New Secondary Girls School in the Rift Valley

I was pleased to be able to view the new secondary girl's school in the Rift Valley. It is in the village of Kimuka right next to the Primary school there where Joshua Santiamo is the headmaster.

I did meet Joshua but school had already ended for the year so didn't have an opportunity to view his school.

The new school is ready to open this January. It will be a day school until there are funds to build the dormatories. It is my understanding that they will begin with Form 1 (9th grade to us) and add a Form each each year through Form Four.

A church in Ireland matched the money the greater community raised. The Maasai "taxed" each man a certain amount and each woman a lesser amount. Once they met their commitment, the group came with the rest of the money and built the school.

This group is called Asterias. You can see their webpage at www.asterias.org and then go to Team 2007.

MWEEP Kenya continuing to support SCHOOL FEES

I have been receiving emails from MWEEP in Ngong. They are continuing to meet. Last week the officials met and today, January 19th the whole MWEEP Kenya group met.

Inspite of unrest in their country, they are moving ahead with the goal to support girls and women to attend school this new school year and issuing scholarships for the first term starting in January.

I am hoping to receive a report from this meeting this coming week and will post information at that time. At this time I am not sure if all the schools are opening.

Life in Kenya for our Maasai friends post election

It is a very difficult time in Kenya while the country is sorting out it's response to the election and to the final outcome. Other countries have now gotten involved in working through this and to promote peacekeeping.

We have had emails from some of our friends. There was some unrest in Ngong Town; however those living in the Rift Valley around Olosho oibor have been safe. There are hardships related to the infrastructure: food getting to the stores, costs have gone up, available petrol and it's cost and restricted travel (ex. what is it safe to go to Nairobi, or where in Nairobi can we go?).

We have heard from Kasey Cox with Network of Change. He left Kenya for the US soon after the conflicts began. He told us that as he flew out of Nairobi, he could see many fires. He is not sure when he'll return. He had just built a house on Rosemary Sakuda's property and started a sustainable garden. He also had a memorial garden underway on the school property for sustainable food.

We've also heard from Project Baobab leaders in Nairobi, we are hoping to network with them in the future. They are back in the office and their staff and families are safe. Things are moving slowly.

There are various points of view regarding the politics and who should do what. Who has been corrupt/illegal, etc. Both parties and many people say there are problems from both groups. We pray that there will be negotiations to bring all peoples together in some form of cooperation so the country and it's people can move ahead.

Many Kenyans voted (some statistics we heard were 70%), democracy and it's privileges like voting mean a lot to these people. We have much to learn regarding our voting, etc. They want their votes to count and their voices to be heard.

If you wish to read more look at:
www.BBC.com
www.nationmedia.com/dailynation
www.eaststandard.net/news

I will post another blog story regarding our MWEEP women.