{"id":12213,"date":"2026-02-04T19:18:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/2026-01-report-from-paul-and-paul-j\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T09:43:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T07:43:59","slug":"2026-01-report-from-paul-and-paul-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/2026-01-report-from-paul-and-paul-j\/","title":{"rendered":"2026-01: Report from Paul and Paul J."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi everyone, Paul and Paul J. here,<\/p>\n\n

Our first month at the Maisha Mazuri Children Center is coming to an end, and time is already flying by. Here, we want to give you a glimpse into our lives as volunteers and report on the latest events at the project. <\/p>\n\n

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Early January is the time when the children from the Children Center and the Secondary School return from their long winter break and report back to their respective locations.<\/p>\n\n

Our first few days were full of new impressions. We were warmly welcomed by all the children and staff members and taken in with that open Kenyan hospitality. Since not all the children were back from their holidays on the first day, we were able to get to know them all one by one. <\/p>\n\n

Right on our second day, as happens every year at the start, all the Youth Support Kenya employees met to discuss the new Wellfair conditions.<\/p>\n\n

Wellfair is an association of employees who voluntarily pay part of their monthly salary into a common pool. This way, they support each other in special life situations\u2014whether it’s a hospital stay, a death, a wedding, or the birth of a child. <\/p>\n\n

Before the meeting, the focus was mainly on reuniting after the holidays: catching up, cooking together, and a colorful buffet. For us, it was a perfect opportunity to talk with many of the members and learn more about the organization. <\/p>\n\n

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Every day there was something new to discover. The children’s favorite activities, the meals, first glimpses of the farm and the small vegetable garden, as well as working with the animals. <\/p>\n\n

Daily life is slowly settling in, and while the children are at school, there is plenty of work for us to help with. The social workers Mercy and Joseph, the two house parents Miriam and Patrick, as well as Emma and Boniface, who look after the farm and animals, let us join in their tasks with a lot of fun. <\/p>\n\n

It’s especially nice to spend time with the children in the afternoons and on weekends. Their laughter and zest for life are truly contagious. <\/p>\n\n

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Our social worker Mercy is responsible for community work, which means she regularly visits the children’s families to check on their current well-being. They discuss general problems as well as positive developments, and help and support are offered wherever possible. Many of the family members work as day laborers, and some can also be called in to work on the farm and at the MCC from time to time, where they earn significantly more. <\/p>\n\n

It was a wonderful experience to see how happily and hospitably the families invited us into their homes.<\/p>\n\n

The highlight of the month was the second weekend, when we cooked Spaghetti Bolognese together with the children. For many of the children and even staff members, it was the first time they had tried this dish. They clearly enjoyed it and had a great time. <\/p>\n\n

The children supported us energetically\u2014and with a little bit of chaos\u2014during the preparations.<\/p>\n\n

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In the end, everyone was full and satisfied, and we were just as happy with the result\u2014a successful day. J <\/p>\n\n

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The following weekend, there were two more great activities on the agenda.<\/p>\n\n

Since we want to do things not only with the children at the MCC but also with the teenagers at the Secondary School, it was a pleasure for us to plan something for them too. So, on Saturday, we organized a movie night for the students at the neighboring school. Many of them had requested an action or horror movie beforehand, and of course, we granted that wish. Naturally, a movie night is nothing without snacks, which we bought in advance and distributed with the help of the students. It was huge fun for everyone. <\/p>\n\n

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Since it’s currently mango season in Kenya and on Boniface’s farm, the first mangoes were harvested on Sunday to wrap up the weekend. All the children, and of course us too, equipped ourselves with sacks and bags and walked the short distance to our farm together. Once there, Boniface was already waiting to lead the activity. He climbed the trees to shake the mangoes down or get them with a long pole. Then all the children rushed to the mangoes to pack them up and, of course, subject them to an extensive quality control. A great and very delicious experience. <\/p>\n\n

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So a first month, full of beautiful and unforgettable moments, comes to an end for us. Stay tuned, February loading… <\/p>\n\n

Paul and Paul J.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone, Paul and Paul J. here, Our first month at the Maisha Mazuri Children Center is coming to an end, and time is already flying by. Here, we want to give you a glimpse into our lives as volunteers and report on the latest events at the project. Early January is the time when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internship-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12214,"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12213\/revisions\/12214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4kenya.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}