Vanishing grants and cancelled flights

Our departure on Monday is fast approaching. We have learned over the last few years to begin packing and preparing early since something always seems to crop up at the last minute. True to form, the Rotary grant we had applied for had to be rewritten over the past week. Rotary International lost a great deal of money from their investments earlier this year and had to cut down their humanitarian grants to about 30% of the previous level.

Our grant was not successful for RI (everyone applied very early hoping to make the cut) and we had to re do the budget and aims to fit in to a reduced allocation. Most of the funds we do hope to receive will come from my own club, Victoria, and other clubs on south Vancouver Island. Until we receive confirmation that this reduced application is successful we won't be able to start that part of our planned projects.

Just as we breathed a sigh of relief when the grant application was acknowledged, yesterday we received a call from our travel agent to let us know that Kenya Airways will not be flying to Kisumu next Saturday when we arrive in Nairobi. This is the second to last leg of our four stage journey. The small commuter airlines which are still flying will not take the large amount of luggage we're carrying. Kenya Airways is talking of running a bus for passengers, but there is no information on departure, route, stops or time estimated. We are trying to talk to the driver we use in Nairobi to make our own way to Kakamega. The advantage would be that we would not have to overnight in Kisumu. The problem is that we have two boxes of medical supplies for Homa Bay Rotary Club which we planned to hand over to a Rotarian in Nairobi.

In addition we really wanted to spend some time with two young women we have sponsored over the years. One is now working as cabincrew for Kenya Airways and the other has finished an advanced diploma in business management. Here is a picture of Saida and Isabellah when they worked for us at the computer school.

The work of Tembo Kenya is made possible by generous donations from friends and well wishers. To donate, contact donations@tembokenya.org