DGS News 2011
End of Year 2011 Prize Giving and Graduation at DGS
As the school year at Destiny Garden School comes to a close, the graduation of the pupils from KG3 to Primary Class 1, together with the End of Year prize giving, was celebrated.
The event was a great success with parents and guardians attending, and entertainment by the children which included music and dance shows. There were speeches made by the school head teacher who then handed the ceremony over to Victor, the School Manager, who presented the graduation certificates and then the prizes to the individual students who had excelled in their classes, Baby class up to Class 5
A special cake was made for all, and the children were given biscuits and fruit juice while parents, guardians and staff received sodas. Destiny Children helped fund the event, including the hire of the gowns. .
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Christmas Fund buys uniforms for the Children at DGS
Many thanks to all those in the UK who contributed to the Christmas Fund. This was used to buy uniforms and a small treat for all the children at Destiny Garden School.
The children at DGS were very excited, and their parents or guardians very much appreciated the gifts. Less than half the children had uniforms and many of those were worn out. Uniforms are important to us in Kenya, the children are proud to wear them and they make the children feel they belong to the school.
Holiday Cards Raise Funds for DGS - November 2011
USA 4th grade students at a School in Washington, D.C. created sets of holiday cards and sold them to their family and friends. This helped to purchase school uniforms for the children at the Destiny Garden School for the Christmas Fund project.
Kate Bergantino, their USA teacher, volunteered at Destiny Garden School last year. Since her return from Mombasa she has raised funds to help DGS with much needed school equipment. As a keen supporter of DGS, Kate sponsors two children, which helps cover the school's ongoing running costs.
Ralph Volunteers at DGS for 6 weeks - September/October 2011
Ralph Nguyen, from the USA, provided valuable help to Destiny Garden School by volunteering for six weeks during September and October 2011. He assisted the teachers in the classrooms and helped the children with their studies. He also provided English lessons for the students, which proved to be a great help.
This photo of Ralph was taken on his final day at the school, when the children and teachers of Destiny Garden Schools said a fond farewell.
Volunteer Courtney says farewell to DGS - July 2011
Ms Courtney Oxendale, a volunteer Nurse from America who has been at the school for 2 months and partly at the Mtongwe clinic, donated maize flour, rice, cooking fat and beans to the school.
This was part of her parting gift to the school as she also donated money for the construction of a book shelf. These donations come at a very handy time as food stocks were dwindling, while the books kept piling up with no storage alternatives in place.
The book shelves were made by a local carpenter and have been installed in the administration room. This is going to be a huge help to Masika, the School Administaror, who can now ensure the books and teachers aids are better stored and accessed.
Volunteer Laura buys rope for DGS - 20 July 2011
A British Volunteer from Northamptonshire, Laura Allen, who has been with Destiny Garden School for a week, generously donated rope for the village well.
The well is situated right by the school and DGS have often struggled to properly use the water from the well ever since they lost their own rope. This donation is very timely as it will help in easing the burden of buying water. Whilst the well water is not clean enough to drink, it can be used in the day to day activities at the school, such as cleaning.
Volunteer Kathryn donates gifts to DGS- 8 July 2011
On the 8th of July 2011, Kathryn Moore a volunteer Nurse has been with the school for 2 months, bought for the school teachers 8 rulers and 8 blackboard dusters/erasers. This was greeted with great enthusiasm by the teachers who have for a long time had to improvise in order to carry on with normal classes.
Kathryn also generously donated to the school food stuff for the childrens lunches
Laptop and Camera donated to DGS - July 2011 
A UK friend donated her old laptop to DGS for Victor, the School Manager's, use. The children were fascinated with it and it was a good opportunity for Victor to demonstrate what a computer can do.
One of DGS’s aims is to obtain electricity via solar panels so that they can install computers for the staff and children’s use.
A digital camera was also donated by antoher friend from the UK.
Whilst this is for Victor to take photos for the websites, the children all wanted to try it out!
Jayne and Martin Jackson Visit DGS – June 2011
Whilst on holiday in Kenya, Jayne and Martin visited Destiny Garden School. They met up with Victor, the School Manager, who took them on a shopping trip to central Mombasa to buy food and text books for the school and they then spent time with the children and watched some of their lessons.
Jayne says “To anyone going on holiday or planning a visit to the area, I would definitely recommend visiting the school. We have decided to sponsor Alex in year 4 and to continue to support the school" For their full report please see 'Reviews'
Cricket Team Visit to DGS – 30 June 2011
A Cricket Team from the UK visited DGS to spend a day introducing and teaching cricket to the children of Destiny Garden School. For most children it was the first time they had seen cricket played and, as the Cricket team donated many cricket sets, it will enable the children to continue playing the game.
Dominic, the Cricket team member who organised the trip, said “everyone on our side really enjoyed our visit to Destiny Garden School and got a lot out of it. It was great to do something different and also a chance to see and be in a real Kenyan community."
For the full report and more photos please see - Cricket Team Visits DGS
Lemonade and Cakes Raise Funds for DGS - 8 June 2011
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USA girls that participate in a running program in Washington, D.C. in the United States, learned about Destiny Garden School through Kate Bergantino. They voted on a fundraising project and executed their plan. Through a lemonade stand and bake sale the students were able to raise much needed funds for DGS.
Kate Bergantino, a teacher from the USA, spent a few weeks doing voluntary work at Destiny Garden School last year . Since her return from Mombasa she has raised funds to help DGS abd also sponsors two DGS children to go towards the school's ongoing running costs.
DGS Enter the Kenyan Musical Festival again this year - June 2011.
On 16th of June Destiny Garden Children performed for the Division Music festivals. 
They entered 7 different categories of which they topped in one. This was the Singing game category in western style by the Nursery class students where they emerged Number 1 with 77%.
They were second in both the Singing game category in African style performed by the lower primary class with 77%, while William presented a Swahili poem titled ‘Kitabu’ (Book).
However it was not all ‘song and dance’ for Destiny Garden School. (No pun intended). The Lower primary class finished 9th with another poem ‘Peremende’ (Sweet) with 80%. The Nursery classes also got 80% but were 6th with a poem titled ‘Maji’ (Water). Josephine from class 4 was 19th with 74% after performing a poem called‘Maua’ (Flower) while Mathias was 9th with yet another poem titled ‘Rafiki’ (Friend).
On Monday 20 June 2011, DGS went on to participate in the District Finals and 3 groups of students representing DGS qualified for the Provisional Finals which took place on Monday 27th June. The Singing game category in western style by the Nursery class students (KG1, KG2 and KG3) came 3rd in the Provisionals with 83% and they have now qualified for the Nationals, which take place in Nakuru, starting on 28th July 2011.
DGS Football Tour, Nairobi - May 2011
British charity Vision Africa organised a football tournament for children from deprived 
areas in Nairobi and invited DGS to send 2 boys and a girls team. The cost of this tour was kindly donated by one of Destiny Children’s generous sponsors; it required hiring a bus, traveling nearly 700 miles, paying for accommodation, supplying the football strip and boots for the teams, and providing the children with warm clothing and bedding . This was a wonderful opportunity for 36 DGS children, most of whom had never been outside the village area where they live.
The tournament was held on Sunday 29th and was between boys teams from Kibera, 
Kandara, DGS and Westende School in UK Wokingham. DGS drew their first match 1-1, won there second 2-0 and drew the third 0-0, unfortunately losing on penalties to the eventual tournament runners up. A very good result for such a new school and one that has never competed in a tournament before. Only one other girl’s team competed in the tournament, DGS girls finishing a very close second.
The whole trip was a wonderful experience for the children and something they will remember for the rest of their lives.
For the full report and more photos please see - DGS's Football Tour 2011
Chicago volunteers donate much needed items – May 2011
The Chicago Impact International Volunteers donated various items for the school children. This included Text Books which greatly reduced the student to book ratio from the current 6:1. They also donated clothes which the children used during the recent Music and Dance Kenyan Festival. Other items donated were tooth brushes, tooth paste and toys.
The Chicago Impact International team with 2 volunteers from ABV and Jacob, the Destiny Garden School Director.
Carol runs the London Marathon for DGS - 17 April 2011 
Carol from the UK is a mother of twins and a keen amateur athlete, she is also a keen supporter of Destiny Garden School. On Sunday, April 17th 2011, she ran the London Marathon for Destiny Children and raised much needed funds for DGS.
Running the London Marathon is a huge achievement at any time but for Carol it was particularly difficult having been laid low with back problems during training and up to hours before the event.
Pennsylvania Law students visit DGS - March 2011
Four law students from Pennsylvania University in America visited the school during the 3rd to the 11th March.
Chris Cottrell, Alex Gibson, Pedro Gassant and Nate Koone are members of the Penn's Law student Association (BLSA) and visited Mombasa, Kenya to work with women and children of the Mtongwe Community and help teach them about their constitutional rights.
Amongst other work, they helped DGS install a new water tank, as the picture shows!
To learn more about DGS and Mtongwe, see their clip on YouTube - Penn Law BLSA in Kenya
Amy and Mark Visit DGS - March 2011
Amy and Mark booked a trip to Kenya for some winter sun and wanted to do something worthwhile whilst there. They came across Destiny Garden School on the internet and arranged to visit the school.
Amy says: “What the Destiny Garden School offers is a safe haven, a good education and regular meals.
Jacob, the School Director, is so remarkable we did name him “The busiest man in Mombasa”; he is constantly working to give more to these children and the future of Kenya, because children are the future. Jacob's motto “Education is the way out of poverty” fits here perfectly.”
Read Amy's full review. Read Amy and Marks full report and see the difference they made and will continue to make - Amy’s full report
Judy's Visit to DGS - February 2011
Judy Roper, Chairperson of the UK charity,Destiny Children, visited Destiny Garden School on
1st February 2011. Her principle job whilst there was to update the Charity's records, together with those for the sponsorship programme, which entailed taking photos and updating the profiles of all the 245 children now at the school. 
Judy says "The visit went brilliantly. It was great to see all the children again and many remembered me from my last visit.
The school has come on leaps and bounds but still has a long way to go. Jacob is trying so hard with everything and is well known and respected by the people in the local community, who really appreciate DGS"