|
|
| Volunteer teaching English as a second lanugage |
Classrooms:
In 2003, there were only two classrooms for 130 students.
The Kenya Project and it's donor partners built a nursery & kindergarten classroom, and individual classrooms for the
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Now we have one classroom for each grade. And with the help
of Siana Springs Tent Camp, we have provided desks for each classroom.
School Supplies:
Donations have paid for pens, crayons, paper, book bags, and dictionaries for each student. We have
also provided calculators, and paid back salaries for teachers who weren't being paid.
Unfortunately, shipping school supplies to the school is totally impractical. If shipments are not
stolen in the mail, it can take a year to arrive at the school. If they do arrive, the school must pay a "Value Added
Tax" of 50% of the shipment's value and on top of that, an import tax.
Clean Water:
In 2005, Kenya was experiencing the worst drought in ten years. First, their animals
started to die, then older adults and children were dieing. The only water source for the school, a small river, had dried
up. Maywood Rotary Kenya Project raised the donations to build a well, the first clean water source for the school
and the seven surrounding villages.
Dormitories:
We learned
that the 7th and 8th grade students stayed in school studying for their graduation examination until 10:00 Monday through
Thursday night. Because it is dangerous to walk miles home that late at night, they slept on the concrete classroom
floor. But with the donations of the '07 trip volunteers' sponsors and our donor partner in London Wayne Collins,
we have built a Boys Dormitory and separate Girls Dormitory. Both simple buildings are
constructed of concrete walls and tin ceilings. Our volunteers have painted the dorms and constructed bunk beds
and dressers for each student.
Micro Loan Project:
We are always trying to find ways to help the school become more financially independent.
When a group of the school children's mothers wanted to start their own water bottling business, they needed to borrow money
to purchase needed materials. So we approved a Micro Loan for the women. Today, the woman already have
leased the needed land, purchased the equipment and arranged contracts with several tourist hotels to buy their water.
This is a historic even in at least two ways. It is the first time women have
run their own business and the first time women have owned land in the Maasai Mara. When they repay the loan, the
funds will go to the next Maasai applicant to start their own business.
|
 |
|
Donations from people just like you helped us to help the school with:
Food:
Since June of 2003, we have provided a well balanced lunch of beans, rice and corn to each student
on each school day. At a cost of seven cents a day per student, a $19.00 donation will provide lunch
for the entire school.
|
|
|
|
|
Clothes:
By Kenyan law, every child must wear a uniform in order to attend school,
but the parents cannot afford the $16.00 cost. So the Maywood Rotary Kenya Project gave each child a uniform in 2004.
But those uniforms have worn out and donations have now paid for a new uniform for each of the 268 children in May of
2007.
Other Major Improvements:
We built the first school library and teacher's staff room as well as replaced a dilapidated kitchen
with a new building. To keep the wild animals away from the children, our volunteers built a mile long fence around
the school. This year we have built a garden so the school can feed itself.
Scholarships to High School:
On our 2006 volunteer trip, we met Janet,
the only girl in 8th grade. Most girls have to drop out of school before 8th grade because they're expected to be married
by then. Our volunteers found Janet to be an extremely bright student but they were upset to discover that after graduation,
she would not be able to attend a high school. They are too expensive, many miles away and no girl from the area
has every attended high school.
Our volunteers would not stand for that. On the spot, they committed
to raise the $2,500.00 needed to send Janet to high school for four years. And they did raise that amount which covers
the cost of tuition, books, housing, food, clothes, and all other needed supplies.
Word spread that for a relatively small amount of money, you could sponsor
an 8th grade graduate to go to high school. Our partner, Wayne Collins from London, gave enough funds to sent two more
boys to high school. Coral Terry, a previous visitor to the school from Utah, donated enough funds to send the remaining
five boys to high school for five years.
Thanks to donations, the entire 8th grade class of
2006 is now attending different high schools in Kenya!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
