On June 9th I visited with David Whiteside’s grade 5 students at Whitehorse Elementary School.  Students have had 4 bakes sales over the last year and all the money has been donated towards a feeding program at a Primary School in Kakamega that I am organizing.  So many Kenyan students spend the whole day at school and are trying to learn on an empty stomach.   

My friend Grace is the headmistress at Maraba School and together we plan to set up a feeding program in November this year.  Last year when I was in Kenya the teachers were on strike and I was unable to set anything up.  But all the money that was raised will be used this year and will provide food for so  many young students over the year I am in Kenya.  I want to thank David for his continued support and the enthusiasm of all the students; thanks Natalie, Lauren, Graydon, Logan, Harrison, Caleb, Matthew, Aimee, Abby, Mackenzie, Jessica, Paige, Felicia, Hannah, Lyndsey, Whitney, Hope, Madisen, Simon and Alix. 

This money could not have come at a better time.  Yesterday the headlines in the paper in Kenya read; KENYA: ”Now the drought comes almost every year”LAIKIPIA-ISIOLO , 10 June 2009 (IRIN) - LAIKIPIA-ISIOLO - Millions of Kenyans are facing hunger due to a prolonged drought and successive failed rains. In the northern region, pastoralists’ livelihoods are especially threatened not just by drought and high food prices but also by deadly inter-communal conflict, livestock diseases and a lack of basic services.

The following is the report I received from Lorna, teacher at the Bukura tailoring school.  First term started on January 5^th, 2009 and ended on April 3^rd, 2009.  The school closed for the month of April and reopens on May 4^th, 2009.   I was able to spend a lot of time with students and parents this year and it was exciting to see the new students and the second year students getting started on learning.   Student attendance – second year students responded well on the opening of the term.  We had eleven students in the second year class, one boy and ten girls, then three other students joined the class as new students, so in total we closed the term with fourteen students in the second year, thirteen girls and one boy.  The new intake in January was good, of which we admitted twenty one students, one boy and twenty girls. It was a good start and we hope it will be successful in the future. In total we closed school with thirty seven students.  School academic - Students are really working very hard to acquire their future skills, we hope it continues that way.  It is very positive as seen by the way last year candidates performed in their external exams, they all passed.  I hope this year we will send a good number to external exams. The community is very pleased with the issue of taking student for external exams.   Respond of parents - They are positive to the progress of the school.  This was shown by the good respond of bringing their kids to school on time, they attended meetings when called for, we concluded by saying that they have motive towards the progress of the school and their children.  Fees payments - The fees payments was good specially the new parents. Most of the students have finished the payments of the first term fees and registration.  This has enabled us to have the license for this year 2009, open the school account and also to meet some of the problems we had at the start of the term for example the construction of four benches to create sitting materials for students.  Due to the poor economy we have in our country, we agreed and managed to raise the school fees of the school from 1100 Kenyan shillings per year to 1700 Kenyan shillings per year starting this year for every student.  Project for the parents - For the good progress of the school, parents have agreed to start a good lunch program for their kids when they are at school for five days a week.  This has been a success in this last term. Production unit - The project has been started at school but due to poor economy it’s going on slowly by slowly because most of the money from items remains in debts.  I hope as we are marketing the project in the future it will be a success  Problems of the school - Thanks a lot for the machines heads you bought for us.  We haven’t got the tables for them therefore there is a shortage of machines in the workshop.  Hence students are sharing one machine which makes the work to be slow. Future plan - To have more machines to do better work and to have an embroidery machine to start embroidery work in the school.  To have a big workshop to accommodate more students.    Mrs. Lornah Mitungu    School instructor

 With great support from Wheels 4 Life I was able to buy 3 more bikes before I left Kenya.  I want to share letters and stories from the three recipients.  Geoffrey Atulo has been a friend of mine since 2004 when I first visited his ponds in Khwisero, Kenya.  He was working hard to get his ponds in top shape and welcomed me to see all the work he was doing.  When he is not working on his farm he is collecting rocks and pounding them into gravel.  Geoffrey has never owned a bike in his life and whenever we would meet he had walked for many kilometres to see me.  He was so excited when he received the new bike and so happy.  He was extremely proud and was looking forward to getting it home and using it.  Daniel Abdallah is 18 years old and was born into a family of four children.  His parents both have died from AIDS and as the last born he is the only one that has gotten the opportunity to go to school.  He sat for his primary examination and managed to pass and join secondary school.  He had no one to pay his school fees but different people have been assisting him and paying his school fees.  He lives approximately 15 kilometres from school and he walks to and fro daily or else borrows a bike from friends.  He was so excited to get the bike and promised he would not miss any school for the rest of the year.  Kennedy Esala is a fish farmer in Bukura and we have known each other for over 3 years.  As a fish farmer he needs a bicycle to help him transport fish feed and fertilizer to his ponds and harvested fish to the market.  As he said to me “A bicycle is of more importance to me, to my projects and to my entire life in general”. 

I am now a board member of an organization called KEEF - Kenya Education Endowment Fund.  This organization is based in Canada and gives scholarships to young boys to continue into secondary school.  I joined the board after persuasion from the other members who are all long time Kenya volunteers with various organizations here in Kakamega.  I was able to get a couple of donations from friends to give 2 scholarships to deserving students.  The organization only takes boys because there is currently 3 other organizations here that give scholarships to girls and boys are also in the same situation of not having school fees. 

We only had a few scholarships, but we had over 300 boys show an interest.  We selected only 50 to interview.  I started off early in the morning trying to organize all the kids coming for the interview.  They arrived on mass with parents, guardians and teachers in tow.  Sitting down with these young boys that range in age from 12 to 17 is quite a challenge.  Getting them to speak up and answer questions is extremely hard but slowly I get the information out of them that I need to complete the interview. 

One boy comes in and sits down.  He is wearing a torn sweater and black boots with fur that are held together with tape.  He sits down and tells me he doesn’t need a scholarship as he has one, but he needs the money to shop and get to the school he has been called to.  Harrison Nyongosa is an amazing young boy and instantly I know this is one young man that needs help.  He is now 13 years old.  He wrote his Kenya Primary School Exams in 2006 and scored 413 marks out of 500.  He was called to Starhe Boys School. A prestigious school in Nairobi.  He had a fully paid scholarship but needed to pay for his trip to Nairobi and an additional fee of 5000 Kenya shillings for uniform and other items.  He did not have the money so could not go.  He was then called to Kakamega high school and could not afford the fees so he went to a local school near his home where school fees were less.  So he started form 1 in 2007 and went through term 1 and term 2 with straight A’s.  He then started term 3 and was chased from school because his family could not pay the school fees.  So in 2008 he had no money and could not continue in secondary school so he returned to primary school and redid standard 8 and scored 433 marks out of 500.  One of the highest in western province.  Again he was called to Starhe boy’s school and could not pay the shopping and transport fees. 

So he came to the interviews with his father to ask if we could help him.  It was a very easy choice for me to make as I saw how smart this boy was and how determined he was to get to school.  His father had tears in his eyes when I asked him why he could not find the money.  He said he had tried everyone and no one would help.  So I did not hesitate and told him I would pay those costs.  He came back to see me the following Tuesday and I took him shopping and got his bus ticket and sent them on their way to Nairobi.  I will go visit the home on Monday before I leave Kenya.  This young man has a future now, and it will be exciting to see how well he does.  I can’t wait until September when I see how well he did. 

Well I arrive back late on Friday night and early the next morning Roselyne is at my door so excited as we are heading shopping to get her set for starting school on Monday.  I first met Roselyne in 2003 when she came to see me to see if I would sponsor her through secondary school.  She was just a kid then and now she has grown into a beautiful young lady with big plans for her future.  Her three sisters are all at home and it looks like Roselyne has big responsibilities.   Her oldest sister Carolyn had a stoke last year and now is at home as her husband does not want to be bothered with her anymore.  She can’t walk and is just now learning to talk and it’s been a difficult process.  The other sisters Eunice and Helen are there to assist and both are struggling to find work.  We wander to town and start the process of purchasing what is needed for boarding school; mattress, bedding, suitcase and then all those other things that are necessary.  We get lots of stationary and hopefully they will have textbooks at the college.  Roselyne is taking Information Technology and the diploma course is three years.  It takes both Saturday and Sunday to finish and then we grab a chicken and head to my home with other friends to have dinner.  Hussein kills it, Emmy and Roselyne clean it and I cook it.  I have a big crowd and we enjoy a great evening.  Up early on Monday and we pile everything into a friend’s car and head about 10 kilometres to Sigalagala College to register.  I stop at the bank first and pay for the full year’s school fees.  It cost me about $700 and that includes her boarding and meals until end of December.  We arrive at the school to a mad house of students and staff.  Mostly no one knowing what to do or where to go.  They say if I go with her to the registrar’s office they will let us go first.  I know why and figure that is unfair so we decide to just wait with the rest.  Well Hussein knows one of the staff so we take advantage of getting through faster by her helping us.  Thank god as it still took 7 hours.  Talk about a process, but patience is a virtue.  We get Roselyne totally settled with her registration and her room and leave her.  It’s so exciting.  Back home on Monday night I get a call from her and she missed dinner.  No one came to tell her.  She is in college now, its not secondary school where they do everything for the students.  Here she is on her own; she makes her own way forward and must make her own decisions.  She’ll do fine.  We talk every night but eventually she will make friends and be less scared.   Emmy, Hussein’s partner is also excited as I will assist her into college in Kakamega town.  She is taking Community Development and will just be a day scholar.  As Hussein and Emmy will be living at my house when I return to Whitehorse she will have access to my computer that I will leave and also have electricity to study by.  Emmy is struggling as her family is having difficulties to raise the funds to put her through school.  We get her shopping done and she pays her school fees and waits patiently for classes to start in a few days.