Educating 80 Girls and Orphans in Kenya

Progress Report: June 19, 2010 - Update from Project Director Isaac Ngere (PATHWAYS Leadership for Progress scholar and 4th year medical school student at the University of Nairobi)

Project Location: Kenya, Nyanza Province, Homaby District, Rangeway Division, Gem West Location, Kanyanjwa Sublocation, Wagire Village

Thank you very much for your contribution to the Nyakongo Educational Centre Project (Educating 80 Girls and Orphans in Kenya) that will both help educate 80 girls and orphans, and contribute in a number of other ways as well. Your donations for purchase of a solar panel, books for the library, materials to renovate the building for the library, entrepreneurial training for the women and men, and bricks and wood for the additional classrooms for the children, especially the girls and orphans, have made a tremendous difference to our community. I want to give you an update on our progress in the early stages with the money you donated to us through Global Giving.

If you remember our objectives were the following:

1. Construction of a Classroom in Nyakongo Educational Centre and purchase of land to house the school and library. 2. Installation of a Solar Panel for sustainable power. 3. Improvements of proposed Library Building in Nyakongo Educational Centre.

The construction work is already underway. The walls and the roof of the classroom are in place and as of 15th June 2010, the floor plastering had started. The pupil population has already increased from 100 earlier this term, to 114 pupils in the three classes (Baby Class, Nursery and Pre-Unit). The community has been energized by seeing some of their hopes come true for their children and families. The girls and orphan beneficiaries, like those in the attached photos, are very excited at the prospect of better educational facilities and the idea of a whole library available to them where they can check out books to read.

Below are some specifics of materials purchased to date, and planned purchases.

1) Construction of a Classroom in Nyakongo Educational Centre After getting quotations for the construction, we finalized the construction of three classrooms at a cost of Ksh. 180,000 ($2400). The expenditures that we have made to date include the following: • Construction materials • Fixtures (e.g. doors, windows, blackboard etc.) • Labour • Water tank (2800Lts) • School supplies o Other items not covered in the original budget: • Desks • Finishes (e.g. painting and landscaping)

2) Installation of a Solar Panel Ksh. 200,000 ($2670) The planned installation will kick off immediately after the 3 new classrooms are in place in approximately three weeks time.

3) Improvements of the library building Ksh 55,000 ($735) We have at the moment set aside materials for the planned renovation of the library building. As soon as the carpenter and the mason are done with the construction of the 3 classrooms, they will embark on the library. Costs will include materials for the renovation, labour, and purchase of books.

I will be sending you regular updates of progress on our Nyakongo Educational Centre (NEC) Project that will benefit especially girls and orphans in Kenya. Other PATHWAYS senior scholars (www.pathwayslp.org), who have started community projects as part of their PATHWAYS scholarship, will be posting their projects on Global Giving in the near future. To see what some of the PATHWAYS scholars are doing in their communities with their PATHWAYS budget of about $500 per year, go to www.youtube.com/pathwayslp .

Again, thank you for your generous contribution. Our community is changed for the better and girls and orphans have a better chance of success in life because of you.

Links:

• PATHWAYS web site
• PATHWAYS youtube videos