Build Skills with the "lost" Youth in Kenya

Dear Friends,

I admit to surprising myself when I sit down to write this quarterly report. Amid the global pandemic slowdown, if not flat out downturn, development seemed at a distant possibility. Our Kenyan school projects have never appeared more remote. Students and trainees lost a whole year and yet they are being fast tracked. 
If our building project of 4 classrooms was stalled, things are heading towards the finish line now.

At Sergoek, a donated car is now fully refurbished and on the road. Once a broken vehicle recovered in a ditch on a corrugated dirt road in the far North and offered as teaching parts to the automotive workshop students, the Nissan Navara is operating as a full Service vehicle! It even looks like it may have come out of the car dealership yesterday! 

The Garment Workshop of the school was busy last August sewing workers Overalls with reflective tape for the County’s workers at Moiben. This order came courtesy of Governor Jackson M.himself, a great fan of the vtc, vocational training center.

The latest addition of the 4 classroom brick and mortar building is inching it’s way towards completion and starting to look good.

At Koshin, the plans for a new teaching kitchen and refectory are in the making and several contractors have been competing for the job. We are still busy collecting their proposals before both the local and international Rafiki Ya Maisha boards can validate the drawings and the BQ and put it before the school Board.

The school here is still struggling to get their water supply under control and have been promised help by the central government. I joined the Board meetings on line this year - a first -  allowing me to stay more closely in touch than before. Definietively, a positive adjustment of the last year.

Thank you for your support which allows us to pursue the development of these two schools. Koshin seems to be the most in need of help and your friendship keeps us energised!

Asante sana,

Claire

Dear all,

We are proud at the professionalisation of the schools and the great work that the headmasters and staff have put into our schools. Currently, we have upwards of 600 trainees in one school and 300 in the other. We are happy to see everyone back in person and eager to catch up after a lost year. 

The three new workshops at the Sergoek college have been delayed due to the sanitary situation and construction will be picking up soon again. The old iron sheet building was recycled and constitutes the sheds needed for the masonery workshop and other "dirty" work.

Plans are on the drawing board for a new kitchen and dining hall at the Koshin institute. When these facilities are on site in a rural school, it encourages more students to enroll. We need your continued support so we can build this dining hall and thereby give this school the means to increase their student intake.

Asante sana!

Claire

Jambo everyone,

We are happy to wish you all a happier and safer New Year.

Field news from both schools is brief at this time. January is the start of the academic year in Kenya and our schools are busy taking enrollment of new students for the year. Meanwhile, during the month of February, the schools are occupied by exam takers and no teaching or any other activities can take place.

The construction of the new brick & mortar 4-classroom building at our Sergoek campus, on pause since Christmas, will pick up after the exam session. The Ministry of Works recently delivered the Certificate of Conformity allowing the roofing to begin shortly.

We wish to honor our Very first Rafiki Ya Maisha Board members and introduce them to you. Without our friendship and ongoing collaboration, Rafiki Ya Maisha would never have been able to reach the youth and succeed in our vocational training mission in this area of rural Kenya. Here is the core group that was formed in 2007:

Patron: Mrs. Elizabeth T., Farmer, Executive secretary of Moi Girls' High School and retired banker

Chairman: Mr. James C., Director of Insurance Company and former County Development Fund committee member

Secretary: Mr. Michael K., Farmer and retired Town Clerk; Gabriel T. Certified Public Accountant from 2019-today

Treasurer: Late Mrs Philomena B., Farmer and wife to former Kenya Ambassador; Mrs. Elizabeth T. from 2010-today

Vice-Chairman: Dr.Philip C.,Dentist and Elgeyo Marakwet County official

Members of Rafiki Ya Maisha:

Mrs Paulina O.,Quantity Surveyor, Moi University Lecturer

Mr. Joseph S., Farmer and retired Uasin Gishu counselor

Mrs. Aida K., County counselor Usin Gishu, Sergoek Ward

Mrs. Scolastica K., Retired official of Kenya Farmer's Association 

Mr. Michael S., Retired Catholic church Catechist

Mr. Dominic K., County counselor

Mrs. Susan C., Former Women's Representative of Elgeyo Marakwet County, joined in 2012

They are the backbone of the success story which we are proud to have achieved with all of YOU over the years. They value your sponshorship, feedback and sustained interest in their project.

Let us continue to uplift them! 

Claire

Dear Rafikis,

SERGOEK School

We are proud to announce that we are able to fund the construction of 4 new classrooms/workshops at Sergoek vtc (vocational training center) thanks to a generous donation from the BENINA Foundation, Basel, Switzerland. These brick & mortar classrooms will replace the first classrooms built temporarily with corrugated iron sheets 10 years ago now. The BENINA Foundation was a substantial donor at the Koshin school allowing the building of a 450 seater Multipurpose Hall. The tender process for this new project took place in August despite the constraints of the sanitary situation. A contractor was selected and the ministries involved alongside the local government have approved the plans. As I write these lines, the site has been cleared for construction. 
Besides adding the biodigester/septic tank and drainage system for the entire school, Sergoek has also added 16 CCTV surveillance cameras 24/7, courtesy of the county government. This is a vast security improvement against possible property theft. 
Extra washbasins and classroom preparedness has earned the school the green light to resume teaching next week. The chairman and the school Board was proud to announce that upon inspection, they placed 1st out of the 5 schools in the county having met 60% of the basic protocols towards reopening. 5 out of the 11 schools in the county were approved. Sergoek was 84% ready! 

KOSHIN School

Construction and progress is ongoing at KTTI as well, though the school has remained closed since March. Online teaching is not an option in the rural areas, as you cazn imagine. Students who are due to sit end-of-year exams will be readmitted next week and hopefully about 100-120 will be present. The rest of the students, about 200 of them, will have lost the academic year, most unfortunately. COVID prevention measures were implemented with additional wash points, classroom distancing, a "holding room" for students with symptoms, no-contact temperature assessment at the gate, an ambulance response protocol, etc. In terms of progress, we can report that a full library room was newly installed, that the two large workshops added last year (courtesy of Mission Cara, Ireland) are ready to be used and that 2 x 10.000 L water tanks will shortly be hoisted into place. Additionally, a bore hole, a sceptic tank and an ablution block project currently under construction should be ready by year end. This would solve the ongoing water problem.

Thank you for your faithful support allowing our schools to feel morally and financially supported through these unprecedented times.

Stay safe wherever you are and Asante sana as always for your interest and friendship. We need you more than ever!

Claire

• SERGOEK Classrooms/Workshop Plans (PDF)
  

Dear Rafikis,

First, a word about how the National Emergency in Kenya has impacted the country. In contrast to the alarmist predictions of how the African continent would fare in the face of this pandemic, the results in containing the virus in Kenya have been impressive so far. Though job losses and setbacks increased, the government introduced tax reliefs and health care funds amongst other adjustments. The Kenyan people took the full lockdown extremely seriously. To date, 63 lives were claimed by COVID-19.

Many Kenyans, unlike citizens in industrialized countries, have the ability to return to their rural homes and to switch from city jobs to rural labour for food. So far, so good.

Institutions of higher learning were closed indefinitely on March 20, 2020. Public servants were limited to 4 people in face to face meetings. Webex and Zoom Apps served the administration of the schools and allowed Board member meetings. However, these platforms have not been put to use for virtual learning at this point. In view of the full operational closure of the schools, both of our institutions have nevertheless remained impressively active.

 *Biodigester: a type of sceptic tank, but unlike a tradutional sceptic tank, this new technology allows solid waste to be eaten by microorganisms and provides reusable water for gardening