Meet a few of our latest Sunflower Kids attending Step By Step Daycare! Please, please, take a look at these photos—they are pretty sweet! You will meet Christina and her mama, Novin and her gramma, Helen and mama, Gift and mama, Noela and her brother, Sarah and mama, Gideon and Abigael, and Dainess and mama. (All have given us permission to share). If you want to know more about a child, just ask.Our mission is to provide a safe, nurturing place where mamas who are unable to afford quality childcare can know their kids are getting great care. Nutritious meals and teachers, who have training in early childhood development, provide a solid foundation for future education. We are into nurturing brainpower!
Many mamas have to find day work to put food on the table. They are forced to leave younger kids with older kids who should be in school, rely on neighbors or family who are in no better position to care for an extra child, or carry the child to work. With your support we can provide a healthy alternative.
Please consider donating to put some food in these kids’ bellies and some power to their brains!
Many mamas have to find day work to put food on the table. They are forced to leave younger kids with older kids who should be in school, rely on neighbors or family who are in no better position to care for an extra child, or carry the child to work. With your support we can provide a healthy alternative.
Please consider donating to put some food in these kids’ bellies and some power to their brains!
ABOUT THE KIDS
Kadogo
Over 2 years ago, Kadogo was the recipient of bilateral club foot repair at Plaster House. She now lives at Hockey Hearts Orphanage and is an outstanding student at Haradali English Medium School. We don't get to see her much any more, but it is a special day when we do!
Over 2 years ago, Kadogo was the recipient of bilateral club foot repair at Plaster House. She now lives at Hockey Hearts Orphanage and is an outstanding student at Haradali English Medium School. We don't get to see her much any more, but it is a special day when we do!
Created and produced by Bara Jichova Tyson
If you show up at Hill Crest during the week, 35 or 40 lively preschoolers will greet you—some not even two years old. Breakfast is served. Then, the kids sit on the long, low benches for the next 3 hours, with one little recess break. They are taught the alphabet, English, and math at a level we reserve for first graders in the United States. The expectations are high. These little folks sit up tall, in their blue checked uniforms, trying to absorb so much. Their memories are sharp as repetition and memorization are the norm. At lunchtime, they form a queue at a big jug of water with a spigot. An older student dispenses hand soap and each kiddo washes their grubby little hands. Then, lunch is served—we try to vary so that each day is a bit different during the week. After lunch, the kids play and then head home.
Not long after the little kids leave, older kids who attend Government school are invited to eat lunch. Some will stop by on their way home. It is likely that this is the first meal of the day after long hours at school. Some will have eaten a meager lunch at school; if they can afford to pay, but this just might be the last meal they eat until the next day.
Weekends and holidays are my favorite! Older kids who have been sponsored to English medium day school show up to hang out, play games, watch movies, do crafts, and enjoy a safe space. When it’s hot, they can find a cool room. When it’s rainy and cold, they crowd into a small room to watch a movie. The shared body heat provides warmth that they will, likely, not experience the rest of the day. They begin arriving around 8:30. Some of the nursery school kids who don’t get much to eat at home join in. Neighborhood kids who are just hungry are welcome. It is not unusual to serve 40-70 kids a hearty, nutritious meal.
Sunflower Kids coordinates sponsorships for about 3 dozen kids. They range in age from 4 to about 20. Some board, some go to day school, and some are old enough to be in a trade school. Once we start helping a kiddo with their education, it needs to be followed through to fruition. It is just not ethical to give a kid a taste of education and opportunity and then deny them—all which is to say, once one commits, it is important to stick with it. If that is not possible, as things in life happen and we get that, Sunflower Kids makes sure a new sponsor is found.