Our Charity - Our Mission
May 2020
We had intended to return to Kenya this year just before Easter and stay for the Easter celebrations. Luckily we had not booked early and as the time approached for us to book news was coming out about an unusual deadly virus spreading in China. We decided to postpone our visit and wait to see the development.
By now you all realise to leave the UK and go any where is impossible for the forseeable future.
We are in contact with Mr. Harrison the headmaster of the School on a daily basis so we always know how things are.
Here below is an update of all that has happened so far in 2020.
In January a very generous sponsor asked how he could help the school and what projects did we have in the pipeline. We mentioned that the refurbished computers bought 10 years ago were now almost obselete, several not being able to access the internet and although they have been maintained yearly the humidity and dust has taken its toll. We have taken out 2 old lap tops recently and bought 2 new ones which function well but obviously a class of 30 pupils need many more. The sponsor gave us money to buy a further 10 laptops which were very much appreciated.
10 New Lap Tops Excited Pupils
The Sponsor also donated a further £2000 to build an extra classroom which will be needed in 2 years time when the school needs to extend up to year 9. This is all explained in Angaza newsletter you can find under newsletters. This was built in January and will, in view of the new rules for reintroducing children back to school after Kenyans school closures, be extremely useful.
New Classroom Tiled floor Sponsors
Due to some technically issues with the School name, in January the School trustees in Kenya decided to reregister the school with a new name.
In honour of all the fundraising done in the Uk and particularly the team of organisers in Emley they decided to call the school Emley Education Centre.
The School Bus was not large enough to cope with the increasing numbers of pupils so the old bus was sold and another larger bus was bought from a buisiness which had ceased trading.The School has taken on a small loan from the bank to pay for this.
New School bus
THE SITUATION SINCE MARCH
At the beginning of March the Kenyan government decided to close all schools to take effect immediately. They also brought in social distancing and a ban on movement in and out of Mombasa and Nairobi. All public buses had to take fewer passengers and face masks were compulsory. All businesses closed and people had to remain at home with curfews enforced by a heavy handed police force.
All nonprofit making schools suddenly had no income and obviously this has caused severe hardship amongst teachers and ancillary staff who were unable to receive usual pay.The trustees have been very concerned about this situation but felt there was enough money to not incur debt like many schools in the area. Fortunately the local Titanium mine was still working during lockdown but their buses had to carry half the number of work force. The mine has hired out some of the local school buses including ours, so up to date the bank loan has been paid.
The charity has managed to pay the rent for all the teachers from the gift aid, and was looking forward to the school's opening in June or July. Unfortunately even though restrictions have been lifted and people can move about and visit shops and restaurants, the government has closed schools until January.On line lessons are available if you have internet or a tv but many of our pupils have no electricity, TVs or computers so cannot do this. As a result of this we have had long discussions with the trustees as to how all the vulnerable sponsored pupils and the older classes can continue with their education. We have come to the conclusion that the sponsorship money would reemploy half of the teachers at half their salaries until January. The rest of the teachers will get their rent paid.
The teachers are giving lesson notes and setting tasks for all sponsored pupils and older students to collect weekly from school with social distancing. All those unable to come to school due to lack of transport will have work delivered. We are also trying to get permission to open the library and computer room.
Reports suggest that many schools in the area have permanently had to close through debt, and seem unlikely to ever open again. This has made many teachers desperate due to no income from March.
I am pleased that our sponsorship programme has enabled our vulnerable pupils to continue learning. It is also imperative that our top classes continue to study as some of them will be taking final exams in April next year after only a few months of teaching.
When the Schools return in January all classes will have to be reduced in size, all pupils will have to have individual desks and temperature checks must be done. All schools have to have hand washing facilities approved by the government,which will incur great costs for all schools. Our desks are all double desks and will have to be cut in half until we can buy new ones.Luckily our new classroom will be very important to help social distancing.
We are confident that the school will succeed in overcoming these challenges, and continue to thrive.
WHO WE ARE AND THE CHARITY'S MISSION
We are a small group of people who have formed a registered charity to help others to achieve the things which we take for granted, education for our children, a healthy environment and the opportunity to get on in life.
Rosemary and Jim, Mike and Dilys, the founders of the charity live in the village of Emley in West Yorkshire.
Our work is concentrated in Msambweni a small town south of Mombasa on the Kenyan coast of Africa.
The aims of our charity are :-
To advance education of school children by funding educational resources, buildings, furniture and equipment.
To advance education and training of disadvantaged children by financial sponsorship.
The relief of sickness and the preservation of health.
- To advance health, skills and education of orphans by funding educational resources, buildings and equipment in an orphanage.
On the following pages we will tell you about the work we have done and the plans we have for the future.
Please contact us if you would like to learn more or assist us in any way with fund raising and sponsorship.
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or donate through Paypal at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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