school news

Hello everyone!

Lots has happened since our last post. We have two new volunteers at the house - Lin from Vietnam/USA, and Yvonne from Scotland. Kyle and I spoke in Nairobi about outreach to the new group of volunteers. We also visited Kibera - Africa's largest slum. It was huge - like a maze of little shanty houses, each no larger than a small bedroom, and each housed 6-10 people. We were invited into a few of them and spoke with the people living there. It was surprising to see how large the whole place was, but since being at the garbage slum - we didn't feel as shocked by the living conditions as we would have if we had come there straight from Canada.

In other HUGE news, on Monday we took the sponsored kids to their new boarding school - Rockhurst Academy. Last year - three students were able to go. This year, we had fourteen! The three that had been there before, Philip, James, and Winnie were all ready in their uniforms at the slum waiting to get back to the boarding school. They were excited and had the biggest smiles on their faces. The others were excited too, but nervous and not sure what to expect. They got there in a bus with their parent and that's where we gave them all their new things for school - a mattress, bedding, uniform, socks, shoes, soap, mosquito net, study books, pencils... and everything else they will need. The headmaster also had sodas and biscuits for them - this is when they decided they really like school - after getting sweets. The kids from the slum went to the boarding school one day early, so that they could get used their new surroundings and get familiar with their teachers before the other students came. They officially started classes yesterday! Pictures:

Philip, James, and Winnie

Everyone with their parent at the new school!

Me and Mercy

Even in the short time that we were there, we could see that the slum was affecting Mercy's bright personality. We saw her less and less and were told that she starting hanging out with some of the older kids at the slum. It was great to see Mercy at the boarding school - out of the environment of the garbage slum. Her bright smile has returned. Mercy's mother, Elizabeth couldn't come with her to the boarding school because of her arthritis. Elizabeth was diagnosed in 1985, and it has gotten worse since then. She is now barely able to walk. Mercy takes care of her mother, but Elizabeth insisted that Mercy go to the boarding school to try and give her daughter a better life. Mercy was sponsored by the parents of one of the volunteers we met here, Tori. Thanks Tori' Family!

Lucy and Samwell - siblings

Lucy and Samwell were two of the 11 newly sponsored children. Pastor Antony decided to make it his top priority to find them a sponsor to get them away from the slum. Their mother passed away last year from HIV (Gioto has a 45% HIV positive rate) and they have since been living with their aunt in the slum. Their aunt is an alcoholic who beats Lucy and Samwell. As a result, they are both very timid and shy - But it was great to see them at the school, laughing and talking to their new friends. Our friend Erin's parents sponsored both Lucy and Samwell. Our Thanks to Erin's Family!


The money from their sponsorship pays for all of their necessities as well as their school tuition and food while they are at the boarding school. Because some of the things can be reused year after year - like their mattress and bedding, the cost of sponsorship goes down every year. Sponsoring a child for boarding school costs 730 US dollars - there are programs for sponsoring children for cheaper than this but we wanted the kids from the garbage slum to be able to go to a school that has a good record and high standards. This way - we know that they will be given the top quality education that they deserve. The next year of sponsorship - if you would like to be a continuing donor for the child (year after year until that child finishes school) the cost of sponsorship will go down - to about  600 US dollars. This is less than two dollars a day - for an entire year of education, food, and shelter for these children. If you are interested, please visit www.garbageslum.org  . You can also donate for the other projects in the garbage slum (clean drinking water, medical camps...) on Andrew's Website - www.helpingkidsinkenya.webs.com .  There is a PayPal on Andrew's site so you can donate any amount - no matter how small, everything helps. We realize that not everyone can afford to send a child to school. If you choose to donate, and want it to go to a certain place - towards sponsoring a child, towards a feeding program in the slum, towards clean drinking water, or towards medical camps - you can make a memo of that on the PayPal on Andrew's site.

We also started classes at Gioto Sunrise Academy - the school that we have for the children who cannot afford even to go to the cheapest of public primary day schools. Most of the children from the slum that can afford to go to day school go to Prison primary school - the cheapest school in the area. The class sizes are immense, and we worry that many of the kids from the garbage slum are ignored.

Issak, Paris, and Helen - Paris and Helen are in uniforms for Prison Primary day school.

abc's, counting, games, stories, and coloring. The middle range will work of learning reading, writing and math. The more advanced range will be doing creative writing - Today Kyle had them write stories about themselves, and one boy was finished so quickly that he had him write a story about Kyle. It will be interesting to read that one tonight. All of these students will also benefit from the feeding program that is due to start Monday of next week.

Doing storytime with some of the younger kids at our school

Kyle teaching a writing in English lesson as some of the other volunteers provide one on one help.

We are loving it here. It is good to see the kids finally in school, and we are feeling more positive about their future. Education is the key to their success in life.

Our plans for this month are to focus on the school here and establish the feeding program. We have at least two groups of outreach coming - one is this Saturday. We also will go and do another talk to prospective volunteers on the 15th. There is a medical camp scheduled for the 18th. There is also a possibility of an orphanage starting that will take 30 children away from the slum and give them food, clothing, shelter. We will be meeting with Matt, a volunteer who now lives in Kenya, to help him set this up and make sure everything goes through so that the Gioto kids can be taken care of there. The orphanage is being built right now, and will be ready to accept children at the end of February.
Kyle and I also hope to go to Kilimanjaro this month. It is so busy, but hopefully we will be able to after the medical camp at the end of the month.

We love you and miss you all. Thanks for following our blog while we are here. Also, we thank you for all of the messages of support and prayers while we are away.
-Kate and Kyle