Last week we finally opened the school again. The kenyan government has allowed the opening of the classes 4, 8 and 12. The ones who will have to catch up their final exams next year. The lessons are also accompanied by compulsory masks for all teachers and pupils as well the requirement to observe hygiene measures. Additionally we have to buy a thermogun for CHF 50.- (KSH 5’000). For us its a relief to go back to normal again but also a big challenge to follow all the specifications of the government during this pandemic. In the lockdown time we continued working on our future plans for the school and we have renewed one of our non-permanent buildings because it was in danger to collapse. This costed us around CHF 300.- (KSH 50’000). The 4 new classrooms are almost finished, theres just the plastering of the walls, the installation of the electricity materials, the filling and the cementing of the ground missing. But they are already in use and the children are very happy about their new home.

The next step is the cementing of six classrooms, the pulling of power cables through the walls and the plastering of the walls. AS our school is set on a little hill we first have to fill and level the floors before are able to cement them. This process is pushing the price high. We have received the offer for the construction work from our carpenter and we will start as soon as possible.
To our joy we will start with the construction of 4 new classrooms at the same time. In the past couple of weeks we have received donations which are enabling us to do this next project. For the whole construction we need CHF 15’000.- (KSH 1’400’000) and for now we have CHF 2’000.- (KSH 200’000). Therefore we are still dependent on your financial support. We would be very happy if You would help us to build our education centre.

Costs for the filling/cementing of the floor for 6 classrooms, electricity installation and the plastering of the walls
– 4 lorries Coral CHF 320.- (KSH 32’000)
– Stone blocks CHF 480.- (KSH 48’000)
– Electrical installation CHF 100.- (KSH 10’000)
– 2 lorries Sand CHF 520.- (KSH 52’000)
– 45 bags cement CHF 350.- (KSH 35’000)
– Water CHF 30.- (KSH 3’000)
– Labour CHF 306.- (KSH 30’600)
Total CHF 2106.- (KSH 210’600)

Costs for the 4 new classrooms
– Labour CHF 4’697.- (KSH 469’700)
– Material CHF 10’262.- (KSH 1’026’278)
Total CHF 14’959.- (KSH 1’495’978)

I launched an appeal for donations of clothes and shoes and was overwhelmed by the many responses I received. In the last few weeks I have been collecting clothes everywhere and some have brought them straight to my home. I am really happy over the kindheartedness of these people which have donated their clothes to us. A big thank you goes out to Sacha Meister, coach of the women’s youth teams of the FC Ostermundigen, and all the girls of the FCO. He gave me a large load of children’s clothes and shoes last week. Thank you for your support!
In December I will start a freight transport by plane to Kenya and send down about 160Kg of clothes and school material. As I will be in Kenya at that time, I will personally pick up the shipment at the airport and take it to the school. It’s a big project so I hope everything will go through in a good way.
Last Saturday we started packing the donations. Together with my friends we spent the whole day sorting the clothes and trying to pack as many as possible. On the pictures you can see the whole process. The rest of the clothes I will keep in my garage and transport them next year.
A big thank you to my friends Luca, Elia, Mäni and Dave for the support.

Donation of school supplies

We received several donations of school supplies from different companies in Switzerland. We were very surprised about the positive reactions to our request and above all very happy. As school material is scarce in our school, we are extremely thankful that we received these gifts. At this point we want to thank all the companies!

Stationary Zumstein has sent us two packages of school supplies. When I opened the packages I was totally overwhelmed. They donated colour pencils, pens, erasers, sharpeners, set squares and exercise books! This present is priceless and im very thankful. Therefore I would like to thank the Zumstein stationery shop on behalf of the whole school!

From the Ingold Biwa AG we have received 5 packs of A4 exercise books. Also we will have an interesting partnership in future.

Schulmaterial Peter sent us 150 A5 exercise books and supported us strongly on facebook.

Stationary Von Matt has donated 5 packs of ring binder inserts.

Thank you to all of you!