Nyabisawa Junior Academy

      Playground Project

      School Uniforms

Playground Project:  While in Kenya this winter, we were able to begin building a playground! The impact this made on the children was almost indescribable.  The only swings are located in Nairobi, nearly 8 hours away!  The children at our school have never experienced swings or teator totters.  The first children to try the swings were some older boys about 13-years old.  The boys were older and very shy; often you would see them covering their smiles with their hands.  When the first boy climbed onto a swing, he tried very hard to contain his smile.  When our team member, Charlie, pushed him, he had never before experienced that exciting feeling your stomach gets when you drop quickly.  When the boy swung through the air, the squeels and screams pierced the air, followed by an excitement and laughter that no one will ever forget.  That inspired the team to build teater totters.  When they were completed, we even had a hard time keeping the grown men off of them, as the adults had never had anything like a teator totter in their childhood.  It was precious.  We made the teator totters out of things we found in the area, muffler clamps and wood, concrete and a metal pole.  We only hope that our make-shift teator totters will hold up. We'd really like to purchase commercial teator totters and slides in Nairobi and take them to our worksite. 

School Uniforms:  We have been in the process have having new uniforms made for all the children attending our new school.  Children having uniforms means that they can go to school, this is especially important for orphans, who do not have the funds available to them to purchase a uniform.  If you would like to donate funds to purchase a uniform, they are just $25.00 per uniform. 

Widows: When we were in Kenya, we quickly realized the extreme hardships caused by poverty of the local widows. We are working to assist 60 widows in the community of Suna and we are focusing on helping the most extreme hardships first, that is, by assisting 20 widows and stabalizing their situations first before helping the remaning 40 widows.  These widows are raising their orphaned grandchildren.  The parents of these children have died from HIV/Aids and the widows have taken it upon themselves to raise these children, yet are struggling to do so.  With livestock such as chickens and cows, they are equippped to start a flock helping them to feed their children; with a cow they can garden and sell extra milk to pay for the tuition at the local school.  By purchase a hen and a rooster, you are enabling a widow to start a much needed flock to help her support her orphaned grandchildren.  A rooster and a hen costs just $8.00. The cost to purchase a single cow is just $100.00.  The widows in Suna need our help in order to produce young people who are physically strong and have the opportunity for an education. Because Suna is a desolate area, unfortunately the awesome organization, Heifer International, isn't close enough to help provide the much needed support.  The great news is, that with your help, HOPE can assist the widows. 

Kenya Chickens Donation