We think our idea started at 2am on the way home from work, not a usual day at work but our place of work at the time had been selected as a Comic Relief location for that years TV appeal . After our usual day in the office we hopped onto the phones and spent the next nine hours taking donations from the generous public into the early hours, until our voices ran dry. It was very touching to be involved and even more touching when you receive calls from children as young as five wishing to donate their pocket money to the children of Africa. As tired as we were, we wondered what else we could do to help.

It wasn’t long until we booked our next holiday and it was to Kenya, a country that is always heavily featured on Comic Relief night. Not long after our booking, the area of the business that Karen worked in was to close – although bad news to a degree but the good news was it was during a heavily marketing drive resulting in a surplus amount of stationary items and soft toys with company branding that no longer had any use….so there it started… we had boxes full of items and a trip to Kenya…we just needed to get the items there and know what to do with them.

We contacted our travel company Somak Holidays and our Airline Kenya Airways receiving very positive and prompt responses. Kenya Airways provided us with a substantial luggage allowance and Somak Holidays were happy to arrange the transport and visit to a school in Mombasa, a short distance from where we stayed.

Some schools were initially suggested to us, however we opted not to visit these schools and asked to visit a school that was not one regularly visited by tourists. This was easily arranged through Somak’s local contacts and everything was set, in the mean time we carried on collecting items of clothing, stationary and toys from work colleagues, friends and family to take with us. The support and generosity showed was overwhelming.

So the day came, we were picked up from our hotel and taken to Mnazi Moja Primary School on the outskirts of Mombasa and we were in a way a little naive as to what to expect. It fair to say the next few hours were an eye opener and something we will never forget.

It was explained to us that although it was the School Holidays, the school was still open and was very busy with children for two reasons; firstly many were orphans and lived on the streets so it was the safest place for them and secondly education was regarded as so important and the route to a better life. Because it was the school holidays, the teachers that were at the school were there on a voluntary basis.

We were greeted by two of the teachers, one of them a teacher called Benson, of whom we are still in touch with. Upon walking into the main hall of the school, the children put on a song and a dance for us, they had been practicing hard and were treating our visit as a very important day for the school. We went into the head teacher’s room and started to show them what we had brought and it was fair to say they were more than extremely grateful. This was evidenced as we were shown into the first classroom, which was full of the youngest children in the school – our eyes were immediately transfixed on a little girl sat at a desk, attempting to write on used paper, using a twig! When we opened one of our bags and gave them pens, pencils and paper, it was like all their Christmas’ had come early. This was even more so when we handed them all a toy, a toy which to many children immediately became the only toy they owned.

We were shown throughout the different classrooms, each made of a mixture of materials including mud and it was very visible on the walls how often the school floods due to bad weather and no drainage. The school has no defense when this happens; they just simply work around it as if it hadn’t happened.

One of the most memorable moments was meeting the school football team, a team of proud young lads but a team that had no football strip to play in. Out of a bag came Steve’s collection of his beloved Liverpool FC shirts, collected from childhood through to adulthood. The school captain had the first choice and the rest followed, picking shirts that were instantly recognisable to them as they loved and admired English football. This was a moment that really made us smile.

                                       the greeting we were given by the children

                                       Karen being shown the work the children do

                                                     Some of the youngest children

We are still in touch with the school via one of the teachers Benson and one day we hope to go back. It’s difficult as you just cannot give them everything you need but little things do really make a difference. To see the children happy really touched our hearts, they had absolutely nothing and as mentioned before we at school to be safe and in the hope of a better life. You see programmes on TV such as Comic Relief and see how poor the children are, how they face life threatening situations day in day out, battling with diseases as severe as HIV. It really is exactly like on TV but by giving them just one day of happiness made it feel like we had made a difference, even if it was a very very small difference.

The most difficult moment and something we will never, ever forget is the last poem read to us by one of the older girls. We were stood at the front of the class and it was her turn, just as many of her school friends had already done, she stood up and proudly began reciting a poem, one that had been made especially for us. Throughout the poem she talked about how she wanted to learn, how she wanted to be clever and kind, how she wanted to be safe and earn for a living, how she wanted to travel the World and be able to help other and then she finished with the words that really hit us hard, made us speechless and made us struggle to hold back the tears….she said the words”I want to be like you.”

                                                           thanks for reading