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This is something for which I don't think the company always gets the credit it deserves, partly I guess because they didn't do it for the credit; they simply wanted to help others in a big way.

With Stewart Milne putting the company up for sale last week I thought this would be a good time to celebrate him and his team for the life changing impact they helped create for so many families.

Back in 2015 it was Gathimba Edwards Foundation's second year of being a charity and we had ambitious plans of building a 16-bed dormitory for a children's home and a 3-bedroom house for a family. As you will see from the photos here, some of the children at Pavilion Village children's home were sleeping in desperate conditions; holes in the roof and walls meant that rain water would flow onto them during the night.

Thanks initially to Marina Millar, in summer 2015 myself and GEF Trustee Dan MULHARE met up with fellow runner Craig Thornhill and Carolanne Dieleman to explore whether Stewart Milne Group may be able to support the cost of materials or tools in some way (we always buy building materials locally in Kenya to support the local economy).

Craig and Carolanne then went away to see what the company may be able to do. Shortly after this they came back to say that they had 19 staff members willing to fly out to Kenya with us as volunteers to help with the construction. It was a moment that will stay with me forever and I remember quickly phoning my parents to share the great news.

Prior to the company coming on board we had 33 volunteers already signed up, which in hindsight would not have been enough people to complete both new-builds. Stewart Milne Group's support totally transformed what the we and the 52 volunteers were able to achieve and both buildings were complete within the 2 week trip. You can watch a video of the 2015 trip here.

In addition to their support in 2015, the company have supported us in many other ways including sending more staff out as volunteers in 2016 and 2018.  Great friendships have also been formed, most notably with Darren Cocker who has now been out to Kenya 5 times as a house building volunteer, project managing 3 of them and built 19 houses in the process.

We learned a lot from that first trip in 2015 and have implemented various changes over the years which have led us to our current model and helped build 50 homes for 212 children. We can't wait to welcome our next group of house building volunteers to Kenya in summer 2023 when we aim to build 4 houses for 4 families in 8 days.