By Turk Pipkin | Project Leader
I've just returned from a 7,000 kilometer working tour of East Africa and was inspired by the progress at all 15 of our Kenya School Fund projects. Here are a few highlights.
In the arid lands of Samburu, Daaba Primary is a dream come true. A year ago, 50 students at Daaba were attending outdoor classes in the dust and sun, and climbing 40-feet into a dark and dangerous open well to fill their water jugs with unclean water. The school now has eight permanent classrooms and -- thanks to a new solar-powered well built with our water partners Well Aware -- a safe supply of water for the school and community.
The courage of the community and our contractor in the face of a terrible drought and local conflict stemming from the war in Somalia has resulted in over two hundred kids enrolled in the school, half of them girls in a Turkana tribal area where girls have rarely received an education. Daaba is as close to a miracle as I can possibly imagine and I will never forget the amazing welcome and thank you’s from this great community.
A 10-hour drive to the South, the enrollment at Mutaki Primary has more than doubled to 200 students from pre-school through grade 4. The new classrooms are a thing of beauty, as is the new solar-powered, UV-purified rainwater water system.
Accompanied by Nobelity Project Executive Director Christy Pipkin and a group of supporters, we also saw the first permanent classroom at Mogawka Primary; new water systems at numerous schools and site surveys for more to come, and the grand opening of the Joe Gracey Library, Computer and Music lab at Amboni Primary/Simbara Secondary.
Also at Simbara Secondary School, we cut the ribbon and I filmed the first high school chemistry class at the new Ronald F. and William A. Inglehart Science Lab.
I was also delighted to accompany National Public Radio reporter John Burnett as he visited three of our school projects. John Burnett's NPR/All Things Considered story on Kenyan Education challenges and triumphs at three of our key high school projects.
With great community partners and a 100 percent focus on long-term good for the kids and local communities, it's possible to make a significant and lasting difference in the lives of kids all over the world. Thanks to all our Global Giving donors for helping make a difference in the lives of thousands of kids in Kenya, while showing that the the time for Universal Secondary Education has arrived.
Turk Pipkin
The Nobelity Project
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
