planned such as fairs, raffles and auctions.
Also as part of our Project the school will be taking 18 students to visit the home in April of next year. This is in order to create a link with the children and the home, which will hopefully last long into the future. Three of the students travelling on this trip are members of this GAA club. They are Ruth Reynolds, Grainne Free and Claire Quigley. On behalf of the three students and the teachers of Holy Faith Clontarf we would like to thank everybody who has supported our project via the 8 a side blitz. – Ruth Reynolds.