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Nicole Nichols

Travels to Africa – Part 1: All I Want for Christmas

Updated: Jun 8, 2022


kids at a Kenyan orphanage share an educational book excited to learn the names of animals

kids at a Kenyan orphanage share an educational book excited to learn the names of animals


All I want for Christmas….. is for each innocent soul as young as three, or ten years old.

To have a safe place to roam, a place to call home The freedom to play, and three meals a day.

The opportunity to get an education, and perhaps even the rare vacation.

Sounds so simple, yet its far from reality. The truth is sad, its hard to see.

But if we all took the time to donate a dollar or a dime.


an unused classroom at an orphanage in Kenya, Africa

an unused classroom at an orphanage in Kenya, Africa


Then it would be easy, to provide the basic necessities.

And give them the chance to believe, to go to school, to succeed.

Make a donation today, and give a child all they really want for Christmas.

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Go to  Friends Vision to read about the many kids hoping to find sponsors to send them to school & to find out how you can make a difference in a child’s life and become a sponsor.

Friends Vision is a small private grassroots organization dedicated to helping unfortunate children in Kenya have a safe and loving home.  So far, in just three years since the group’s formation, they have found enough caring sponsors worldwide to send 39 kids to boarding school to get a proper education, and are currently in the process of building their own children’s home which will safely house up to sixty children and a handful of dedicated volunteers.


Help these orphaned kids have a fun Christmas celebration.  The volunteers of Friends Vision will be spending Christmas away from their own families so they can share the holidays with these kids and put on a fun Christmas party with the money raised at: http://www.friendsvision.org/details.php?p_id=108


a child's only toy- a car made out of trash

a child's only toy- a car made out of trash


It was quite an eye-opener when we showed up to volunteer on the first day and realized these children had no toys to play with, other then ones they crafted themselves out of garbage.  After spending a couple of weeks with hundreds of kids with nothing but the clothes on their back…its been kind of strange to come back to the U.S.  and straight into the holiday season filled with an overabundance of toys and presents.

Of course there’s no reason kids here in the U.S. shouldn’t be allowed to take advantage of their privileged place of birth and wake up on Christmas day to a room full of toys and stockings full of candy.  But when you meet hundreds of kids that don’t own a single toy, and some not even a pair of shoes….and the only thing they ask from you is to send them to school….it really makes it hard to want to ask for anything else for Christmas.


Girls find stones to make their own games from scratch

Girls find stones to make their own games from scratch



toys from rocks at orphanage in Kenya, Africa

toys from rocks at orphanage in Kenya, Africa



child gets creative with leaves at a children's home in Kenya, Africa

child gets creative with leaves at a children's home in Kenya, Africa



Girl with plastic bag hat

Girl with her homemade plastic bag hat


We brought with us a large bag of toys for the kids and they picked up the yo-yo or the Frisbee and looked at it as if it was a strange foreign object…because to them it was.   They didn’t have a TV to watch toy commercials and they didn’t have rich kids in the neighborhood with the newest toys to be jealous of, so we had to show them how to play with their new toys.


first time playing with a yo-yo in Kenya, Africa

boy's first time playing with a yo-yo in Kenya, Africa


Another kid wore the Frisbee as a hat, we tried to show him how to throw it but he seemed to prefer to hold onto it on his head.  You can see him below standing behind another boy playing using a tire as a toy.


One kid plays with an old tire while another wears a donated frisbee as a hat

One kid plays with an old tire while another wears a donated frisbee as a hat



a kid in Kenya trying to figure out how to play with his new toy

a kid in Kenya trying to figure out how to play with his new toy


At one point during our day at the girls’ orphanage my business card fell out of my camera bag and the girls quickly grabbed it in amazement. They stared at it and passed it around with curiosity in their eyes. They seemed amazed by the brightly colored photos on such a small card, and they asked me if I was the bride in the photos. Once they all took a turn looking at it they politely handed it back to me with a smile.


girls are in awe over my business card at an orphanage in Kenya, Africa

girls are in awe over my business card at an orphanage in Kenya, Africa


The room below with the holes in the ceiling, no electricity, no ac or heat, and the thin worn out beds…are where the boys sleep at night.


child's bedroom at orphanage

child's bedroom at orphanage


Go to  Friends Vision to read about the many kids hoping to find sponsors to send them to boarding school & to find out how you can make a difference in a child’s life and become a sponsor.

Help these orphaned kids have a fun Christmas celebration.  The volunteers of Friends Vision will be spending Christmas away from their own families so they can share the holidays with these kids and put on a fun Christmas party with the money raised at: http://www.friendsvision.org/details.php?p_id=108

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