Solar Lanterns for Tana Students

Dear Friends,

We convey our warm greetings to all our friends who have been journeying with us on this noble course.

Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, Kenya was also adversely affected by the pandemic. As a result, on 16^th March 2020 the government of Kenya ordered closure of all schools. Due to government’s sanctions meant to mitigate spread of Covid-19, TRLF field reps have since then been not able to visit schools hence being not in a position to gauge student’s progress as triggered by the Solar lanterns.

Furthermore, the Kenyan government is relaxing the restrictions, thus we’re optimistic that schools will re-open latest by early January 2021. As a result, TRLF is hoping to continue with the Solar Lanterns project in reaching out to more deserving students in the interior. For instance, TRLF has so far received requests for Solar Lanterns from Kitere and Minihaj Secondary schools which aren’t connected to electricity. We therefore look forward to continue helping such students with the lanterns for realization of their educational goals.

Lastly, we thank all donors for journeying with us in lighting rural homes through Solar Lanterns for a brighter future of our students in the Tana Delta of Kenya.

Dear Friends,

It is our prayer that you are all safe wherever you are with the current COVID-19 pandemic hitting everyone all across the globe.

In Kenya we had our first case in March and ever since movement have been restricted in some Counties where no one is allowed in or outside those counties (3 in the Coast and Nairobi County) since early April. Schools were all closed by 15th March 2020 with no exact date of when they shall be reopened.

Luckily, one week before the closure of schools, our team visited Bahati and Mnazini primary schools in Mnazini sub-location of Ndera location for the deliverance of solar lanterns to class 7 pupils of both primary schools following a survey that was done by our team in the region early January this year. 52 solar lanterns were donated to the class 7 students of the two schools witnessed by Parents and Teachers. During the distribution Mgawa , a student from Bahati Primary was quoted,” Am very happy and appreciative to the donors who have contributed towards the purchase of these lanterns, I’ll ensure that I make good use of it to academically perform because at least I can find sometime during the night to revise and make personal studies.”

We are expecting relaxation of these restrictions in the next couple of weeks hence I think we will need to learn how to get back to business with thoughtfully crafted new policies and precautions, e.g. continuing to wear masks in public, enforcing physical distancing especially in indoor environments, etc.

No positive cases have been reported in Tana River County and since the population in the area is less. dense, it is our hope that the situation will help the children and parents to stay well and hopefully have a less chance of contracting the virus.
Our fundraising events usually held in Asia have all been postponed, at least for the next three months or so depending on how the current pandemic will be. We are very grateful for the continued financial support with our monthly and annually supporters, plus all regular donations.

Stay Safe and be blessed.
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Dear Friends,

Warm greetings to all our donor friends and Gong Xi Fa Cai to our Chinese friends.

We started the year by interviewing a student, who was one of the first beneficiaries of this project, whom we are now sponsoring in Secondary School. We met 18 year old Buya again when he came to our office to apply for a bursary to start his secondary school education in January this year. Buya who hails from Vumbwe village of Tana Delta studied in Kulesa Primary. He joyfully expressed his gratitude for being assisted with the lantern when he was in class 7 way back in 2017. Academically by then he was scoring an average of 213 out of a maximum of 500 marks. After receiving the gift of the solar lantern and using it for approximately 2 years during night studies, he managed to score a much improved average of 281 marks out 500 marks in the national exams last year. As a result, he was legible to join secondary school to continue with his high school studies. He was quoted, “For me it was nearly impossible to attain 250 marks. After receiving the lanterns, I perceived a positive improvement and was motivated to work even harder.”

This year our team also visited two new primary schools that we intend to assist with solar lanterns this term. We identified class 7 pupils of Bahati and Mnazini primary schools in Mnazini sub location of Ndera Location. The area is usually affected by floods during the long rains.

Bahati Primary School has a total of 20 students (5 girls and 15 boys) in Class 7. Fatuma a 14 year old girl from Bahati, overwhelmingly said that, “If I get a lantern, after helping my parents at home, I will use the lantern for my night prep studies following my timetable which I strictly adhere to.”

We had to cross the river with canoes to get to Mnazini Primary School which has a total of 34 students in Class 7. Teachers at Mnazini primary school highly welcomed the project to assist their pupils to excel in their national exams. For instance, Class Teacher for Class 7, Mr Maro said the following: “According to our harsh environment, these students are not able to do much homework and studies at their homes during the night hours. Academic performance is planned for, it does not just happen. We have to plan for it and make early preparation. These solar lanterns will be of a very great assistance to our students.”

We thank all our donors for making it possible for us to light up rural homesteads through these solar lanterns, and thus enlightening minds and thereby brightening lives of so many students in the Tana Delta of Kenya.

Prepared by Komora Benedicto and Oscar Raha

Idsowe, Tana Delta

We had a field trip to Sera Primary School located at Tana Delta, in Tana River County of Kenya. The visit was solely to find out about the impacts of the solar lanterns to the 17 students set to sit for their national exams as from early November of 2019. The response was overwhelming and encouraging from their parents, teachers as well as the students themselves. 

Right from the Head teacher, Mr Mranja, he highlighted to us that; “According to my views, this project is very useful because it has helped our students to have been continuously improving on their performance. For instance, having a glance on their marks from the time these lanterns had been issued to until now, there is some encouragement on their exam mean score of 242 marks from a mean score of 177 marks in first term. Moreover, in every exam they have been improving until attainment of the current score of 242 marks. Therefore, there is significant improvement with this Solar lanterns Project.”

On results projection for the forthcoming national exams of his 17 students, the Head teacher was confident in assuring us of a positive outcome when the results are released. In his own words he did say that, “There will be an improvement on results since the current exam shows improvement, comparatively the Kenya Certificate of Primary Exam (KCPE)-national exam will also show an improvement and we anticipate to have a mean score of at least 250 marks and above.”

Furthermore, we had an impressive feedback from some of the class 8 parents. For instance, Ms Nur mother to Ali said that, “From the time the solar lanterns have been issued to our students, particularly my son has been progressing well academically. There is an improvement of the exam results as compared to the previous term.”  Another parent, Mary by name from Sera village said that, “The lanterns have been very useful to our students, precisely my son during night prep studies since he is able to smoothly conduct his studies during the night. Also, the lanterns have been of vital help to us because most of the families don’t have electricity neither solar panels that aids the students in studies during the night. I’m particularly very thankful for this project.”

From the student’s side we also heard encouraging feedback about the lanterns. For instance, Zainab whom she hails from Galma village asserted that, “the lanterns have helped me to improve on my academic performance. For Instance, I previously had a mean score of 193 marks, but after using the solar lanterns during my night studies, there was an improvement on my results to 202 marks during the following semester of 2019.  As a result of my positive progress in my academic performance, I am aiming to score a mean of 250 marks and above in the national exams.” On another student, Valentine from Sera village impressively said that, “the solar lanterns have helped me improve on my academic performance. Example, I have shown a significant improvement on my performance from a mean of 216 marks in my first term of 2019 to 267 marks in the next term. Further, I am aiming for 300 marks and above in the forthcoming national exam.”

The results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education will be released by end if December ad we are looking forward to have more feedback from the other schools we donated the lanterns so that we can plan for 2020.

The Tana River Life Foundation thanks all donors for fundingthe purchase of solar lanterns. We have been able to covered a wide area of Tana Delta to date.

During the month of July we carried out field visits to the some of the schools where we donated the solar lanterns to get a report on how the lanterns have been of help. The Headteacher at Assa Primary, Mr. Nyaga was quoted, “The Lanterns have been really helpful to my students whose parents are nomadic pastoralists, for example at the moment we are on school holiday and most of the students are not in the village as they are in different areas looking for water for their livestock. Since the lanterns are portable, I can say at least my students can be able to conduct night studies wherever they go.” In the Assa area, the nearest village is nearly 100km from the main road while the next school withcandidates that can benefitis Kone which is approximately 68Km from Assa.

We also surveyed Ndera Location, which has more than 6 schools without source of power. The National Government has installed solar systems in the schools but most of them need maintenance and repairs. In some areas, the schools are a few kilometers from the village and it becomes a challenge for the candidates to go to the schools to study at night. It is because of this that the Tana River Life Foundation has decided to continue collecting funds and buy lanterns to donate to those schools.

Once again we will be grateful for morecontributions and support from partnersto lighting up the future of Tana Delta students. We also invite you to the Little by Little Campaign organized by GlobalGiving starting from 12^th August 2019 to 16^th August 2019 which is a week long campaign designed to help celebrate the power of our crowd by matching donations up to $50 at 50% with $60,000 in matching funds depending on how much we can raise.