In the past six months Marianne Center has been quite busy. The construction of the first dorm is almost finished. We are excited to continue the construction and hope to have build the two dorms and class rooms by the end of the this year, if funds allow. Also many volunteers and visitors came to Marianne Center to support us in our activities. We are currently looking into setting up income generating activities or activities which could reduce our running costs in the long run, like a biogas installation. All in all, we are not sitting still. You can read all about it in this newsletter.

We have had busy times during the last six months. We are proud to announce that we have moved to our new premises in Mutarakawa (near Limuru). The construction is ongoing and we expect the first part of the construction to be finished before the end of the year. Read more about this in our newsletter:

The first brick for the construction of our new premises was laid on 15th of August. More than 30 people are working hard to construct a dormitory and class room.
If everything goes well we will move in by the end of this year! We are very excited about this since this will also help us to reduce running costs as rent won’t be part of our monthly expenses any more.

There have been quite some developments for Marianne Center in the past six months. The main development is the purchase of our plot. In the newsletter, which you can find below, you can read all about our new plot. We also added a success story of one of our students.

Enjoy the reading and have a great Easter!

We are saddened by the news of the death of one of our students, Mary Wairimu Waithaka, who died a sudden death during the holiday in December after being sick for a few days. We are devastated to have to say goodbye to such a great person and student. We keep her family and friends in our prayers and we hope that all who mourn can find peace and rest in her death.

We are very happy to announce that we managed, with the help of our donors, to buy a piece of land of 0.6 hectares in Limuru. We are extremely thankful to the donors who made it possible for us to make this big step! This will help Marianne Center a lot in the continuation of her activities. We are excited to start constructing and will hopefully move to our new compound somewhere this year.

This week our handicapped students had their last training of the year at Marianne Center. They are off for a one month holiday and will resume their training in January 2012. At the moment we have 40 students registered at Marianne Center and more disabled students want to start the training. During this year we have trained our students in agriculture, animal husbandry, computer training, tapestry, domestic chores, bead work, gardening and crafts. The students have gained many skills which they will also implement at home during their holiday. Next year we hope to graduate our first handicapped students.

On the 29th of October mini-olympics took place between different handicapped people; the blind, the mentally challenged, the physically handicapped, the albinos and the deaf. A spectacular scene to watch and participate. Everybody had a game to play including our own staff. We did aerobics, ball games, bouncing castle, short field races, mini football and mini volleyball. It was funded by government, NGOs, business, Global Ethos and even Marianne Center. More than 1500 people attended or visited this event. Everybody was a winner and everybody got a certificate of achievement. Our students refused to board the bus at the end of the day because they enjoyed this day so much.