When the government of Kenya started shutting down businesses and schools due to Coronavirus, we had no choice except to lay our teachers off and consider other learning opportunities. Although the children are continuing to have study sessions in their classrooms with the remaining staff, they are using this time to develop life skills that will benefit them in adulthood.
Our farm manager is teaching them to properly grow seedlings, transplants, weed and harvest crops in the gardens. They love picking vegetables and fruits they helped to grow, and take pride in knowing they are helping raise the food being served in our dining room.
They are also learning to sew! Our hope is to purchase more fabrics and other sewing accessories so they can learn to make basic garments and mend clothing. With few clothing manufacturers in Kenya, hand made items are in high demand.
The boys and girls take turns in cleaning/sanitizing and working in the kitchen. We have not had one illness since March other than malaria, because they are working with staff to properly disinfect all buildings on a daily basis, including washing floors and all surfaces. The dining room is cleaned 3 times a day, after each meal.
Imagine that one day when they are finished with schooling and ready to assume their place in a growing economy, they will be able to grow their own food; sew their own clothing; prepare nutritious meals, and clean their homes.
We are growing adults from children, but we need your help. Feeding, clothing, nurturing, and educating well over 100 children is expensive, and the economics of a global pandemic is making it very difficult to continue our support of them. Please consider helping us with whatever small amount you can manage. A few dollars multiplied by many can keep us open.
Links:
This past winter, our board members loaned $9,000 to facilitate the installation of two new septic tanks. We feared if we did not, we would be closed down by the government. The next project was to raise funds to build a new latrine for our boys to replace the one destroyed by the road comission in addition to their septic. However, after the construction of the tanks, we found the girl's latrine was sinking and needed to be competely rebuilt. We have achieved that, but now we are at a standstill with no more funds available. The boys are all using one stall that was built for the preschool for their long calls. It is not sustainable.
In the middle of all this construction, we were faced with closing our schools and housing all our children at the center due to Covid 19. We were fortunate to be able to purchase necessary handwashing stations and involve our older children as teams to help with sanitizing the buildings daily. The children have also learned to make hand sanitizer and soap to be placed around the compound. This has futher depleted our finances, leaving us to make difficult decisions about going forward.
Eveyone is pulling together by doing extra work in caring for the children and the farm, but we must raise the funds for the boy's latrine very soon before we are faced with a government inspection. We have 150 kids in our projects who have no where to go if we can't care for them.
Links:
When we visited Hope Center in Sepember, we made visited the Homa Bay County Road Commission to see if we could receive some compensation for the latrines and bath house that had been destroyed during the construction of the highway that had cut through our farm, directly behind the boy's dormitory.
At first, we were denied an audience with the assistant commissioner, but we refused to leave. He finally admitted our Kenyan Board President and one of our American staff. After listenting to the issue, he agreed that they would dig new holes for construction of both latrines, but the installation of them would be our resposibility. We shook hands and he guaranteed it would be completed before our team left Kenya.
We received an estimate for just the latrines of $7,400. The bath house would add another $1,800 minimum.
A few days before our departure, the equipment needed to dig the latrines was moving off site. Determined to get results, we again traveled to the road commission office several hours away. During this visit, we were joined by the Chinese project engineer who accompanied us back to our children's home, Hope Center, to survey the damage. He promised the latrines would be dug the very next day by sundown. In addition, he promised to tarncak the entry drive to the gate to reduce dust.
To date, the latrines have been dug, but the paving has not and they have moved on. We have no funds to build the latrines or bath house. Our school has over 130 students using outhouses with no septic system, we are worried that the government will close our school if we can't promise a date of installation.
We have a long waiting list of orphans and endangered children given us by the Children Services Department that we cannot accept until we are able to provide them with proper sanitation. Our resident children are being experiencing lack of bathing facilities, and proper toilets. We need help!
Links:
Our school was recently inspected by the local registration department for renewal of our license. Though they noted that our septic system had been destroyed by the Kenyan road comission, they will have no choice but to deny renewal if we do not comply with regulations. Currently we have over 120 children in our two schools with one of the highest performance rates in the entire county.
The holes for both septics have been dug, but the cost of the tanks alone is $7,400. Replacing the toilets and boy's bath house will add thousands, and that is without even considering the cost of running water from the well to the buildings. In addition there needs to be handwashing stations on the dining hall and schools.
When our team visited in September, the road comission agreed to dig the holes for the septics, but no more. We have no recourse than to fund them ourselves, or face serious consequences.
This home and school is one of the finest for orphans in all of Homa Bay. Most schools are operating without a license in the area, but we pride ourselves in caring properly for our children and providing them with the best care and education possible as well as complying with local regulations. If this school were to close, our kids would lose the chance for a good education, and as a result,face a difficult future. The children have no where else to go, no family to return to as orphans. We are their home, and their hope.
Please help us help them.
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
