SoapBox's Executive Director, John Russell and Chairman of Trustees, Ray Macpherson have just returned from Kenya, where they were assessing the situation with regard to sending teams to the country following the unrest after the elections in late December 2007.

John and Ray are pleased to report that as of this time, in their view, the risk to team members is no greater than in previous years. Our project partners are looking forward to receiving our teams and they too want to reassure us. In addition to John and Ray being there, 2008 Kibera team leader, Ian Cave also visited the area and is satisfied that the project is safe for participants at this time.

John, Ray and Ian went into the Kibera Slum to visit the projects in Pastor Evans' Schools in the Soweto district of Kibera, where this year's team will continue the work that previous teams have started. The students were delighted to see us and are looking forward to the summer team coming.

Additionally, they visited the work of Margaret Kimuyu at Slum Outreach Ministries, who administer the SoapBox ChildCare programme in Kibera. This site had been looted in early January but they were delighted to see that replacement cooking equipment, purchased using donations from the Children of Kibera appeal, was being used. In fact Ray and John helped to serve the children with their lunch while they were there.

John and Ray were taken by Margaret on a tour of the Kibera Slum and it was clear to see where some of the worst scenes of violence had occurred. Parts of Kibera resembled a war zone but without exception, the people were working hard to get life back to normal.

Obviously, we continue to assess the situation and if anything changes between now and the summer, we will keep you fully informed but for now we are happy that the Kenyan projects should go ahead. Indeed, we are so confident that we are planning to add a third trip to Kenya in 2009.