By Brian McIver | Founder
Dear Supporters
I hope this message finds you and your loved ones in good health and having had at least some time to relax and reflect over the Christmas and New Year period.
At the end of 2016, our charity began experiencing a downturn in support, at a time when the costs of operating in Kenya were increasing. As a result, we reduced some of our programs in order, we hoped, to provide time to explore new outreach and funding prospects.
Unfortunately, over the ensuing two years, support has continued to reduce and in 2019 we are facing a deficit of over 30 percent of the funding needed to keep our main program, the Kookaburra Community School, operating.
It is with a deep sense of regret and sadness that I write to inform you that we are closing the Kookaburra Community School in Bamburi, Kenya. It would represent too great a risk for our students and their families, if we were to begin the new school year without a high level of certainty that we could complete the 2019 curriculum, and we just don’t have the projected funds to guarantee that we could continue to the end of 2019.
We are doing all we can in Kenya to assist the parents in finding new schools for their children and our staff to find alternative employment.
In accordance with the legal requirements of the charities in the UK, Australia and Kenya, the school’s physical assets (text books, story books, desks etc) have been distributed to another nearby primary school, which successfully delivers education to children from poor families, and that we have known and been supporters of, since we began our work in 2010.
We will also be closing Kookaburra House, but will continue, in the short-term, to provide accommodation support to those in most need.
Any funds remaining in our bank accounts will be used to assist staff until they find alternative employment and to provide support to the Graduate Program, which will continue.
The Graduate Program will go on, as the students we sponsor through High School are only part way through their courses and all have an individual sponsor. When the last student on the program completes their High School certificate, we will close the Graduate Program also.
Personally, it has been a great privilege to be part of this community since 2008 when I first came to Kenya. In 2018, I felt we were really starting to see the long-term benefits of our projects, as we had our first school graduates completing tertiary education and many others establishing themselves in the work place. Although we will not be continuing with the Kookaburra Community School and Kookaburra House, these children, who have grown into adults, now have the tools they need to help and support their families and communities in other ways.
The support you have given our work here since we started in 2010 has left us humbled and deeply thankful. We could not have achieved the many successes and life changing interventions we have, without your contributions and fundraising. Thanks to you, over 200 children have received an education that would not otherwise have been available to them and countless children and their families have benefitted from safe and secure accommodation, as well as medical support.
Should you have any questions related to the school closure, or any other matter, please feel free to contact myself at brian@actionthisday.org or our UK Director, Gena Parrott, at gena@actionthisday.org.
Kindest wishes and thanks,
Brian McIver
Founder
ACTION THIS DAY
By Brian McIver | Founder
By Brian McIver | Founder
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