What a fabulously happy day February 24th was at the Live and Learn in Kenya Education Center in Nakuru! After only 4 months of intensive building, the Live and Learn in Kenya Kindergarten was completed and after the 1-week school break, the big day arrived. 90 happily singing and chanting little girls and boys marched behind their teachers into their gorgeous new classrooms. Thirty little 3-year-old nursery school children sat on a carpet - their furniture is to be delivered 4 days later - and listened to their new teacher in their bright Sunshine Yellow classroom. Thirty 5-year-old kindergarten children sat at their beautiful wooden desks designed by the famous German designer, Sebastian Herkner and glowed with the wonder of it all in their Sky Blue classroom. Thirty 5-year-old preschool children sat at there somewhat higher desks and sang happy songs with their teacher - amazed at the warmth and beauty of their Forest Green classroom.
The idea that children coming from the poorest of poor families living in the Rhonda and Baruti slums was beyond comprehension for their parents, guardians and even the village elders until now.
These children have the right to learn their way right out of the slums - out of poverty - and be all that they can be!
This is Live and Learn in Kenya International's main goal - Education is the Key to the Future. The future is theirs! THANKS TO ALL OF THE WONDERFUL SPONSORS AND DONORS WHO MADE THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE KINDERGARTEN POSSIBLE - AND TO ERICOM FOR CONSTRUCTING IT AT A PRICE THAT WAS AFFORDABLE - AND IN SUCH A FABULOUSLY STRONG AND STABLE WAY.
The LLK Kindergarten will be ceremoniously dedicated on June 6, 2020, when the LLK chairwoman, donors, and guests will be visiting from the USA, Germany, and Qatar to do the honors.
So - and now on to the next construction - the vocational training building where our children will learn to be mechanics and autobody repair people, hairdressers, tailors, and carpenters. We still have big plans and we need you!
Asante sana - thank you so much!
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We are unbelievably close to reaching a goal that was just a dream a few weeks ago!!!
With just less than 21.360 US$ and the constructions will be fully funded.
Through very generous donations through GlobalGiving and direct European donations, we were able to begin the construction of our kindergarten - which is growing as you read these words. The admin. / library / medical-dental clinic construction will begin soon.
Help us to help make the poorest of the poor to the best educated of all!!! We are all making the difference between lives in the wicked wheel of poverty - and the glorious freedom of choice for children who would never be able to make choices without a solid basis of health, education, and welfare!!!
Your donations - large or small - are so very appreciated.
Asante Sana - and a blessed holiday season filled with love, light, friends, and family!
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Being a child is supposed to be the same all over the world - playing, singing, dancing - and having a roof over their head and meals on the table and loving hand to guide them. But is it really like that everywhere? We can't help everyone - but we are doing our best to help as many children as possible to be all that they can be - and have fun doing it!
After several years of experiencing how well the children, even those who were very poor pupils in other schools, began to blossom and shine, we began taking very small children on to the Live and Learn in Kenya International project. These little 3-year-olds spend their days being pampered and played with - learn how to be part of a community by being a part of a group of other children their age and by playing and singing in both Swahili and English - they learn so much in the way that children are supposed to - through play!
Taking the children on at a very young age means giving them all that they need from Nursery School Class on - right up to College! These children will excel instead of landing up living in the streets.
Now that our school has 8 classrooms and as of January 2020, 7 grades plus Nursery School Class, Kindergarten Class, and a Preschool Class - that leaves us having two classrooms too few!!! We are now forced to put up a makeshift construction for the youngest until we are able to build the classrooms that are necessary.
So, now it's "back to the drawing board". We need to get a real roof over the little one's heads (and 4 walls around them) and give them a chance to be all that they can be.
We appreciate any support at all!
Asante sana!
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It is so important to start young! Two years ago we began accepting registrations for 3-year-old children for nursery school classes and 5-year-old children for kindergarten classes. We still had classrooms that had been built ahead of time in the Live and Learn in Kenya Elementary School so there was room enough for the 30 nursery school children and 30 kindergarten children at the school. The 30 pre-school children had to make do with a temporary old iron-sheet construction classroom. But we cannot have two classes in constructions like this and the 6th graders will have to move into their 7th-grade classroom in January 2020 (which is being used for the nursery school class now...)
So we have to get busy raising funds for the nursery school children and get that classroom built SOON!
We are depending on your kind donations to make this happen and appreciate every donation - large or small. Every cent adds up to a classroom!
Asante sana - Thank you so much for your kind support.
Have a lovely summer.
What a relief - all 8 elementary school classrooms have been completed and the children are enjoying the colorful, well-equipt learning space. Our goal was to provide the poorest of the poor with the educational possibilities that the richest of the rich take for granted - and it is working! During the past years, children have been experiencing what it means to be taken for full. They are working so hard to have the best possible grades and in fact, we are seeing them grow into self-confident youngsters who are full of life, creativity and glowing with intelligence. One of our pupils has a grade average of 499 points from a total of 500! You can't get much better than that.
We know how important clean, fresh classrooms are to the children and to the teachers as well. They are learning to really care about their environment - inside and outside of the classroom and even the school.
Our classrooms are now full of children from Kindergarten to 6th grade. Sad to say, the little ones are still left in a make-shift classroom - and as of January 2020, if things don't change, the second class of little ones will have to move into a make-shift classroom as well. That would be a pity.
Our toddlers need the room to play, learn and have fun! Our goal is to begin the construction of a 3-classroom Kindergarten for the nursery/daycare class - the kindergarten class and the pre-school class along with a small staffroom for their teachers. If we are able to raise the funds for the first classroom by July, the children will be able to begin the new school year in January 2020 in a beautiful new classroom.
We would appreciate any form of support that will make this possible.
Asante Sana - thank you so very much for all of the support you have already shown. It is so appreciated from all involved - especially by the children.
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