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Join the Tenderfeet Team. We're 60% of the way to our goal of 50 sponsors!
Ten for Tenderfeet is a program that enables you to partner with Mama Margaret helping the Tenderfeet kids for only $10 per month.
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Please click here to see a video tour filmed during the Lahash team's 2007 visit.
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The Tenderfeet students and teachers, February 2008.
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Mama Margaret, who started the Tenderfeet school in 2000, provides a safe haven for the children.
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4 yr old Cathy Khulman is an especially needy student at Tenderfeet.
To find out more about Cathy and other children in need of sponsors, please click here.
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This burned out church in Kibera is a remnant of the post-election riots. Tenderfeet survived the riots, but it was a very difficult time for everyone.
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Teacher Karen is one of the pillars of the school, providing a great education through thick and thin.
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Mama Margaret cheerfully prepares a meal for the children. It's a challenge with a kerosene stove.
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Mama Margaret chats with friends of Tenderfeet Fritz Brown and family during a recent visit.
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Tenderfeet kids get involved in the learning process.
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The school is located in East Africa in the city of Nairobi, Kenya.
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Children at the center are served what may be their only meals of the day.
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Click on the image above for a video tour from November, 2005, of Kibera and the Tenderfeet school.
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What is Tenderfeet?
The school was previously located in Africa's largest slum of Kibera. However, following the riots of the December 2007 elections it was no longer safe for Tenderfeet to remain in Kibera.
In February 2008, the school was relocated in the Riruta area, five miles away in from its original location in Kibera. Read more about these events here, here, and here.
The school was founded in 2000 by Margaret Nyabuto and currently has 25 students in Riruta, with more being added over time. In addition, 25 students from the former site in Kibera are being sponsored so that they can continue to attending school (20 are pictured here).
Tenderfeet partners with the non-profit charity Lahash International.
The school is supported entirely by donations, mainly through the Ten for Tenderfeet program.
Latest News: May 15, 2008
Former Tenderfeet students with We are blessed to have the former Tenderfeet students sponsored in a school called Perijang. A Perijang teacher is using the old Tenderfeet building to continue the education of these vulnerable children (please see picture, right). Although the school fees at Perijang are only about $5 per month, it is still too much for these children's families, so scholarships are being covered through the generosity of Tenderfeet friends in California and Rhode Island.
Meanwhile, the children in Kibera who were sponsored previously are still being helped through the sponsorship program. For example, the families of Winslet Auma, Collins Onyango, and Brian Ochoki are receiving assistance in the form of food, rent, and clothing. We still have many especially needy children in need of a sponsor. To find out more, please click here.
Boaz is going to the doctor An important development in one child's life involves the treatment of an eye problem that Boaz Osiebe has faced for a long time. Last month, Mama Margaret took Boaz to the eye clinic where the doctor identified two different problems.
The first is the crossing of the eyes (strabismus), which is less urgent and we intend to get treated in due time. The other problem is a complication that could cause blindness if not taken care of.
Boaz returned to the clinic yesterday with Frank, and after a full day of endless waiting, some drops were put in Boaz' eyes to help determine the right treatment. Boaz will return on Friday when the treatment will begin.
Please pray for Boaz, that the treatment will be successful and his eyesight won't be affected. If you would like to assist with the medical costs, we would be deeply grateful. Please click here to make a donation to help out (type "Boaz" in the Donation Destination area).
Latest News: March 23, 2008
Children at the new Riruta School You may notice that the website has been updated quite a bit to reflect the significant changes that have occurred during the past few months. Now that Mama Margaret and Tenderfeet are relocated in the Riruta area, the website needed to be refocused on the new realities of the school.
Things at the school in Riruta have been going well. There are now 25 students in the new Riruta school -- see picture to the right. You may recognize some of the names and faces from Kibera, and in fact several of the students have been relocated thanks to the Kenya Emergency Fund.
Mama Margaret is now assessing additional children in the area as candidates. The size limitations of the new building mean that a maximum of 45 children can attend.
Also, there are 25 students being sponsored in Kibera (20 of whom are pictured here).
After a tumultuous few months, the situation is now settling down. A peace agreement was signed by Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki which provides a foundation for stability and healing in a country that was torn apart by ethnic violence during the months of January and February.
More News
We are now keeping all the older news on a separate web page. Please click here to read all the Tenderfeet news in recent months.
Shadrack's Successful Surgery
The happy news is that the funds to pay for the surgery were raised. The surgery was successfully completed on March 28, 2007, and now Shadrack is in a school for children with special challenges. He's doing great!
Tenderfeet Children's Center provides a warm learning environment for extremely needy children. Almost all of these children are orphans or have only one caretaker. Many have lost a parent or parents to AIDS, while others were abandoned.
Tenderfeet provides the opportunity for an education, which would not be available otherwise. The school also provides two meals a day for the kids -- which for some may be their only chance to eat all day.
Hope is Alive with Mama Margaret The school is administered
by Mama Margaret Nyabuto, a courageous woman who has served children in the slums for 20 years.
In order respond to the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS and poverty, she formed the school in 2000 and
now has 3 teachers educating the children of Tenderfeet.
She has faced tremendous setbacks and obstacles in the past few years, including being evicted three times in one year due to unscrupulous landlords, dealing with her own financial struggles, having her life and school threatened during the riots, and her own father was murdered last year. Nevertheless, she has persevered for the sake of the children.
Margaret is convinced
that long-term holistic projects that care for the emotional, physical, and
spiritual needs of the residents - especially the children - is the best
hope for the slums. Lahash International, a U.S.-based non-profit organization, partners with Mama Margaret in bringing health, education, and
spiritual guidance to the slums. You can help feed these kids
Please find out more by clicking here. There are two ways to make an online donation.
If you have a PayPal account or prefer to use PayPal, please click on the button below:
Lahash has also recently added the secure online Groundspring system, which was designed for charities and is used by many non-profit organizations. You can now make automatic monthly credit card donations with this system.
Please click below to contribute using our new system. If you do, you will see that there are different projects you can donate to. Please choose one of the following, depending on your interest: Ten for Tenderfeet, Tenderfeet Child Sponsorship, or other and specify "Tenderfeet" as the Donation Destination in the case of other.
U.S. donations are tax-deductible under article 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
Margaret Nyabuto and Lahash Lahash Representative for Tenderfeet: In Kibera:
For more
information on the Tenderfeet school, on visits to the center, or ways you can
help with the vision, please visit www.lahash.net. Lahash International is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
their new teacher
for his eye problem
A wonderful success story of Tenderfeet is that of Shadrack Otieno. Shadrack is a former students of Tenderfeet. He was facing a serious medical challenge, which required brain surgery.
representative Dax Mitchell
Kenya Programs
7037 Hwy 6 North, #130
Houston, TX 77095
713-584-3975
dmitchell@lahash.net
(254)-0724-788-482
(don't dial the 0 in 0724 if calling internationally)
Tenderfeet Education Centre
c/o Margaret Nyabuto
P.O. Box 13444 Code 00100
Nairobi, Kenya
mamamargaret2005@yahoo.com
