Educating orphans & the disadvantaged in Kenya

Hello everyone,

It’s a sad fact that charities are being squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis resulting in falling donations. Roko 20 has felt the pinch and we are doing our best to reduce costs and utilize every shilling from our budget.

Food

Many families in our community survive on just one meal per day eaten in the evening. Most parents work as casual labourers on small holdings and work is scarce so what they earn in a day is what they will eat. At Roko 20 Academy we ensure that no child will struggle to concentrate in class due to hunger or suffer the stress about when they will next eat.

Despite significant increases in the price of all food items we continue to provide our children with a morning breakfast, mid-day snack and lunch. Some are even given food before leaving school at the end of the day. Each child will get a small breakfast of a cup of porridge in the morning before class and during mid-morning break and also a lunch containing beans, vegetable and maize or rice. More recently, due to the kindness of two sponsors, we have been giving out a small meal before children leave school in the afternoon.

Our Manager is always monitoring the cost of food staples such as rice, beans and maize. Due to the increase in the cost of maize he has adjusted the lunch programme to include more rice dishes. Cow peas have replaced beans in the diet. Morning tea has been replaced with a cup of porridge.

Other areas where we are actively making cutbacks:

Self -sufficient farming

The change in rainfall patterns has a huge impact on Kenya because 98% of the country’s agriculture is rain-fed. The major challenge we have growing food on the school land is timing. It’s critical to know when rains start and stop so that we know when to plant or harvest our crops. In addition another challenge is that the source of our piped water supply is erratic and insufficient to keep our plants healthy. The Department of Irrigation is now supplying bigger pipes to the community to rectify this problem. These should be in place by the end of July and will enable us to successfully grow more vegetables and fruits.

School Van

The school van is old and is a constant source of expenditure as it was always breaking down and would usually spend a lot of time in a garage awaiting repairs. Finding alternative means of transport was costly. We had to make a list of those children who could reasonably walk the distance to school. We alerted a good friend and supporter of Roko 20 of our problem and to help resolve it she offered to purchase a new engine for the van. It is now running perfectly. We are so very grateful for this lady’s investment as it has removed a constant headache in terms of time and big expense.

Solar lights

We have recently added more solar lights to keep electricity costs down and use clean/green energy. These have been placed around the school compound and used at night for security purposes.

Parents’ responsibility

Historically we have provided everything a child needs to receive an education at Roko 20 Academy. However, to reduce our costs parents are now required to contribute some things towards educating their children. We are aware there are some who simply cannot afford anything and we will continue to support these families. These are elderly grandmothers who are unable to work and left to raise their grandchildren unsupported and parents with mental health issues or with alcoholism / addictions.

Parents are now expected to provide their children with :
- exercise books and stationaries,
- replacement uniforms,
- payment of the fees imposed on all parents by the Government such as exam fees and extra-curricular activity fees
- school fees for pupils in Junior school (grade 7) and also secondary school (commencing 2024)

We are continually working out ways of saving the school money. These are funds that you have donated and we are so very thankful to you for helping us to continue our important work.

Thanks as always for your continued support.

HERE’S HOW YOUR SUPPORT HAS IMPROVED THE EDUCATION WE GIVE AT ROKO 20 ACADEMY

You helped us to create a “safe haven” for vulnerable young girls

After 9 yrs providing a quality education to those children whose parents couldn't afford to enrol them in a Government school due to the many levies charged, Roko 20 saw the need to start a boarding facility to accommodate those at high risk living at home. The facility is operational during school days.  It costs just £7 to accommodate a girl in the dormitory.

The girls started boarding on 23 January and to date we have 12 girl beneficiaries.  

During this short period we have noticed the following improvements:

• in speaking English as the girls interact with volunteers in the evenings
• in their confidence during drama practice as they prepare for the upcoming festivals
• having extra tuition and given ample time to do homework and extra-curricular activities after school
• having more time to study as there is no need to walk a long distance to and from school
• the removal of stress and ill-health due to lack of food
• no longer being subject to abuse at home

Big thanks to Rebecca Winter and her team for the fundraiser that made this possible.

Volunteer Support

We have only reached February and already this year we've received five volunteers at Roko 20 Academy.  The work they do is amazing, giving their time and energy assisting our teachers to improve pupils' performance.  Volunteers tell us that their time at Roko 20 has positiviely changed their lives.

Here's a report from Vitor, who volunteered with us during January and February.

"Volunteering at Roko 20 Academy was a great surprise, although I already arrived with high expectations after talking to Tracey and seeing how serious and organized her project was.

The school is very organized and you can see it right away when you arrive! Job, the the school’s director, is a very passionate and hard working man, who is always at school to guarantee the good functioning of everything. And he also knows the background of every pupil and every family, what ensures that they are really helping the ones that need the most! Specially now with the boarding pupils that can find a healthier environment to study and rest.

The volunteering itself was amazing and very satisfying. Tracey was always available to exchange about project ideas and Job was always there to help implementing them, both impressively open to listen to our impressions and opinions.

During my one month stay and got involved with a few different projects. At the beginning I had a small group of five pupils that would come every day for one week to have a special English class oriented to help them to catch up with their classmates, since they were struggling with reading and understanding English (that happened a week before the school opening on January).

After the opening and with a little more knowledge about the school we decided to start a few different projects dedicated to strengthening English comprehension and reading. Me and a couple of other volunteers started to offer special classes in early mornings, before their classes, to students that were behind on their English level. During the morning we would participate in teachers classes supporting or bringing new resources on the computer to improve the subject comprehension. In the afternoon we had a schedule with all the classes to improve English basic level (on the first two weeks we worked with alphabet and phonics).

 And once a week we would have a special day for Arts or Sports. We started having some materials related to alphabet and phonics for coloring and on the next week we made an exhibition with all the pupils work and took the whole school to see it.

These are a few examples of what I did at Roko 20 Academy but there was so much happening every day. The teachers are amazing and also very open minded about having “intruders” at their environment so we could create strong bonds with everyone.

And I also couldn’t forget to mention that even with such a short stay I could really see a lot of improvement in the pupils’ English level, what fills my heart with joy!

And I can assure as well that after getting involved with other schools in Kenya, Roko 20 Academy offers outstanding conditions to the pupils and give them a better opportunity to have a higher quality education.

I can say for sure that it was very hard to leave and that I will always remember that experience! Thank you Tracey for the opportunity to be there contributing to your project! You are doing a wonderful job with a real impact for the local community."

Vitor

Considering Volunteering? 

Volunteering at Roko 20 can mean supporting pupils struggling with reading and writing on a one-on-one daily practice, teaching the basics of using computers, promoting library use, helping out with homework, assisting with Physical Education lessons, music and drama.  

Prefer to use your skills in the office?  We always welcome support and ideas on ways to improve our operations.  Whatever your skills you will find a niche here.  A keen gardener?  We grow vegetables and fruit on our school land for our school lunch programme. 

By the end of your volunteering experience you will have learned new skills, significantly grown as a person, made new friends, and you’ll take away a wealth of new memories and experiences that you can cherish for the rest of your life.

Interested?  Please do get in touch with us by email (roko20academy@gmail.com) and we'd be happy to talk you through exactly what you can expect and answer any questions you might have.

This is our news from Roko 20 Academy.  Without your support we would be unable to continue providing our children with a quality education and an holistic approach to their well being and development.

Thank you so very much. 

Tracey