A Letter To Our Supporters & Projects For 2023
Thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement, Hark Angel is dedicated to improving the lives and the futures of children living in under privileged communities, and it is only with your help that we can do this.
This past year has been about planning and investigating how we can best support children in remote and under privileged communities.
We have spent time in Kenya, learning about the struggles and hopes of people living in remote Maa communities, we have spent time in Kibera (the biggest slum in Africa, and one of the biggest slums in the world). In our time we were able to help a lot of children and put the building blocks in place for some amazing projects in Kenya.
We have also been in conversation with friends in Lao to see how Hark Angel would be able to help the people of Lao, and at the end of the year Richie Harkham took a trip to Lao to investigate this further.
So here is our quick recap on some of the work that we have been doing, and an insight into what is to come in 2023.
Our New Projects
We went into the journey with no expectation and with open minds, we were just ready to listen and see what needed to be done. As is to be expected, we learnt a lot, we grew and adapted, and were able to provide a bit of help along the way.
Sponsorships:
In 2022 We Committed to Sponsoring 15 Children in Kenya on going, these are some of the most at-risk children that we have met in our time in Kenya. Unfortunately, without sponsorship most of these children would have never been given the opportunity to go to school, or to start creating a brighter future for themselves.
Many of these young children would be forced to either enter the work force full time or be married off at a young age if they did not have their school fees paid for. This year, we have taken on the responsibility of educating 4 more children, we are so excited to see all 19 of our sponsor children grow as we invest in their education.
On top of these children that we expected to sponsor, Hark Angel has also taken Nashipae on as a sponsor child and reoffered Lucy a sponsorship for the remainder of her schooling.
Nashipae’s Story:
When Indi first met nashipae she was 11 years old, she had already been through FGM, and she was about to be married off to an older man.... and to make matters more difficult, Nashipae is vision impaired and was unable to actually learn anything at school.
Nashipae loves school more than any child I have met, Nashipae would walk 2 hours every day to get to and from school. Nashipae was finding it increasingly hard to stay in school as she progressively losses more of her sight. Part of Nashipaes love for school was driven by her fear of being married off, as she understood that school was the only thing stopping her from being married off.
Nashipae was meant to be married off at 10 years old, but she begged her father to let her stay in school and not be married off. Eventually Nashipae and her father came to an agreement, Nashipae would go through FGM but she would be allowed to stay in school. Nashipae was woken up in the middle of the night by her grandmother, and mother, who put her through Female Genital Mutilation in preparation for her marriage.
Indi had to seek permission from Nashipaes father and her grandmother to be able to enroll Nashipae in school, this was a bit process because the only school that could cater for Nashipaes degenerative eye sight and teach her braille, is a Visually Impaired boarding school about 6 hours' drive from Nashipaes village.
Thankfully Nashipaes family agreed, and not only has Nashipae already completed her first year of school with very high marks, she has also gained so much confidence and made many friends at her new school.
Lucy’s Story:
In her short life Lucy has already faced so many adversities. At 13 years Lucy had already been through FGM and her father was ready to marry her off to an older man in exchange for one cow. After hearing her story Richie intervened and negotiated with Lucys father to let her go back to boarding school which Richie paid for. Lucy fell in love with school & began to embrace the dream of becoming a lawyer. Sadly, Lucy dropped out of school at the beginning of her high school due to an unplanned pregnancy. After the pregnancy poor Lucy was married off to an older man who is not the father of her child. Today Lucy has two children. She is an amazing mother, but in private Lucy has expressed that she never wishes to be a young mother, all she wanted was to go through school and become a lawyer. At Hark Angel we believe that every child deserves a second chance! We are now putting plans in place to make sure that Lucy can return the school next year, and continue to make her dreams a reality.
Art from the Heart of Kibera:
Secrets out! Kibera is absolutely dripping in talent.
In her time in Kenya, Indica stumbled upon an amazing organization called Uweza Foundation, Uweza has an art gallery in the heart of Kibera (the biggest slum in Africa), which gives a platform to local artists to showcase and sell their art. Their founder Jeff recognizes that Kibera is just a hub of creativity and expression, there is just a lack of exposure and resources of these young artist to be showcased.
Most of the young artists are living in extreme poverty, so having the resources they need for painting is a massive luxury! Without a platform and the support, most of these young artists would not have realized their full potential. For kids growing up in the slum they hit a fork in the road, they either must hustle to fix a school to go to, find a sponsor ship or some platform. Or they do what everyone across the globe is tempted to do when they don’t feel they have opportunities or a purpose in life… they fall into the wrong crowd, numb the pain with drugs, and even join a gang for security and a sense of purpose…. Uweza offers an alternative for kids hitting that fork in the road.
Hark Angel & Harkham Wines are honored to be working alongside Uweza to help showcase these Amazing Artists.
Harkham Wines is now show casing 10 original artworks which were created by the uweza artists especially for The Hark Angel Art Collective debut. Our goal is to not only bring awareness to Kibera, and the struggles faced by those living within the slum, but also to promote the incredible talent of these young artists.
How the Bidding works
These artworks are here for you to admire and appreciate as you enjoy your wine tour, but they could also be yours to take home.
Please talk to our friendly staff or follow the QR code under your favorite artwork to place your bid.
Where is the money going?
Each artist has been paid for their artwork already, so the money that we raise from this exhibition will be going towards funding Hark Angels continued work in Kenya.
We are currently sponsoring over 15 children all over Kenya, and we are looking to sponsor even more next year.
The Winning Artist
The artist who gains the most attention from their artwork will be commissioned to redesign the logo for the Hark Angel line of wines at Harkham Wines.
They will also be gifted 10% of the profits from the exhibition to help them on their artist journey.
Saikeri Bore Water Restoration Project
Saikeri is a rural Maasai Community located in Kajiado West, in Maasai Land in the Eastern part of Kenya. As is the case for many communities in Maasai Land, Saikeri is very isolated from the rest of Kenya, and the people live simple lives with little recourses.
Saikeri has received minimal support from NGO’s and independent volunteers in the past, but they lack support, and unfortunately the Kenyan government typically neglects Maasai communities.
Sourcing clean water is a major issue in Saikeri, many people living in Saikeri go for extended periods of time without drinking water, and the water that they have access to is contaminated and dangerous to drink.
To access water the residents of Saikeri need to walk one Kilometer to the closest source of water to collect water, then carry this water back to their families. There are 2000 people living in the community of Saikeri, this water is shared amongst that the whole community, and the supply is often limited due to a lack of rain. This water is stagnant and shared with their cattle who drink from the same dam, leaving excrement in the water, many people fall ill or die due to illness and infection.
Five years ago, a Korean NGO decided to support Saikeri by installing a bore hole to provide clean water to the greater community, the Saikeri Primary school, and the medical clinic. This was a blessing to the community. Unfortunately, two years after it was installed the pump broke, and the community was unable to fix the pump, leaving the bore unusable.
Meaning the community returned to collecting contaminated water from 1 Km away.
Hark Angel Has decided to fix the pump and restore the Bore, so that the community once again has access to clean water. Having a reliable source of water would stop illness and death related to drinking contaminated water, it would improve the health and hygiene standards of the community and would give them an opportunity to begin growing their own crops and improving the food supply in the community.
This we greatly thanks to the Measure Up Dexa Competition. Over the years they have helped raise thousands of dollars in donations for Hark Angel. This year we are using the donations from the competition to fix the bore hole pump in Siakeri.
We are so grateful to have their support and backing in the work we do.
Australia’s Largest Lunch
We were blown away with the support and encouragement we received at the Australia’s largest lunch event hosted by the wonderful Be Inc team. This is an annual event held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, with the intention of raising awareness & funds to help end the disgusting business of child trafficking. The trafficking of Children is a disgusting business which continues to grow and put more children at risk every year, but after Covid over 10 million children are being trafficked a year.
We were so humbled to see the level of support, with a sold out audience of 350 people.
Thank you to everyone who came to the Australia’s Biggest Lunch and showed their support in the fight to end human trafficking!
Plans for the Future
We are very excited to see what 2023 has in store for Hark Angel, we are ready to begin building schools once again and giving children in the most impoverished communities access to quality education, and the support they need to discover a brighter future.
