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What We Do

July 2022 Newsletter

by | Aug 23, 2022

Kate is back in the US! 

Kate has returned to the US and is so excited to share amazing updates straight from Hekima Place! We hope you can join us throughout this month for one of our Kate Talks and be sure to check our websites for more chances to meet with Kate!

  • Resurrection Parish (St. Thomas More) – 126 Fort Couch Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15241
  • Saturday, July 16th at 4:00pm and Sunday, July 17th at 8:00am, 9:30am, & 11:30am
  • St. Catherine Labouré Parish (St. Louise de Marillac) – 320 McMurray Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15241
    Saturday, July 23rd at 6:00pm and Sunday, July 24th at 8:00am, 10:00am, 12:00pm. & 4:00pm
  • Come Together 2022 Concert – Indian Community Center 205 Mary St, Carnegie, PA 15106
    Friday, July 29th with doors opening at 6:30pm
  • Bower Hill Community Church – 70 Moffett St, Pittsburgh, PA 15243
    Sunday, July 31st at 9:30am

Interested in meeting with Kate but unable to attend one of our events? Kate will be in the US until Tuesday, August 9th– don’t miss your chance to learn more about the exciting news from Hekima Place. Reach out to Laura Bright at LBright@hekimaplace.org to coordinate a meeting!


There are only 15 days left until
Come Together 2022!

Kate Fletcher and the Board of Directors invite you to a night you won’t forget as we journey into the past with Pittsburgh’s premier Beatles tribute band, Come Together!  Join us on Friday, July 29th to support Hekima Place and our mission while experiencing the time of your life as we dance, celebrate, and share the incredible impact that music and love make in the lives of each and every child we support.

With chances to win big prizes through the 50/50 drawing, basket raffles, a chance to bid on some exciting items available in our silent auction and may other opportunities, you can make a huge difference just by having a blast!

Don’t miss out on this incredible night and reserve your tickets today!


Our Home!

 

We have exciting news! In the month of June, we were blessed with the wonderful gift of four girls joining the Hekima Place family!

Please join us in welcoming Baby Faith (1 month) who is full of smiles and tiny giggles, Lilian (2) who is so happy to join this family where each girl is celebrated for who they are, and Sisters Pavine (5) who is so excited to start PP1 at HHLC and Angeline (1 1/2) who is loving playing with little ones her age!

Each of the girls are safe, loved, and enjoying everyday as a member of the Hekima Place family. With your help, we are so grateful that we are able to provide all of the love, support, and encouragement!


Our School! 

The 2022 school year is progressing right along at Hekima Hills Learning Centre (HHLC) as the kids concluded their first term! We are so proud of each child and their completion of this incredible milestone and we want to start them off with the best wishes as they start their second term following a short break.

As our school continues to grow with the addition of new grades, HHLC is celebrating the growth of each child under the new Competence Based Curriculum (CBC). One of the new courses being taught at HHLC is Agriculture and this course is in full swing with rabbits, hens, and a lonely sheep called Mango. Each class is loving the chance to learn about each animal and how to care for them. In addition to the wonderful animals, there are six plots located directly behind the school where each class will plant, weed and water a variety of seeds and watch each one grow into beautiful plants. 

We are so thankful we can share these wonderful updates with you as all of the children work hard every day!


Alumnae Spotlight!

My name is Linet and I am an alumna of Hekima Place. I lost my parents to ailments at the tender age of 13. Am the first-born in a female family of three, being the firstborn life became hard because the onus was on me to sustain the family since my grandmother was too old to go to the market.

For two gruesome months, I managed to sustain the family through selling sugar cane, bananas, kale, and chickens and with the little that I would get, I would buy food and paraffin for cooking since in our home there was no electricity. Life was tough and I asked God many questions on why life could be this cruel.

As fate would have it, my Aunt Christine stepped in after some months and we stayed with her in Kibera, but life wasn’t easy at all since she had two sons to take care of and her job could not sustain us all. Through God’s grace, she met mum Kate and shared our story with her.

In 2005, Mum Kate sheltered us and we became the Hekima family. She educated me along with my siblings at Hekima Primary School and Excel Girls High School in Kitengela. I later joined St Paul’s University from 2013-2018 to study Community Development; and here I was the secretary for the student’s union before later getting elected as the first female chairperson of the students’ union in the University’s history, and later I became the 1st female chairperson of electoral commission.

Reflecting on my life in Kibera and appreciating my roots inspired me to go back and do something to help, however modest it would be. Having experienced it, I knew what it meant for a girl in the slums to lack sanitary pads, and I knew the choice a family has to make against basic needs like food.  Also, I understood just how oppressive and fearful it is for a young girl in the slum to express herself in the eyes of exploitation. I wanted to be that voice for the voiceless.

In 2017, I founded the Kibera Angels Soccer Academy and Girls Mentorship Program, a community-based organization that uses sports as a voice of change. Through football, we have welcomed close to 250 children at the academy at no cost to our participants to ensure all are able to patriciate regardless of their economic background. Here both boys and girls are coached about the game and also offered various life skills.

The football sessions are conducted every Saturday where I am able to provide a meal to the children after practice with the support from well-wishers. Not only do the football sessions offer a window of opportunity for mentorship. We also work with each girl to teach them about feminine health and provide necessary sanitary towels for the girls in order to ensure they have access to this needed resource to help them boost their self-esteem.

Our main goal is to show each child that they can be anything they want to be if they put in the hard work and focus needed to achieve it.

To sustain Kibera Angels Soccer Academy and the mentorship program is not easy, my team and I invite well-wishers to not just contribute in any manner they can but also pay the kids of Kibera Angels a visit. To learn more, please feel free to outreach to administrator@hekimaplace.org.


Thank you!!! 

Each and everyone of us at Hekima Place wants to thank each and everyone of you!

You’ve made a real difference in a girl’s life. And that’s not all… By investing in a girl’s future, you’ve made a meaningful investment in her community and society as well. You’ve made a lasting impact!

You’re helping them learn and break barriers, and showing them a brighter future.

Please accept our deepest thanks for showing a girl that she can believe in her Future Me — because you do, too!