Handshake is helping lift lives of the poorest

The St Thomas Handshake to Kware charity was launched three years ago and has helped to make major inroads into both health and educational welfare.

Fair Oak's heartwarming work for the Kware slum community in Kenya has been regularly spotlighted by the Daily Echo.

A strong bond has been forged between people living in a relatively prosperous corner of the south of England and those who have to eke out a miserable daily existence in the disease ridden suburb near Nairobi.

Now the appeal has been given a further boost following the news that last year £138,000 was sent to Kware.

Since Fair Oak stepped in to help Kware there has been a dramatic turnaround in the health fortunes of a population which was in danger of becoming a forgotten corner of the world. For the intensive fundraising has paid for the day-to-day running of a health centre which is now recognised as a centre of excellence. In the parish council newsletter, the Vicar of Fair Oak the Reverend David Snuggs said: "The health centre is better equipped than ever before, enabling more extensive immunisation and health education programmes to be carried out in the slums.

"Improved staffing has also meant that visits to the slums in response to emergencies can be made more easily."

Fundraising has also paved the way for a nursery school to be relocated to a safer premises. The St Thomas Handshake to Kware appeal has also paid for a plot of land upon which a school for about 1,200 local children can eventually be built.

Mr Snuggs says: "We are witnessing the gradual transformation of a community which is also benefiting from the relatively recent change in government."

Money has been raised through fun days, local schools and charities and from communities and schools further afield.

Mr Snuggs says: "We are exploring the possibility ofpartnership with other major fund raisers."

For more information about the Kware appeal call 023 8069 5786.