Dear Supporters and Sponsors,
Happy New Year to you, and a heartfelt thank you for
continuing to support us in 2013.
Both Magnet School in Kenya and the MAPED project in
Tanzania have continued to develop and grow, and through regular donations and
fundraising events have received over £10,000 from Worldwide Silver Lining in
the past year.
Our big news story this year was our visit. Six of us went out in July for two weeks to visit both
projects, and found that they had both developed significantly since our last
trip in 2010.
The Magnet compound was a more attractive and well
managed site, and now in its second decade has managed to establish itself as a
good school in the area. We were shown the new kitchen which was built with
money raised by St Catherine’s school in Bramley, and the new eating hall – a
tin classroom not currently in use! The Primary school has been further
established with day pupils and full time orphans in attendance. It was
heartening to see that one of the teachers, Esther, used to be a Magnet student
and has now qualified to teach. She wanted to give something back to the Magnet
community, and now works with Kibobi and Judy in helping to run the Primary
school.
Number of students had been down, however the
number is picking up again as parents and guardians realise the hidden costs of
the ‘free’ state education. Kibobi told us he has 108 students on role, with
the able ones being asked to pay £142 a year for their education. He is fully
supporting 36 children, and his aim is to continue to support these children
beyond their school years until they are self-reliant. Our regular donations
help keep these children.
We saw the computers which we paid £400 to Computers
4 Africa for the school to acquire, and Kibobi is taking steps to develop the
technology in his school.
Moving to MAPED, we again found that this project
was much more developed than the last time we visited. The church which Royal
Russell students helped to build in 2008 is now functioning and a centre for
the community. The school which was still being built in 2010 now has two
classes with Maasai day children learning English and the Primary curriculum.
Another interesting development was that of onion
farming! Traditionally Maasai are pastoralists and so herd cattle. Recently
however the Tanzanian government has been giving grants to get local Maasai
into growing and selling onions along the Ruvu river. This seems to have been
very successful.
As we left the leaders in the nearest town, they
were going to buy a motorbike from funds we have raised. This will help the
leaders access the villages, which are all very remote.
Future Developments
Magnet school are currently building a dormitory
for the orphaned boys. This is very much needed, as the current living
accommodation for the boys is rather poor. So far, Kibobi has raised enough
money to set the foundations. Our donations continue to help him with this
enterprise.
At MAPED, they are now wanting to raise money to
set up a Cow Project for the older teenage boys who have not had the
opportunity of the formal education now being offered to the younger members,
and therefore have little or no job prospects.
Your donations continue therefore to have a great
impact on the people involved in these two projects, and we do thank you so
much for being part of their story. As we look to 2014, we hope to bring Bishop
Kibobi and his wife Susan over to the UK again, in order to strengthen links
and establish new ones, and some boys at Dulwich College will be fundraising
themselves towards a trip to both projects in 2015.