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Go and Do Likewise Newsletter
More than a library
September 2010
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Greetings!
First a huge thank you for your time to read this newsletter and
hopefully to give a few moments to let the lives of the Rionchogu
Village people seep into your understanding that potentially you too
hold a key of their future. With school starting in most areas of the
U.S. it is an easy transition to look at the issue of education for the
village in general but more specific; what does it mean or afford for a
rural Kenya village to have a library. Are there even any books there. (Not many is the answer to that.)
Do you remember your first
book, or the first book you read and understood that by reading you
could learn? Do you have, as most of us do, a number of books in
various places in the house, some of us have our own collections of
favorites or even our own 'library' of books.
I think it is safe
for me to say that most of us have in our family or even in our house
more books than the entire village of Rionchogu has, with the possible
exception of the few text books they share at school, they are without
books, why not, no one can read.
What would we expect if our
schools were to educate our children with so few books that no one was
allowed to take a book home, or the book had to be passed from student
to student during class.
Each time I remember the children and
their determination and their hope and with so little in the way of
resource my heart breaks anew. We are building a library, a place for
books to be shared and for the young to get help reading. A place where
we will put small Solar Lights for evening or night time reading and a
place to be the Icon of hope for a generation given the chance to change
their future.
Your help means so much. Thank you
May you be blessed and may you be the blessing you are created to be, thank you so much for your interest and encouragement.
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| The Learning Story
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During my first visit to the village we went to the school and what we witnessed was both joyful and emotionally startling.
Mud, sticks and benches are the educational infrastructure of the local school  |
Inside the schools are not much different. The students share a bench and a book but their optimism is high. They understand the opportunity that comes with an education. They may not understand yet, the poor education that comes from no books and no one to teach them or help them at home.  Education is a new idea in much of Kenya, the young face many obstacles. One glaring hurdle is that very few have parents that can read, so they receive no help at home. For some others the family has an agenda that does not include educating their children even more so for the girls. Add to this the lack of electricity and you are beginning to see the challenge. Student mentoring is one ray of hope that has started in the village. Simply the older students take their time to help the younger ones. Theirs is a good heart to help out and assist those coming behind. Education really does take a village for some would not get through without help from others. |
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Education does not come without a cost
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There are many stories none more descriptive than that of Kevin and Paul. Even when you try hard it may not be enough, especially for the ones who go first. Kevin is one of those. Entering school he had almost no foundation to succeed. Through the early grades the quality of his education was poor at best and so for literally years he hung on the edge, barely making it to high school where the lack of science and technology books gave him almost no chance. He was competing with students from all over the country for the few University opportunities. Kevin knew the grades he needed and he knew he was not going to accomplish this.
Kneeling at left Paul Yampoi  |
So, Kevin decided he would partition the leadership of GAD Kenya to repeat the final two years of Secondary school. How many young people do you know who would take two years of high school over to get the grades they need to succeed.
Enter Paul Yampoi. Paul is a Maasai man who has been trying for years to complete his secondary education. His method has been to attend school as long as he had the funds and then work until he saved enough for the next term. Paul is 23 years old and is determined to complete school. While discussing the individual challenges with Kevin, Paul was introduced to GAD Kenya, petitioned for support and was granted sponsorship for the balance of his education, he agreed to the terms. Education does not come easy to the young men and women and women of rural Kenya. It is not free and it is not automatic. For these the request of their time to mentor the younger children is quickly agreed to and so the village reaches out again. It is not worthy of men to cry in Kenya, so I asked for understanding as I stood before them and shared my heart with tears and smiles.
The children of the compound get an early breakfast before going
to school during the holiday month.
So the story continues, April is a Holiday month for the students in Kenya. They will all return after the break to their regular classes. All that is except the primary students of Neema Nuru Academy where the holiday is a week not a month. The students and the teachers of Neema Nuru will take a week break and then return to review where each is having struggle and use this time to better prepare for the annual tests. Three of the four holiday weeks will find the students and the teachers hard at their studies. Dedication goes above and beyond. It is just so amazing to watch as they go about taking advantage of the opportunity for new life. How can I, we, stand by and not lend a hand.
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Contact Information
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phone:714-231-4863~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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