Education Kenya Project #4062

1000 Voices for Hope - Mahiga Hope High

by Nobelity Project

Project Report | Jul 24, 2012
600 Students and Growing! And a Great NPR Report on All Things Considered!

By Turk Pipkin | Project Leader

Mahiga Girls in Class at the Chemistry Lab

I've just returned from a month in Kenya and site visits to all 17 of our partner projects and there is a lot of great news and progress, with Mahiga Hope High School leading the way. Christy and I had a group of dedicated Mahiga supporters traveling with us and we were all inspired by the incredible changes that have taken place in this remote community where a once-teetering primary school is now part of a community hub that's driving great change for all.

Enrollment in Mahiga Hope High School and Mahiga Primary continue to grow with over 600 students in 14 grades from pre-school to Grade 12 (Kenyan Form Four). Our group was welcomed with dance and music performances that have already earned the high schoolers special honors in national competitions. As it was designed to do, the RainWater Court provided a great performance venue (as it does for basketball practice and competitions), and is continuing to provide 30,000 liters of purified rainwater with every 2" rain. (And yes, it rained again while I was there - another notch in my Kikuyu "Rainmaker" name, Keamu).

The school vegetable gardens are a miracle of their own, and are producing 45 pounds of greens per day, fresh Kale and other veggies that go directly into the giant school lunch pots! If you garden at home, you know what an accomplishment that is. The high schoolers also have large competition plots of amazing, huge carrots which will soon be harvested, and plans are underway to double the size of the garden by expanding to more area on the primary school side.

We were happy to unpack several new AMD/Lenovo computers for the computer lab, and I loved sitting with the high schoolers and watching the short films they've been shooting on Flip cameras and editing in Adobe Premiere.

A couple of weeks later, I was back at the school with National Public Radio's great reporter John Burnett. John toured our work at Kabiruini Girls Secondary and Simbara Secondary, and had a fantastic reaction to all the great progress and students at Mahiga. You can listen to his All Things Considered report on Kenyan Education at:

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/16/156840541/kenyas-free-schools-bring-a-torrent-of-students

The kids and staff at Mahiga send their love and thanks to everyone who's been a part of this ongoing work. With the school growing rapidly, we still need to buy desks, chairs, textbooks and other critical supplies so please help us spread the word. It's all good news from Mahiga, and that's also good news for our campaign for Universal Secondary Education.

And if you haven't seen the trailer for our award-winning feature doc on Mahiga, check out Building Hope at:

http://nobelity.org/films/

Hearts and minds,

Turk Pipkin, The Nobelity Project

NPR's John Burnet recording at Mahiga Preschool

Links:

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Apr 23, 2012
Thanks to Everyone Who's Made This Possible

By Turk Pipkin | Project Leader

Christy Pipkin with some of the Senior Class Girls

Sometimes you just have to say "Thanks". Especially when so many great things have happened because of the love and support of so many wonderful people.

April is a break month from the trimester system in Kenya, and a good time to reflect on the changes in Mahiga in the seven years since Wangari Mathai invited me to plant trees in Kenya, and those first 200 seedlings I helped plant at Mahiga Primary. The very first tree I planted has grown from a sprig to a mature tree towering high over my head, one of 7,000 trees the kids of Mahiga have planted on the school site.

The 1st graders that I did dumb magic tricks for are now making good grades in 8th grade and will soon take the KCPE to qualify for High School. Seven years ago, there was no high school - now these kids are excited at the prospects of moving up to the two-story classroom building and getting a proper 4-year high school education.

At Mahiga Hope High, the first senior class is working hard on academics to pass the tough graduation tests, and are continuing to excel in athletics and other activities.

The school can still use your support through The 1000 Voice for Hope Campaign. The big vegetable gardens are complete but the school needs an orchard. The library is a beauty, but more books in Kiswahili would help with studies. Textbooks are always needed, and as the high school grows past 200 students (plus 400 in primary), we need many more desks and chairs.

In the meantime, thanks to Willie Nelson, Lyly Lovett, The Dixie Chicks and every other donor to this campaign. And thanks to GlobalGiving as well. What a great endeavor in support of our brothers and sisters all over the world.

Turk and Christy Pipkin

The Nobelity Project

www.nobelity.org

- And a very special thanks to our dear friend Wangari Mathai who passed away a few months ago. We are now the sponsors of the Kieni Youth Million Tree Program, well on track to planting a million trees in Wangari's honor in the Aberdare Mountains, with all the trees planted by students from our partner Kenya Schools. Much love.

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Jan 12, 2012
Great Results from Mahiga!

By Turk Pipkin | Founder, The Nobelity Project at www.nobelity.org

Building Hope Book Cover - order at www.nobelity.o

When The Nobeltiy Project partnered with the communty of Mahiga, Kenya to build the area's first high school, we didn't realize how many great things would come from this work (which was launched by the 1000 Voices for Hope campaign). The campaign is still underway, and with the first Senior Class starting 12th grade in a couple of weeks, we very much need to raise funds for 12 Grade Textbooks. $100 funds shared textbooks for two students for all subjects (with the sharing being a nice team function that has students helping each other with understanding the work).

While you're considering a donation, here are a few of the accomplishments at Mahiga:

- Mahiga Hope High School construction complete on the RainWater Court, 8 classrooms, 2 science labs, kitchen, dining and study hall, soccer pitch and gardens.

- Primary School reconstruction complete (all classrooms now made of local, handcut stone). Results on November's dreaded KCSE, the exit exam for all 8th graders, were stellar! Average scores at the school were up 25 points, with top scores over 350! These are great marks in a year when test scores across much of Kenya fell (blamed on increase use of Shang - a hybrid slang language which doesn't boost understanding of English and Kiswahili textbooks).

- Mahiga Preschool construction complete with two grades and now with two teachers. For 2012, the combined schools have well over 600 students in 14 grades.

- Building Hope - the film - has had tremendous response, starting with the Audience Award at SXSW, and most recently with a great Africa premiere screening at the Nairobi International Film Festival. There's also a beautiful new companion book (that comes with a dvd of the film), available only at www.nobelity.org

Parents, students, teachers and the Kieni West Education District are all supporting these great schools. But a good school needs approved textbooks just as much as it needs infrastructure. This is a project where every dollar has gone a long ways, so thanks for helping us provide opportunity and hope for the kids of Mahiga!

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