Construction work

We had a brilliant start into the year 2021! Due to your support, we were able to build an underground watertank right at the beginning of the year. The gutters, which were fixed in January, lead the rainwater directly into the tank. This is a huge step for us. The government requires schools to have running water and now we have it. In he meantime, several months have passed and the work continues. The support is growing from day to day and this is really touching Harrison and me deeply. It enables us to get closer to our dream step by step. Thank you for that. Now we have invested the the donations further. We were able to get ten new school desks, which we really needed. Now the children have a great place to sit and write and can go to school with even more joy. In the chart below you can see the exact expenses for the first quarter of 2021. We could really achieve a lot. But we have already planned a lot more for the next months. The school is closed until the 11th of May and during this time we would like to continue working on the second building. As soon as the school is open again, the construction work will be more complicated with all children around. Of course we would be very happy if you would support us buying/paying for the materials and workers. One room is already built up to the door lintel and now the others are waiting to be built further. Our goal is to finish the building this year.

Exams and Schedule

The corona pandemic has turned the school schedule in Kenya upside down. The ministry of education has adjusted the schedule this year and they want to make up as much school as possible. As you know, the schools were closed for nine months last year. Therefore, there is no big break between July and August and the transition to the new school year runs smoothly. On the picture you can see the school plan up to and including 2023.

Donation transport

After the successful first donation transport last year, we have decided to do another one this year. But this time we want transport even more goods to Kenya. We are already in the planning stage and also in the collection fever. The air transport offers us the best conditions and also with the experience from last year at the airport, it should be much easier for us this time. We reckon with a budget of about CHF 2’000.-. We are definitely looking forward to it! You are very welcome to donate goods for the school. You can find all informations about the required goods here. Of course you can also support the transport financially. You can use the note “donation transport” in your donation.

Volunteering project

A personal highlight of mine this year will be our volunteering project. A family from Solothurn has decided to support and push our project forward right on the site in Kenya! It really means a lot to me and I’m extremely looking forward to it. At the moment we are in the process of planning the whole project. We will keep you up to date! At the same time, it will be the beginning of our volunteering programme. Everyone is always welcome at our school.

Lindacher

Last month I was allowed to present our project to the Lindacher, the community newspaper of Kirchlindach. Now the edition has been published (27.04.21)! It was a great honour for me to speak about our project and myself. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the editorial team of the Lindacher and especially Claudia Gisiger for the article. The article can also be downloaded below!

School fees

It is very important to me that everyone always knows about the school structure. Unfortunately, school education is not free in Kenya. That is a big challenge for the parents. We also have school fees. But they are low compared to the others. We want to enable education for all children despite their finances. If parents are not able to pay the fees, we are looking for individual solutions. Once we have also received a goat as payment. The important thing is that without these fees the school could not function. With the fees we are paying the salaries of the teachers. This results in a healthy cycle. The teachers salaries are deliberately not covered by donations, otherwise the school would not be able to survive on its own. And if donations are not received, the teachers would be left without salary. Last year the school fees couldn’t be payed due to the corona situation and the teachers didn’t receive a salary. I then decided to pay the wages (CHF 350.-) by myself.

Future prospects

We have many plans for the rest of the year. As mentioned above, a family will support us on the site in Kenya in October. In the next few weeks we will present our godparenthood offers. We are currently in the the planing stage. Another goal ist the electricity supply. Our school has no power at the moment, so we want to build a solar system. This way we can combine electricity supply and environmental protection. Of course the completion of the second building is also planned or this year. Then we would have incredible eight finished classrooms. Donations are an important factor in achieving our goals. Therefore, we are very grateful for each donation and are looking forward to your support!Finally, we are also planning something in in Switzerland. This summer we want to organize a fundraising event where you are of course all very welcome. More information about it coming soon.