Education & Support for Vulnerable Children, Kenya

Dear Supporters, 

Progress has continued to be made at Nyota Ing’arayo Primary school in Mombasa in 2016.

Donations helped to support the feeding programme, school rent and the teacher’s wages, all of which are instrumental to the success of the school in supporting students from low-income families. Donations towards the feeding programme have enabled the school to continue to pay the monthly salaries of two cooks and to purchase the food and supplies required for a healthy and nutritious breakfast and lunch every school day. The feeding programme is attractive for many families who struggle to afford three meals a day and is key to preparing students to have the energy to listen and learn.

Funds have also gone towards supplementing teacher’s wages. School fees are kept very low to enable families to afford to send their children to school and many families at Nyota Ing’arayo are unable to regularly pay the school fee which directly contributes to teacher’s wages. Funds have been necessary to make up for this difference, pay the teaching staff a reasonable salary and continue to enable low-income students to attend Nyota.

The TukTuk Income Generation Project is continuing to progress and has been effective in contributing funds to assist school maintenance, rent and teacher’s wages. Three TukTuks are operational and rented by drivers on a daily basis, paying the daily rate to the school in addition to making a profit for themselves. Funds are set aside to maintain the tuk tuks and then the profits are used to support the school needs including school rent and teacher’s wages.

Successes in 2016 include an increase of students sitting for their KCPE exams and a top score of 377 out of 500 which is a very successful score and will enable entrance to a quality secondary school. This year, 13 students in Year 8 sat for their KCPE exam.

Future plans include continuing to keep the TukTuk Income Generation project functioning successfully and to keep the feeding programme operational.

A donation plea will be made in January to try to raise funds for the feeding programme as the funds from individual donations are running low and we will not be able to continue offering support for much longer. 

We wish you all the best and thank you for your continued support to our project partners in Kenya. 

With Gratitude, 
Michele

Dear Supporters, 

We are very happy to bring you news that we have been able to purchase solar panels for Nyota School. It is going to make such a wonderful difference for everyone there!

Those of you who have been to Nyota will know about its lack of electricity. Putting in wiring for electricity was not an option for us because we rent the building. The landlord did not want to invest funds to do this themselves and they were also not open to discussing a rent reduction if the school could cover the costs themselves. So solar power was the best alternative!  

By installing solar panels that produce good, clean energy, the school will be provided with proper lighting and fans. The fans are going to have a huge, positive impact on the learning environment by helping to reduce the huge burden of the constant heat. 

We have managed to start off with one solar panel, a battery and the installation and set up costs which will be able to power lights, fans and a few charging ports. We are so excited and can't wait for everything to be installed and hooked up, which should be done in the next few weeks. 

As well as this, we have also managed to keep up with our commitment to pay for salary support and the feeding program for the last quarter of 2016 at both Olives and Nyota. We are hoping to secure enough funds in the coming months to be able to offer ongoing assistance for these costs into 2017. 

Thank you for your amazing support!

With Gratitude

Nyota and Olives!