Christmas Fairs

In November, Porridge and Rice decided to try its hand at Christmas fairs, having focused on summer fairs to date. After some research, two were chosen, one at the Baptist Church in Teddington and the other, an outdoor market on Church Street in Twickenham.

Both fairs went well, particularly the Church Street Fair where the craft items being made by volunteers like Jude and Emma sold well - knitted hedgehogs and felt gingerbread men topped the sales list. The charity is seriously considering making Christmas Fairs a regular event on the Porridge and Rice calendar especially the Church Street Fair in Twickenham.

Imperial Recruitment Fair

On 13 November, a group of three Porridge and Rice volunteers represented opportunities to volunteer, complete electives, or undertake internships with Porridge and Rice at Imperial University. The response was excellent with more students registering an interest in working with the charity than ever before.

The charity takes several students each year to Kenya to work in Porridge and Rice schools, and is accepting a growing number of self-funded interns who wish to build experience for personal or CV development, or simply to help some of the poorest people in the world. The charity welcomes students to engage with Porridge and Rice as volunteers interns, or students; photographs of people engaging with the charity can be found in the Volunteer Gallery.

Emma's Blog

Emma, paediatric nurse and vice-chair of Porridge and Rice, has begun writing a blog covering a wide range of topics including her experience with the charity working in the Nairobi slums in Kenya and craft items for sale at fairs.

Enma has supported the charity since the time she completed the elective module of her degree with Porridge and Rice in Kenya. She has visited Kenya every year, sometimes twice, and led many key projects within the charity, most recently improving the First Aid skills of teachers. Her contribution to Porridge and Rice has been enormous.

Rotary Donation

President Alan of Ormskirk Clocktower Rotary presented a cheque to Jude, trustee of Porridge and Rice, to fund the installation of a handwashing trough for at each of two Porridge and Rice partner schools.

Handwashing before and after meals is always difficult with schools having only two or three taps for anywhere from 400 to 700 pupils. The handwashing troughs will provide a trough of taps which will speed up and streamline the process.

Teacher Training

One of the goals of the charity is to improve the skills of teachers at Porridge and Rice partner schools, most of whom, despite being both committed and talented, have not been able to afford any professional training.

At present, the charity is sponsoring three teachers, Teacher Beth (head teacher of Lizpal), Teacher Grace (deputy head teacher of Lizpal), and Teacher Haggai (deputy teacher of Heri Junior). All three are exceptional teachers who can only benefit from professional education thus serving their pupils even better. Porridge and Rice is very proud to have them as part of the team.

Handwashing

Handwashing is an important way of breaking the spread of communicable diseases like diarrhoea.

The charity runs regular refresher lessons to encourage to make handwashing a habit. Lessons are run by teachers and volunteers, like Jay Majevadia in Summer 2018.

Amazon Shop

A few months ago the charity launched an Amazon store which it is working on developing to provide a steady income.

The charity has found that second hand books sell well, and is working on increasing its stock so if you have any unwanted books, please donate them to Porridge and Rice.

Ashlee and Sarah

Porridge and Rice has welcomed volunteers from around the world, like Ashlee and Sarah from the US in 2016.

First Lunch

The charity launched its first feeding programme at Excel School in Ngando, an area of the Nairobi slums, in April 2014.