By Claire Mathijsen | Project Leader
Dear friends,
We have not lost anytime with the school construction project: 1 wing is fully constructed and 2 more will be ready after the summer.
The highlight of our recent events was the official inauguration of the 2 classrooms sponsored by the French government. These classrooms were funded by the French Embassy’s Social Fund for Development. H.E. Ambassador Rémi Maréchaux was the guest of honour at the inauguration ceremony held on May 14, 2015.
The Uasin Gishu County governor Jackson Mandago, the Member of the County Assembly for Tembelio Ward Pius Kigen, the land donor and former Minister of Education Prof. Margaret Kamar, and other personalities were present. Please check the link for the online article published in THE DAILY NATION, the widest circulated paper in Kenya.
The other two classrooms donated by close friends and supporters of RAFIKI YA MAISHA were also officially inaugurated on that day: the Katy and Matthieu Debost room and the “women’s” room sponsored by the Association of American Wives of Europeans in Paris, France and the Association Femmes d’Europe in Brussels, Belgium.
The students from our school who train at our first campus in Chepkanga sang spirited songs, the elder of the community offered the traditional rungu or staff to the men dignitaries and the ladies got adorned in traditional kangas or wraps.
This first building plus the new ones under construction constitute the central quadrangle of the school. The first students will be expected for the beginning of the new school year in January 2016 thus inaugurating the academic purpose of the institution.
More classrooms and workshops are being built at this time. Our goal, given the high buidling standards - is to transform the institution from a rural ‘village’ polytechnic school into a regional Institute for Technical Education.
“ From nowhere… to somewhere!” exclaimed Theresia, an older community member, as she proudly showed off the new building. I hope you can feel the excitement that is radiating out of that field. Aren’t you happy to be providing hope & change for a whole new generation of underserved youths?
Cheers! Claire
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