1000 Voices for Hope - Building Mahiga Hope High

When The Nobeltiy Project partnered with the communty of Mahiga, Kenya to build the area's first high school, we didn't realize how many great things would come from this work (which was launched by the 1000 Voices for Hope campaign). The campaign is still underway, and with the first Senior Class starting 12th grade in a couple of weeks, we very much need to raise funds for 12 Grade Textbooks. $100 funds shared textbooks for two students for all subjects (with the sharing being a nice team function that has students helping each other with understanding the work).

While you're considering a donation, here are a few of the accomplishments at Mahiga:

- Mahiga Hope High School construction complete on the RainWater Court, 8 classrooms, 2 science labs, kitchen, dining and study hall, soccer pitch and gardens.

- Primary School reconstruction complete (all classrooms now made of local, handcut stone). Results on November's dreaded KCSE, the exit exam for all 8th graders, were stellar! Average scores at the school were up 25 points, with top scores over 350! These are great marks in a year when test scores across much of Kenya fell (blamed on increase use of Shang - a hybrid slang language which doesn't boost understanding of English and Kiswahili textbooks).

- Mahiga Preschool construction complete with two grades and now with two teachers. For 2012, the combined schools have well over 600 students in 14 grades.

- Building Hope - the film - has had tremendous response, starting with the Audience Award at SXSW, and most recently with a great Africa premiere screening at the Nairobi International Film Festival. There's also a beautiful new companion book (that comes with a dvd of the film), available only at www.nobelity.org

Parents, students, teachers and the Kieni West Education District are all supporting these great schools. But a good school needs approved textbooks just as much as it needs infrastructure. This is a project where every dollar has gone a long ways, so thanks for helping us provide opportunity and hope for the kids of Mahiga!

From the very beginnings of Mahiga Hope High School three years ago, I'd envisioned that when the students of Mahiga, Kenya had completed their early morning walks to school, they'd pass through a set of gates that symbolized a door to opportunity and hope.

Gates weren't a priority of course. We had to focus first on classrooms, a library and computer lab, science labs, kitchen and all the other parts of this wonderful infrastructure. We somehow managed to find funding for that infrastructure and much more than we'd first envisioned. But we never were able to build those gates.

Shortly after the students moved into the new science labs, I received a photo from Joseph Mutongu and Mahiga. While I was dreaming of gates, the school was building them, which makes this a great opportunity to thank everyone at Mahiga for being such dedicated partners in this endeavor.

THE GATES TO HOPE ARE COMPLETE, BUT WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP.

I'm on my way to Kenya to work on all the Nobelity Project's schools (ten in all) and we have some important work left to do at Mahiga. This includes security fencing for the entire property, and the fencing and raised beds for the organic gardens and orchard.

Your donations will plant trees that produce fruit for the school and vegetables that will be served in our beautiful kitchen and dining hall.

Thanks for the support. We're almost there!

We are just back from Kenya and a fantastic working trip to Mahiga Hope High School. Now part of the Kieni West Education District, the school has a fine principal, deputy principal and a growing staff of teachers. Enrollment in the high school has grown from our first nine students two years ago to over 150, now in grades 9 - 11 with an even mix of boys and girls.

Construction on the last two buildings - the science labs and the new primary school classrooms - is also complete.  On the primary school side, both the new preschool and primary school playgrounds are gorgeous, and we were  thrilled to cut the ribbons on the final four stone classrooms.Once and forever, the mud floors are gone! The combined schools now have 600 students, all of them working diligently to take advantage of this opportunity for a quality education.

We still have some funding challenges. A desk, chair and classroom materials for one student costs $50. We're almost a hundred kids behind and growing by 100 per year, so it's important to raise $10,000 in the coming months.

The story of Mahiga Hope High School is told in our new feature film, Building Hope, an inspiring work which won major awards at the SXSW Film Festival and at Maui Film Fest. Just like the miracle of the amazing changes that have come to this community, the film ends with a miracle of it's own. After months of no rain in this very dry area, The Grand Opening of the high school and the first basketball game on the RainWater Court were rained out by a beautiful, heavy downpour that nearly filled our 30,000 liter water tanks.

That miracle seemed to repeat itself on this trip. With the entire high school, we gathered in the dining hall/theatre. After the drama club put on their first play for us, it was our turn to turn out the lights and show the students the film in which they star. The room was filled with laughter and joy as we watched how this community's dream grew into reality. As the film progressed towards the miraculous rainstorm that ends it, I began to hear scattered raindrops on the roof above us. Once again, this was the first rain in an extended period and the local farmers were on the verge of total crop failure.

Within minutes, the rain was pouring down in a giant flood of huge drops mixed in with small hail that had been formed high in the clouds above Mt. Kenya. We turned up the movie to overcome the deafening clatter on the roof but it didn't matter for the sound of rain from the film and the skies above us were all one.

To everyone who contributed to building this school - or who is thinking of contributing - you are a part of great and wonderful miracle. Your faith and partnership in this great community will provide real opportunity to young people for generations to come. That's the kind of miracle we can all believe in.

Turk Pipkin, The Nobelity Project, www.nobelity.org

- Don't forget to watch the trailer to Building Hope at nobelity.org. Our New York premiere is coming up on Monday, July 25 at the Tribeca Cinemas.

Links:

• Watch the trailer for Building Hope