Finishing Read for the Top

We are concluding our grant from Better World Books for Read for the Top. Three schools (one primary, two secondary) were unable to complete in 2015 for a number of reasons, but mainly because of a month long teacher strike in September and an early start to National exams in November.

On Monday we were in Emwatsi primary. The teachers usually shake their heads and tell us their children have difficulty, they are 'slow'. Of course this is not true. They have a normal distribution of intelligence. Where they lack is parental support and resources in the school. Once again the teachers were amazed at the way their children responded to the contest and shone with their commitment and comprehension. They all received school bags marked Read for the Top, and the winning teams received their own 'story book'. While we were doing the closing remarks those children were already deep into their new story.

Itumbu Secondary new toilet blocks

On Monday we handed over the two new sanitation blocks for a rural secondary school. The principal told us that we had saved them from closure by the Public Health Service for lack of sufficient latrines. Three hundred students followed the training video with close attention.

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New toilets at Kayila primary

We handed over the toilets on Wednesday. Unfortunately we had a problem with the camera, so are not able to  show the training session and handover. But we have shots of the final toilet blocks.

Handover Shiduha well

Now the Christmas break is over, we begin the handover of water and sanitation projects to the communities. Today we were in a secondary school which has long suffered from lack of available clean water. Not only were rivers far away, but the students and community suffered from many water borne diseases.
we thank Renaissance Ministries f or the funding and Nixon Ifeda our contractor for his usual efficient job. The community was effusive in their thanks and gave us gifts from their farms: eggs, papaya, bananas, pumpkins and avocado.
We signed the contract, unlocked the pump and the water flowed welcomed by cheers. As we sat  with the students, staff and teachers, more and more containers brought by women in the community took a place in the queue and were borne off on the heads of their smiling owners.

many gifts

including maize

we cut the ribbons

turned the pump

and water flowed

the contract for upkeep was signed

Meet and Greet for Math

On Saturday we held a 'meet and greet' for parents and student s of Math-E-Zee tutoring centre. Feedback was very positive from children and parents, all of whom said the Math scorers had improved. Some, of course have a way to go. But one Mom, a teacher, told us her boy went from 30% to 68% . A boy who has just finished HS spoke eloquently of his work in Math and said he thinks it will have made a difference of 20 marks in his National exam. I don't think they would have bothered to attend if they did not see value in the program. We are still not quite breaking even but think that word of mouth will boost our numbers.

After the meeting and a quick soda, the instructors went right back to work.

Always a study in contrasts

From a rural area where people are desperate for clean water, we then spent a day at the university (Masinde Muliro Uni of Sc & Technology) and were honoured to sit on the main platform (under the shade!) just behind ex President Kibaki who is the Chancellor. Many speeches, delightful entertainment and things moving along like clockwork, with only about a 90 min delay, which is wonderful for Africa!.

It took us 90 minutes to drive from home to the University (no more than 2 km away) Traffic was horrendous and we saw the lineups of people waiting to enter the university grounds. Hawkers were selling sparkling garlands and cards, buses full of friends and relatives crawled along with many passengers opting to do the last part on foot. I am posting just a few shots, including those of Dorcas who waited at home for 4 years, refusing early marriage,  before we were able to find her a sponsor. She has just graduated in Electrical Engineering.

Water project

 A change of pace today as we visited a secondary school where we can install water for the students and the community. We had a great chat with the school committee and the representatives of the neighbours. They were all there to greet us by 9 am and have everything in place. Nixon will start digging this weekend and it should be ready for handover at the start of the new school year in January. We plan to run a pipe to the kitchen area behind the school buildings. It never fails to touch me at how much the gift of clean water can mean to people. Yes, they still have to carry it and it's a far cry from turning on the tap in the kitchen, but it will mean so much in terms of time and health.

Kitchen and dining area

Full committee of parents and neighbours

Water committee executive.