Leaving

Our bags are packed with the carry-on still open on the bed 'just in case' We leave this afternoon on a flight to Nairobi where we have to renew our resident cards at Immigration (oh joy!) and meet the reps of another NGO for possible programme partnership. We also meet up with our Kenyan 'daughter' who is coming to study in Victoria. She is on the same flight out of Nairobi but has to travel Air Canada from Heathrow. We can at least take her to the gate. Our good friend Nancy who has just left Kenya will meet her in Vancouver to wait for us. The next couple of days will involve some coaching for worst case scenarios!

When in Canada we do a lot of presentations to church groups, Rotary Clubs and schools. We are avaiable in and around the Lower Mainland if anyone is interested in any of our work ( literacy projects in schools, job and business training, scholarships , Virtues in Kenya and clean water)

More computers

These are laptops given to a secondary school. They have a computer teacher but only two working machines. Rocky Mountaineer had donated some of their old machines to us and this seemed the perfect place. The school is doing an excellent job maintaining the eco san toilets (the girls comment that they don't smell like the regular pit latrines) and they are running Read for the Top for their F4 leavers. They have a Virtues Club and are forming a squad of Peacekeepers. In the recent exams four of their students gained a direct entry (government subsidized) places at university for the first time ever.

Computers for Emmaloba Primary

Emmaloba Primary received a Rotary matching grant for the school and community two years ago. Several community groups received funding and we finished the grant this week with the installation of computers. Most schools in Kenya do not have computer access and certainly not elementary schools. We believe the computers can enhance the learning and teaching at this level with learning games and internet access.

We set up the room and the whole school filed through, wide eyed, fol owed by the parents. The Rotary Club of Maseno was well represented a were the area chief and her assistant.

The afternoon was spent with songs and speeches from all the groups represented. We left with gifts of fabric, a flag, groundnuts, a beautiful basket and a rooster (alive)

Emmatsi and Emmutsa

These two schools high in the rocky hills did a wonderful job. The children were well prepared, the whole school was chanting Read for the Top!

from the gathering outside the classroom early in the morning, to folding their shirts for the next day, to acclaiming the winners, it was a day the children will never forget

Where has the time gone?

It has been so long since I posted here that blogger made me sign in from scratch! Over the last couple of weeks there has been a flurry of activity, In mid February we did a Virtues training at a small primary school way up in the rocky hills near Maseno. It is always wonderful to read the evaluations: this has changed my life! is a fairly typical line.

Then on the following Monday we took a group of leaders of the planned cooperative to the demonstration farm of our trainer, Alex. There we saw drip irrigation, another eco-san toilet, fertiliser made from the water hyacinth that clogs the shores of Lake Victoria, plus a home made insect spray made with chili peppers. We had a visit with a new cooeprative growing bananas and a women's group that sells packages of the tiny dried fish that come from the lake.

demo farm-- listening intently --- a shady spot to meet

After Bondo there was another Virtues training in a school near Shinyalu, and one for the teachers of ACCES, the informal schools that are still necessary in rural communities.

A fourth training was in a school in Lurambi, a section of Kakamega.

group work--- what are Virtues? --- lunch prep area

This week we started our Read for the Top (tm) heats and finals.