Dear friends of Heart in Africa,
We are delighted to tell you about our visit to the Nice View Children’s Village and the time we spent with the children (with video).
We would also like to look back with you on a successful fourth year of the association –in Januarywe were able totransfer the proud sum of 33,000 euros to our heart project.
Your Heart in Africa Team
Joy and growth
Visiting the children at Nice View
In January, the time had finally come again. As the highlight of our trip to Kenya, we were once again able to visit our favorite project, the children’s village “Nice View”. As always, we were welcomed with a beaming, warm-hearted smile and it was like coming home to the big Nice View family.
We were pleasantly surprised at how the children’s village has developed in the short time since our last visit a year ago. Among other things, a new building has been erected which provides additional classrooms for school lessons. This means that homeschooling is now also possible for the oldest children in the home. Work has also begun on the urgently needed renovation of the roofs, as the existing Makuti roofs were no longer watertight and also posed a risk in the event of a fire.
Before our trip, we started a collection for well-preserved sports shoes in our private environment. The response was overwhelming and we arrived at the children’s village with two additional travel bags filled with shoes (which gave us a lengthy and intensive “conversation” with the Kenyan customs officials 😉).
The children’s joy was huge and soon every pair of shoes had found new shining children’s eyes. A big thank you to all the donors! Unfortunately, we were not able to provide all the children with new shoes. However, we will certainly repeat this collection campaign on our next visit.
As always, the conversations with Mama Gudrun were very warm and we were able to talk about the events at Nice View and our upcoming plans and projects. The past year has brought a lot of nice and positive things. A new baby was welcomed in the spring. The little boy has now found a great home in his new family and is being lovingly cared for by all the children.
But there were also challenging and sad times to overcome. In November, Nive View’s child Martin (24) was killed in an accident. It was a heartbreakingly sad time for the Nice View family and the family has grown even closer together.
The hours spent together with the Children were once again unforgettably beautiful! These shining eyes, the open and honest manner and the positive mood touch you every time anew.
The final drumming, singing and dancing performances by the children were the perfect end to our visit. As always, the time went by far too quickly and we said goodbye with tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces. These unique moments with the children and witnessing the development of the Nice View at first hand, encourage us again and again that our support here is in the right place. And we are already looking forward to our next visit.
Video of the Nice View visit
Thank you Nice View for the unforgettable hours and
the positive energy that we were able to take with us on our journey home.
Asante Sana!
Our fourth association year
Review of the year 2023
einzigARTig: Arts and crafts market
In March 2023, we will be taking part in the einzigARTig arts and crafts market within the historic walls of the Museum Kleines Klingental.
It was a special pleasure for us to be able to present our colorful, funny and quirky ceramic birds in the atmospheric rooms of the former monastery. Among all the
artists, we were literally “unique” as hobby craftsmen with our funny birds – but a successful colorful loosening up. As a result, our stand was very popular and, in addition to the many interesting conversations about our association, we had a successful sale.
Africa annual calendar
The sale and dispatch of our traditional Africa calendars starts in the fall. This year, we have once again produced a wall calendar and a new edition of our desk calendar. We are delighted to be able to take so many people on a unique photo safari through Africa: gentle pachyderms, elegant giraffes, majestic predators, colorful birds, sleek big cats, … Africa up close.
Christmas markets
During the Advent season, the streets of Münchenstein and Aesch are once again transformed into atmospheric, sparkling Christmas markets.
In the middle of it all, we present our African-Christmas decorated Christmas stand: funny, colorful and whimsical clay birds, cute gnomes, feather-light wire angels, our traditional African calendars, Christmas cards, gift / voucher handbags and much more.
All the cheerful market visitors, the interesting conversations and familiar faces make for joyful and unforgettable days.
Carolers
Towards the end of the year, we receive the good news that the Arlesheim carol singers might be collecting for our project this year. We applied with the project “Roof Renovation Kindergarten Nice View” and were delighted when we were awarded the contract. Unfortunately, we are already in Africa for the carol service on January 6 and are unable to present our project ourselves. However, the project presentation is very emotional and touching and in the end the carol singers of Arlesheim collect the proud sum of CHF 12,000 for our project. Simply incredible and many thanks to the carol singers of Arlesheim!
Donation Nice View
In addition to the support from the carol singers, we can continue to grow this year. In addition to the income from our traditional calendar sales, the sales activities at the spring and Christmas markets and our webshop we can count on the numerous and generous support of patrons and donations.
In January, we were able to transfer the impressive sum of EUR 33,000.00 (including carol singers) to our heartfelt project “Nice View Children’s Village” in Kenya. The joy and gratitude at Nice View was immense.
We would like to take this opportunity to say a big and heartfelt thank you for all your support and loyalty. Asante Sana!
We are counting on you
Let's continue
We are approaching our new association year with passion and joy. Of course, we are always happy to receive comments, your ideas or even criticism – so don’t hesitate and simply write to us.
Of course, we are always happy to receive active support in any form. Be it by forwarding our newsletter to friends / interested parties, sharing posts, ideas about growth opportunities or collaborations, a patronage or sponsorship or,….
We are certain that together we will be able to bring about positive change and help many children in 2024.
Thank you all very much for your loyal support and your trust in “Heart in Africa”.
Cordial and as always:
Kwaheri kwa sasa!
See you soon 🙂
