Hook A Duck

Daire Power (on the right) and her friend set up a Hook a Duck stall at their local street party on 11 June 2016. It was entirely Daire's idea and work.

It was clearly a very popular stall. Daire charged 10p a go and raised £10.60 then donated the full amount to Porridge and Rice.

Daire's contribution will provide a child with breakfast, lunch, and fruit for 3 months. Thank you Daire.

Youth Award

Emma Ballinger, Porridge and Rice trustee and member, attended the Houses of Parliament on 28 June to receive a well-deserved award for her contribution to the charity.

Emma originally volunteered with Porridge and Rice as a trainee nurse, and has gone on to become a trustee. She has played a huge role in developing the nutritional and medical work of Porridge and Rice.

St George's Jr School

St George's Junior School in Weybridge donated over a 1000 children's books to Porridge and Rice. The books are a wonderful gift that will help the charity to build libraries in the 6 schools it supports in the Nairobi slums.

Thank you to the librarian Mrs Disher and the children who helped to load the books into the car, the first step in their journey to the urban slums of Nairobi.

Christine, School Liaison Officer

It was Christine's (on the left, holding the baby) late husband John who introduced the group of visiting students to their daughters' school, Excel Emmanuel, which sowed the seeds for the charity now known as Porridge and Rice. After John's death last year, Christine has shown great resilience and stepped into his shoes, as Porridge and Rice's School Liaison Officer - essentially the charity's eyes and ears on the ground.

Christine maintains a good working relationship with all of the Porridge and Rice schools, making sure that the suppliers who PaR engage are supplying the required goods, and that those goods are to the expected standard. Having Christine verifying deliveries independently means that the teaching staff are not distracted from running their schools by the support that PaR gives them. Christine also takes charge of the growth monitoring activities, and is also taking on some of the health monitoring and school nurse responsibilities. Only two of Christine and John's three daughters are still in school - Mary, their youngest, hopes to attend PaR's new high school when it starts in January 2017, Vivian is already at high school and their eldest daughter is married and has given Christine a granddaughter, now 8 months old.

Looking after the children and her Porridge and Rice work keeps Christine very busy, but in her spare time she likes to read - when asked what her preferred books to read are, Christine replied "anything she can find".

Thistleworth Tennis Club Family Day

Despite the best attempts of the weather, Porridge and Rice attended the Thistleworth Tennis Club Family Day on 12 June 2016.

The Thistleworth Tennis Club also very kindly decided this year to donate the proceeds of the event to Porridge and Rice.

Thank you for the generous support.

Jude at Rotary

Porridge and Rice trustee, Jude Hanlon, presented on 25 May at the Rotary Lymm club for a second time, providing an update on the work of the charity.

Earlier in the year, the rotary Rotary Lymm club donated £300 for text books after Jude addressed them. Rotary around the country, has supported Porridge and Rice both with donations in kind, and financial contributions.

Simbaz for Tilnar

Six teens of the Safari Simbaz U18 team in Nairobi entered the Tilnar Cycle challenge from Nairobi to Namanga via Kajiado.

• Jesse Ngugi 17 years old
• Calvin Kariuki 17 years old
• Dickson Luchesia 15 years old
• Boniface Gitau 15 years old
• Martin Musau 16 years old
• Bernard Shikanga 16 years old

Deborah Matei

Deborah is 12 years old and has been at Lizpal since she could walk.

This energetic girl likes learning Kiswahili more than any other subject, especially traditional poems through which she learns important lessons. She writes poems herself. She admires many actresses because they

make her laugh and show what a strong woman looks like. She would like to become an actress herself to inspire children to be confident and make something good of their life. If she can't be an actress, she would like to become a journalist, another way for people to know who she is.

She believes that education is necessary in order to become successful in life. Before PaR started supporting Lizpal, Deborah would get to school feeling hungry as her breakfast consisted of a cup of tea. She struggled to focus and wouldn't score well at tests, which made her think she wasn't smart at all. PaR gives her access to good food and to books. She can now study better and her grades improved drastically.

Her teachers at Lizpal showed what leadership is and she knows she would make for a great president.

"What is your favorite time of the day?" We asked.
"To see people do good things to each other, to be kind and responsible" she told us.

Visit the PaR Facebook page for more pictures and details about the work done by PaR.