After three years of fundraising by St Michael's the dormitory for streetboys has been built and is now open in Nairobi. Mrs Murphy was very honoured to participate in the official opening of the building on behalf of St Michael's. The building was blessed on 27th June and the same day 70 streetboys got a new clean and comfortable bed. There was great excitement as the boys moved into their new surroundings. They deeply appreciated the efforts of St Michaels in providing the dormitory which will make such a huge difference to their lives.

A group of 24 teachers and students from St Michael's have recently returned from a 10day immersion visit to Mukuru. While there they had the opportunity to work with the children of St Catherines Primary School and to support the streetboys in their efforts to learn English and educate themselves. The group presented a cheque for £30,000 to the Sisters of Mercy, the final payment to complete the funding of the Mary Immaculate Dormitory for Streetboys. The highlight of the visit this year was the official opening of the dormitory at which the school group were recieved as honoured guests.

The Mercy Mission to Mukuru committee was delighted to award a fundraising certificate to the Golden Crust bakeries in North Street and Edward Street Lurgan, in recognition of the £500 which has been collected in the shops since September 08, in support of the project. We are very grateful for the support of the Crossey family and the staff and customers of the Golden Crust bakeries.

The committee of Mercy Mission to Mukuru were delighted to receive a variety of gifts for the Mukuru community from the ladies of the Lurgan branch of the Dromore Apostolic Works. The gifts included vestments, altar cloths, two mass kits and a variety of knitted items. The Mukuru committee are very grateful for these items which will find a good home in Kenya. Included in the photo are Mrs Kathleen Knox and Mrs Deirdre Goodfellow who made the presentation and Mr McGivern who received it on behalf of MMM. Also present was Mr McCafferty, St Michael's Vice Principal.

Sabina Conway is a year 13 student participating in the school immersion visit to mukuru in June 2009. When faced with was task of raising funds in support of the visit, Sabina came up with the novel idea of producing a Mukuru hoodie featuring the Mukuru logo on the front and the number 09 on the reverse. The hoodie was a great hit with the school population and Sabina sold 120 hoodies in a range of colours and sizes. St Michael's students are often seen out and about wearing the Mukuru hoodie, that in itself is testament to the success of Sabina's project. We wish Sabina well for her visit to Mukuru, she can wear her hoodie with pride knowing sales of it have helped some of the poorest people in Africa.

The final preparations are being made for this year's immersion visit to Mukuru. Staff and students have been working hard to pack all the donated items which they will take with them to the children of Mukuru. Local schools, Gaelic clubs, students from St Michael's and their parents have contributed clothes, books, pens and pencils and toiletries. All these items will be welcomed by the people of Mukuru. We wish the team a safe journey and a successful visit. They carry with them the very best wishes of St Michael's and the local community for the good work they will be doing in Mukuru. The team leave on Saturday 20th June

Stage Aid a local-based voluntary theatre group have contributed £1,000 to his year's Mukuru fund. The group produced The Wedding of Lily Thompson, written by Gilford play script Armand Gaillard. Maebh Carlin, a student at St. Michael's who will travel to Mukuru in June 2009, is a member of Stage Aid and was part of the cast for this production. Mrs. Haughey accepted the cheque on behalf of St. Michael's. She provided the members of Stage Aid with some insight into the Mukuru Project. She also commended the great work of Stage Aid over the last twenty four years in raising funds for the developing world and thanked them for their generous support of the school's project.

Five members of the St Michael's staff are taking part in the Belfast City Marathon Relay on Monday 4 th May. They are raising funds for the Mukuru Project. The staff team include Mr McGivern, Mr Taggart, Mr Wilson, Mr Fegan, Mrs Loane and Mrs Farley. The relay team is hoping to set a record breaking time. Both Mr McGivern and Mr Taggart hope to complete at least two legs of the relay and cover half the course, clocking up 13 .5 mile. We wish them well for the race and hope for a good turn out to support our runners. Good luck to Mr McGivern in particular who has amazed us all this year with his new found enthusiasm for long distance running!

Emma Hagan a Year 12 student is also raising funds for Mukuru. Emma is joining her parents Thelma and Chris, her brother Michael and family friends Terry Murphy and Rita McCann running in a relay team in the Belfast City Marathon on Monday 4 th May. We wish this relay team well and hope the sun shines on all the competitors.

A number of individual students have made a considerable contribution to the Mukuru fundraising campaign this Lent. Two Year 14 students Caitriona Patterson 14D and Eleanor Mulholland 14B organised a Charity Show Jumping Training Show at the Meadows Equestrian Centre in Lurgan. The centre owned by the McCusker family was very kindly donated by Aaron McCusker for the event.

The training show was open to all equestrian competitors and classes consisted of 50cm, 60cm, 70cm, 80cm, 90cm and 1 meter. Classes started at 10am and finished at 5pm. Prizes included saddle cloths, horse feeds, grooming kits and clothing. The show received 80 entries. Tickets for an equestrian hamper (donated by Eileen Belshaw) were also sold and the total amount raised on the 29th march was �800. Tickets for the raffle will continue to be sold up until the 10th April in order to increase the total amount raised by the Training show.

The student and staff community of St Michaels have been very busy fundraising during Lent with their annual Mukuru fundraising campaign.
There have many different events to raise money, including cake sales, Easter raffles, hamper raffles, coffee mornings, basketball tournament, DVD days, and a pansy flower sale for special thoughts these are just a few of the many events organised by the students.
The year 11's had a sponsored walk on Wednesday 25th March to Lurgan Park with their annual Quiz for the whole Year group organised by 14D on Friday 3rd April. Deal or No Deal organised by 13A took place in the assembly hall with Mr Philip Brunt appearing as Noel Edmunds. The Year 14's were busy trying to create their own record breakers in the assembly hall, and a number of them had the opportunity to participate in their very own Blind Date, with a few surprise guest appearances from male members of staff organised by 14B. A wacky sock and tights day was popular among some students on Friday 3rd April to raise money for this worthwhile cause.
Well done to Michaela Mulholland 12F who was involved in organising a ceili in the John Mitchell Youth Club Derrymore on Friday 27th March. This event was well supported and raised £220 for the Mukuru fund.

The Year 14 students turned out in style on Thursday 2nd April for their annual bed push to raise money for Mukuru. The students were superbly dressed in their fancy dress outfits and spent some time collecting money in school from the other students before heading for Lurgan town centre. The students caused some stir on the way into town from shoppers and locals before reaching their destination about 3.30pm. The students worked tirelessly for 2 hours before their return journey back to St Michaels at 6pm. Well done to all those students and staff involved.

There was a great sense of excitement when the selection of students and staff to travel to Mukuru in June 2009 was announced recently. Sixteen students will travel with four members of staff and the Chairman of the Board of Governors, to experience for themselves the realities of life in an African shanty town. During their time in Nairobi , students and staff will be working in support of the Sister�s of Mercy who are based in the Mukuru Promotion Centre. The students are particularly looking forward to seeing the residential centre for street boys, open for business. St Michael's has sponsored the building of the residential centre over the past three years. By June 2009, £60,000 will have been raised by St. Michael's. The Mukuru Committee are very appreciative of the support they have received from the wider community in Lurgan and its surrounding districts.

These photos show the progress on the building of the residential centre for street boys in Mukuru. Three years ago St Michael's students and staff made a commitment to build a residential centre for streetboys in the slum district of Nairobi known as Mukuru. The total cost of the build is £60,000. The work has been done by local builders bringing much needed economic value to the local community in Mukuru. The building is nearing completion. It is hoped that it will be occupied by 65 streetboys by June 2009 when a team of staff and students will travel to Mukuru for the official opening of the centre.

Click on the link below to see construction underway

Dorm Updates

Fund raising in support of St. Michael�s Mercy Mission to Mukuru has got off to a great start in Term I. Over £10,000 was raised through a variety of activities organised by the school. Students did a bag packs at Marks and Spencer�s at Sprucefield. We are indebted to MandS for allowing us to run a bag pack on their premises. Mukuru Christmas card and calendar sales were good, the choir raised funds singing to the Christmas shoppers in Rushmere and parishioners in local parishes responded very generously to the talks given by students at masses on Mission Sunday.

The choral evening at the Jethro Centre was a great success and we were very appreciative of the invitation to join the Christmas celebrations there. These are just some of the many different activities that took place in the first term. The committee are delighted by the very positive response to the appeal and would like to thank all those who contributed in anyway to the fundraising efforts. This year's fundraising target is £20,000 which the committee hope will be achieved by June 2009. It will require sustained efforts from the school community; however we confident we will be able to response to the challenge of raising the next £10,000! All monies raised go directly to the MMM fund, nothing is spent on administration. This is a real opportunity for students to help make a real difference to the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children and their families in Africa .

Thirteen students spend a busy afternoon on Monday 21st December bag packing in Marks and Spencer's grocery department at their store in Sprucefield, Lisburn. Students filled bags with Christmas goodies and customers were happy to make their contribution for our efforts. They packed a lot of brussel sprouts and trays of roast potatoes, but it proved a very worthwhile day and we are grateful to Marks and Spencer for providing us with the opportunity to fundraise on their premises

Congratulations to Michael Williamson from Interface Lurgan who ran the Dublin marathon at Halloween to raise funds for the Mercy Mission to Mukuru. Michael is the husband of Marissa a member of St Michael's clerical support staff. Michael and Marissa raised an amazing £1,744.62 and all the money went directly to our project. Well done Michael!

Sr. Sally Visits St. Michael's

23rd January 2009