Category: Blog

Here is a backstory to the work we do. From where we started, our goals and how we make the best possible life for our girls.

The foundation of the work we do…

Jane and Alan, founders of the Beehive foundation, felt called to Africa to help young girls, who are victims of sexual abuse, and provide them with a safe place to go. They wanted to protect vulnerable girls who had become pregnant while barely out of childhood themselves. They saw a desperate need and wanted to do their best to fill in this gap where so many girls fell through the cracks.

All journeys start with somewhere: with The Beehive, it all started with a passion for change. The situation in Africa is dire and often unspoken about. Young girls, children, are being taken advantage of and abused. As a result, many become pregnant and can be forced out of families and homes, and subjected to more hardship and trauma. One of The Beehive’s main focuses for change was to relieve the poverty, sickness and distress of these child mums. Jane and Alan wanted to provide them with the appropriate care and support they deserve through the change from childhood to motherhood. Preventative awareness was also a very important aspect of their journey. Awareness campaigns aim to prevent this abuse from happening, and with that the hopes at reducing the number of child mums.

The work that The Beehive Trust, the organisation registered in Kenya, carries out today was first established in 2014 by Jane and Alan as a personal ministry. The Beehive Foundation partenered with The Beehive Trust. The Trust facilitates the workings of the Foundation in Nakuru, delivering services, renting properties, employing the appropriate staff and ensuring visibility into the operation. Starting out with just two girls, the Trust has evolved from a personal ministry to a registered charitable company.

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The Beehive Foundation grows in numbers…

The Trust has provided invaluable resources throughout our journey. Everything we do in Kenya is funded soley by donations. As The Beehive grew, so did the home we built. We started with just one rented house. But as the number of girls in our family grew, so did the number of houses. We currently rent several houses in a small residential locality in Nakuru, Kenya. But we have plans of one day owning our own community. As we have expanded, we must juggle who is in each house and find new houses or consolidate into bigger houses, if available. Because The Beehive is a refuge for vulnerable young girls, perimeter security is very important in keeping the girls safe. And so we are firstly building a strong perimeter wall and gate to secure everyone.

How we care for our family…

Donations do not just fund accommodation, but every aspect of the girls’ lives. All of their meals, healthcare, clothing, toiletries, pocket money and education are funded through people’s generosity. Our top priority is making sure the girls have everything they need to live a happy and comfotable life. We help them in all areas of life. From medical care for both the girls and their babies, to education or training. Ensuring that after they leave our care, they are set up to be able to live a full life. And importantly are able to provide for themselves and their children.

Addressing their psychological trauma is also very important. Many of our girls who are referred to The Trust through the welfare department in Kenya are emotionally broken. Often physically abused and psychologically damaged. Hindering them from forming normal relationships. Despite being the victim, they feel a deep sense of shame. They are bewildered and frightened as they are often removed from the family by childre’s services without any idea of what is going to happen to them. We provide one-to-one sessions to address this trauma and engage a professional if necessary.

Appreciation for the couple who started this incredible journey…

Jane and Alan devote their lives to our girls. Their journey dedicated to changing as many lives as possible in a community that abuse vulnerable children, and who shame them for it. Their work is incredibly valuable, changing one girl’s life at a time. If you would like to be a part of this journey please don’t hesitate to contact us, or, if you’re able to, please consider donating. A donation of just £15 pays for an ultrasound scan; an antenatal clinic appointment; a pair of school shoes; and blankets and sheets for one girl. Every penny counts to changing a life, and its because of your generosity that all of our work is possible.

This year seems to be going by so quickly. It was only ‘last week’ that the girls returned to school at the start of the new school in January, and already we are almost halfway through the school year! There is much news to share since our last update.

Alan and I returned from a visit to the UK almost a month ago, and during that time there was a lot going on back here at The Beehive. And it has continued that way since we returned. Just before we left one of our girls gave birth to a little girl, after three days in labour. We were delighted to be able to meet her before we left for the UK.

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News on the girls

Since we last wrote (and whilst we were in the UK) we have taken in four new girls. 15 year old N*, who gave birth just as we arrived back in Kenya.

We also welcomed 16 year old N* and her 19 month old daughter. They had been staying in a rescue centre in the western region of Kenya once it came to light that it was her own father who is also the father to her daughter. They are both settling really well, and N* wil hopefully join a vocational course in the coming weeks.

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Fun days and visits

The girls had a 2 week school holiday just after Easter which was extended by a further two weeks due to the huge instability of roads after the terrible floods. During this time they followed an afternoon activity programme, including some talks by our own staff and also a visiting supporter. They also greatly enjoyed a swimming trip followed by sausages and chips! Because they are rather a lot in number they went in two groups, but they had a wonderful time.

Another day they enjoyed a ‘fun day’ with team games, acting and dancing competitions and a ‘catwalk’. We certainly have some natural catwalk models among our family.

H* (and her daughter) visited her dad for the first time in a very long time, followed by a three day stay back at home. D* also visited home for a few days with her little one. Their visit did not go so well due to family’s living arrangements and the breakdown of her relationship with her mother (her father is the father of her little boy). And so she will not be able to return home but instead we will make alternative arrangements when the time comes. A couple of the other girls also made home visits for the day. These are always a special time for everyone involved.

And of course, the girls continue to meet every week in our Beehive Church. To enjoy a special Bible study evening on Tuesday evenings and worship nigh on Friday evening. While we were in the UK we explained to a number of people that we take girls of any faith or no faith. Whilst they are with us, many of the girls come to know the love of Christ. Many of them make their own decision to follow him.

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In other news

The sewing school girls are doing really well, and are now half way through their course. E* has finished the training part of her hairdressing programme and is now on a three month apprenticeship.

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And lastly, Alan and I had a wonderful time in the UK. We enjoyed a few days with friends and family in Alderburgh. We stayed at our friend’s granny flat again in Southwold. Also, we greatly enjoyed visiting Alan’s sisters who we havent seen for a couple of years. We stayed with good friends and supporters in Crowborough, and new dear friends in Bognor Regis. We also stayed with our lovely friends at both the beginning and end of our trip near Bury St Edmunds. Alan and I visited and spoke at a number of churches and several group events, and also caught up with lots of lovely friends and wonderful Beehive supporters along the way.

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Can you help ?

The Board is looking to recruit a part-time volunteer (anticipated 3-7 hours a week) Chief Fundraising Director. This is an exciting opportunity for someone to join our wonderful Board of Trustees.

The basic outline of this role would be to manage the growth of our grant revenue and to oversee a team of grant-makers, along with some other associated tasks. If this is something that may interest you, or someone you know, please do get in touch.

Happy belated new year from our Beehive family! Welcome to our Easter news. In Kenya it is customary that the first time you meet someone in a new year (even as late as March) you are supposed to wish them a Happy New Year.

We had a wonderful Christmas here. During December the girls had lots of fun, including a special fun day. We hired a children’s entertainer from Nairobi. The day was spent playing many team games. Our son was here visiting at the time and his partener joined in with the fun, painting all the little ones’ faces.

For Christmas Day the girls and the little ones were invited to the Nakuru Governor’s home, along with around 1500 others from homes throughout the country! They had a wonderful day. So we celebrated Christmas Day as a Beehive family on Christmas Eve. Lots of games were played, we danced, we sang and we ate lots of lovely Kenyan Fare. Alan and I gave out Christmas gifts to everyone and even recieved a lovely gift from our staff. We all felt so blessed, it was a really wonderful time.

School news

Our KCSE (end of Primary exams) girls and our KCSE (end og High School exams) girls all did well when they recieved their results.

Two of our girls had good enough grades to be able to continue onto University in September which is brilliant news.

However, the grading system here in Kenya is very difficult to understand, and unfortunately there are often other things at play. This means pupils do not always get their own marks or are marked unfairly. This is something we have learnt to accept, despite being extremely frustrating. One of our girls was deffinately not given her correct pass grade. Therefore she is not now able to go onto University, which she deserves so much. Instead, she has returned to School to repeat her 4th year.

After that was all over, it was time to settle down to the buisness of getting everyone ready for the new school year. We had two little ones joining Nursery School, two girls joining Junior High and five girls joining High School. We have also had four girls joining sewing school on a six-month programme.

In other news

Sadly, a few of the girls were involved in a road incident at the end of January. On their way home from school on Thursday, F* was hit by a slow-moving vehicle, which had swerved to avoid a motorbike.

Often the custom here in such circumstances is that the driver must take the person they hit to the hospital. With no one at The Beehive being yet aware of what had happened, the three girls got into his car.

The driver panicked and dumped them somewhere else in the dark. He forcibly pushed them out of his vehicle, and one of the girls slipped and he ran over her foot.

As soon as we became aware of the issue, we managed to locate them and take them all to hospital. Thankfully, F* only sustained some deep tissue bruising. N* had a dislocated foot which needed to be set in plaster. All three girls involved were understandably very traumatised.

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This year seems to be going by very fast! The girls and little ones are all going well, having recently recovered from a nasty stomach bug. They greatly enjoy coming together on Sunday mornings, gathering together for church at Alps house. The girls lead the worship, and a couple of them are on the ‘speaking team’, along with Alan and three of our ladies. We continue to see the hand of God throughout the work, bringing favour and blessing.

Check our blogs page as we will have more updates on the Beehive, the girls and life here in Nakuru!

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It’s been a while since we last wrote, so here is the latest news from here in Nakuru. We had a wonderful trip to the UK and caught up with lots of supporters and sponsors, a number of friends. We also visited, and gave talks in, several churches. New friends were made and precious time spent with our son. Then all too quickly the trip was over.

News from Nakuru

As always, it has been a tremendously busy since our reutrn to Kenya and we seem to have hit a time of various health issues in both houses. In August we had an outbreak of a mysterious virus in Alps house. Which led to most of the little ones, and the bigger little ones, having a terrible rash, and fever followed by skin shedding. The hospital said it was a ‘new virus’ !. Following that, hot on the heels of the mystery virus, came chicken pox in the Alps house. Every single baby and child caught it, ashwell as a number of the Mums. It’s safe to say that alot of paracetamol and calamine lotion was brought.

Just before we left for the UK, most of the Tindal family came to spend a week with us at The Beehive. As usual they spent time with the girls, doing craft activities and playing games, along with some bible teaching. We all had a wonderful time together.

Hello’s and goodbyes…

In June, three year old P* left us. Her mummy had left some time back in a complicated situation, having turned 22. It has taken a very long time to finally reintegrate Phoebe with her. We were so thankful to finally be able to do this though, and all is going well.

In July we had C* brought to us. She had been chased away from home by her mother and was later found to be pregnant. Sadly, a few weeks after coming to us, she miscarried the baby.

She recuperated really well though, and after some conversations were held with her mother , she was able to reintergrate back home.

In August we said goodbye to a staff member and her little boy. A new member has joined our team and is settling in really well.

We also welcomed our first volunteer from overseas since the Covid pandemic started. She is also from Suffolk, and has come to us for two weeks as part of a months visit to Kenya. She stayed at the Alps house, helping with the little ones, and the bigger little ones when they were home from school. Everyone loved her and this seemed to be reciprocated.

Other news !

Back in June, little E* was admitted to hospital where he was found to have septicaemia. He stayed in for 8 days with his mummy. She was so delighted when they were finally allowed to come home.

N*, 16 months underwent an adenoidectomy and had to stay in hospital for two nights. A staff memeber stayed with her the whole time as her mum ran away earlier in the year. She is making a good recovery.

Then we had a new baby ! Just under six and a half pounds (2.9kg) of God’s grace in one precious girl.

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Last but not least, came the good news that after almost a year of waiting, the buildings and site plan were finally approved last week. This leads us to our next step of waiting for environmental approvals. We pray for the day that we can finally start building!

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As always, we thank you for your support and kidness through our journey of change. If you feel able to please check out our donations page, or catch up on our latest updates and news from Nakuru on our blogs page.

Here in Nakuru, Africa, after a season of prolongued hot weather and drought, the rain has finally arrived. Many parts of the country have been flooded, even parts that are normally very dry!

The track leading up to our home and the main Beehive house has become like a river. However, we have taken advantage of the rains and planted our shamba (vegetable garden) with spinach and kale (sukuma wiki) which is a staple of the Kenyan diet.

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News from the Beehive

At the end of April, Jane and four staff members undertook the Trauma Competent Caregiving Training to be able to support the girls in the best way possible. It was an intensive three day course run by Trauma Free World, a Christian programme in the USA. Two staff members also completed this training in Nairobi in March. They all found it to be very informative and extremely helpful. We hope to be able to train the remaining staff in the coming months.

We were blessed with a visit from the Tindal family at the end of May. They spent time with girls and the little ones, and enjoyed a whole host of activites and fun aswhell as devotions and worship, as always.

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*Sandra*, who came to us last July with baby girl, ran away in the middle of the night. It was all very distressing and stressful. But her little one has continued to thrive. *Sandra’s* parents have expressed a willingness to take her little one back into the family. We are now working with the relevant departments to see if this can be a real possibility.

*Marie*, not long after *Sandra’s* abrupt departure, has expressed wishes to return home. Sadly we cannot say that she and little J have returned home ‘safely and appropriately’ due to circumstances we cannot say. But they have returned home to her grandmother.

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Three of our girls are sitting their KCSE this year (end of High School exam, equivalent to A-Levela in the UK) along with two girls who have left our care but whom we still support. We have four girls sitting their KCPE (equivalent to year 9 SATS in the UK). All these exmas take place in November.

It is a very important and pivotal part of their journeys, so please keep each one of these girls in your thoughts and prayers.

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Please note names and pictures have been changed for anonymity reasons, and to protect the girls.

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We will be in the UK through June and returning to Kenya towards the end of July.

we have a busy schedule of church talks, some small group talks and awareness meetings. If you would like to attend and find out more about the valuable work we do, please do not hesitate to contact us here.

If you would like to donate or learn more about donating, we would be extremely grateful, as it is the reason we are able to do what we do!

It’s been a long while since our newsletter! Here in Kenya, we continue to greet anyone that we have not yet seen since the turn of the year, so from us all to you, Happy New Year!

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News from Nakuru…

The girls and little ones all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, thanks to the success of our Christmas Gifts Appeal. They feasted Kenyan style, played games, watched movies, they danced and sang and worshipped. The girls were also so happy to have an extra Christmas gift this year in the shape of new pyjamas, thanks to the wonderful fundraisingng appeal run by our wonderful Beehive friend Diane. What a wonderful way to end a year, and enter a new year here in Nakuru.

In January all the girls enjoyed a wonderful two days of workshops with a visiting project. They led them through various topics such as self-esteem, peer pressure, health and hygiene. So much fun was had by them all and they all said that they felt they had really benefited from this time.

We said goodbye to C* in the beginning of the new year. She had aloways found it hard to settle at The Beehive having lived the past few years mainly on the street or moving from friend to friend. And when she insisted on leaving with baby E*, we were heartbroken, but of course we endeavoured to follow her wishes. An aunt was located who was willing to take them both and along with the help of children’s services, C* and E* eventually left us together to go to her aunt.

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Visits to family

Whenever it is possible we try to do home visits with our girls and their little ones, for them to remain in contact with any family they may have.

In the school holidays, H* was able to do so. She went with one of our social workers and her little 5-year-old, for the third time since joining us back at the beginning of 2017. They went to visit her brothers and sister. And this time she was absolutely delighted because her mum had returned to thr family home. Her mother had abandoned the family when H* was a little girl due to the abject poverty and the stress that comes with that. H* was incredibly happy and we are hopeful of a reintegration in the coming year for her and her little one.

R* also made her first home visit ever since 2016! She comes from an unstable part of Kenya where travel is not very safe, hence the delay. In January she and her little 6-year-old boy travelled with one of our social workers and visited her mum and brother. R* has been unable to return home up until now due to a complicated host of circumstances. Therefore, being able to go was simply amazing for her. We are hopreful of reintegration for R* and her little boy within a year.

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Back to school!

And then it was time for all the school girls to go back to school after their nine week holiday. They were very excited. It made for a huge amount of work for our social work team, with all the shopping and fees etc. Eventually we got there! We also had nine girls joining school for the first time since becoming mummys, plus two going up to High School.

We are so proud to report that we currently support 30 girls and boys in school. Most of whom are with us currently and some of whom have left our immediate care but still remain under our educational sponsorship scheme. However, we do still need new educational sponsors for a couple of the girls. If you would like to know more about this please do get in touch!

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In other news

We recently also said cheerio to one of our girls and her little boy. They were due to leave us to be reintegrated with her sister last year but for various reasons that didnt work out. However, now J* is a mature 20 year old, she was ready for independence from the Beehive. So we have rented her and her little one a small place very near to us.

We are fully supporting them both for three months as they transition into independence. During this time hopefully J* can find employment so she can support herself. We are also continuing to support her little one in his education as he has joined a new local school where he is very happy.

Last but not least, are our four new girls who have recently joined us. A 16 year old, 15 year old and sisters who are 15 and 16. 2 of our new girls are HIV positive. This presents with a challenge during the delivery of the baby, so both will deliver through Caesarean section. They all come from such sad and difficult circumstances. Sisters L* and D* had been living alone for some time. They were raising their younger siblings, and just before being brought to us they had buried their mother, who died from AIDS. 15-year-old C* arrived with her baby boy who was covered head to toe in allergic dermatitis. Thankfully, with treatment, this is now subsiding. Sometimes we are reminded just how important our work here is!

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Finally, we celebrate our 10-year anniversary this month since leaving the UK for East Africa.

10 whole years of following God and seeing many of our young girls give their lives to Jesus.

Our beautiful *Joanna gave birth to a gorgeous little girl on Tuesday evening after a brave labour, and an awful delivery. Watching little girl trying to be birthed was so agonising, as she was clearly stuck and not coming out any time soon! Much cutting and tugging and pulling later, our new baby was finally born. Poor *Joanna was totally exhausted, but she was so brave. We couldn’t help but think that if she had not come to The Beehive, and not been taken to a hospital to deliver, then certainly the baby would not have survived, and most likely *Joanna also would not have survived. It was very emotional.

So *Joanna’s baby makes baby number 14 at The Beehive: we are so proud of all our young mummies, for their courage, and the way in which they embrace motherhood at such a young age.

Ok – so it’s almost 6 months since I last wrote on here! Where has that time gone! Well, it has been filled up to be sure! A wonderful time with family and friends back in UK for a month over Christmas, and then back into the throes of The Beehive.

Our family has grown by 4 since end of last year: Ruth who was pregnant with our beautiful Ben (now 4 months old), & Rachel who was pregnant with gorgeous Nathan (now 2 months old). We also had 16 year old Josephine join us, but very sadly she didn’t stay with us beyond 2 months as she could not adjust to life in a “normal” home. Both Ben & Nathan were born by caesarian section, which always adds more work for me, but they are both more than worth it. Ruth then had a couple of bad episodes of severe ill health and was hospitalised on two separate occasions. Right now she is in great health though.

 Ruth & Ben

 Rachel & Nathan
Over Easter we had a wonderful visit from our eldest daughter Mckenna, who fell in love with all the babies, She enjoyed spending time at home with us, and with her new sisters and also enjoyed seeing some more of the Kenyan countryside on a couple of trips out. We were very sad to see her go!

When we returned from Uk in January we felt that the time had come to employ our own part-time teacher. So, after 2 not so good attempts, we now have teacher Jackline with us, and she is doing a great job teaching all the girls who are not yet back at school.

We also got to the point where we felt it necessary to employ a care-giver Aunty to assist mainly with the babies, but also with the mums. So two weeks ago Hotti joined us, and so far so good!

We have had a bit of a struggle finding a housemum/ housekeeper who ticked alot of the boxes, but lady number 5, our lovely Agnes, joined us in early February, and has settled in very well in The Beehive family.

So, with Dennis, our groundsman who comes once a week, we have quite a team now: Mary, social worker and acting manager, Agnes, Hotti, Jackline & Dennis! And of course, Alan & I!

What else? Oh yes, it has been a very busy time preparing our registration papers. Here in Kenya, to be working in such a capacity with children, we have to be registered as a Charitable Children’s Institute. The paperwork compilation and policy writing is not a quick affair! I think I started last September,. There are the necessary inspections too from Public Health and the Area Children’s Committee – all very scary! But finally last week the paperwork was all handed in, ready to be submitted to the governmental committee in Nairobi next week. Phew!

Throw into this mix, the thinking and planning about a house move for us all (more news on that another time) and launching an appeal for a bigger vehicle so that we can actually take our family out, and even just take them all to church in one trip
(if you would like to donate to our Vehicle Appeal, please follow this link to our giving page:   https://www.give.net/20136543,    or use Paypal:   partingseas2013@gmail.com)
 Trying to figure out how we can all fit! 

So, added to all the normal day to day stuff with having such a big family & a house full of teenage girls, I can see now why I haven’t thought to sit down and write a blog!