PREPARATIONS FOR KENYA

My husband Jon and I are in the last week or preparations for our trip to visit our Maasai friends. This year we will be there from November 27th until December 18th. Then we'll head to England to be with our daughter's family and our son for Christmas.

The MWEEP Kenya women have set a great schedule for us so that we can meet with many girls, parents, MWEEP women, village chiefs and other organizations.

We will be trying to have blog entries as we go, so please check back to see what is happening during our time there.

Jon will also be spending some time with education about the watershed in conjunction with SIMOO.

The photo is of Rosemary Sakuda, MWEEP chairlady, her pre-school students, Jon and Loanna Day with their daughter and grandsons.

MWEEP Maasai Girls Workshop in Kenya

The Maasai girls who are receiving school fee help from MWEEP, attend secondary school in three terms.

January, February, March - a break the month of April, May, June, July - a second break in August, September, October, November - the year ends and the month of December is a break prior to the next year.

MWEEP is working to meet with the girls who are available during their breaks. This began in December 2007 when Jon and Loanna Day made a visit.

It continueD December 2008. During the 2009 school year some of the MWEEP women met with the girls during their April and August break.

December 2009 the meetings were enhanced by the participation of Dr. Koi Tirima. At that time she was at the Methodist University in Kenya. I met her when she was Professor of English at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington. Once Koi and her family moved back to Kenya, she was committed to helping with girls' education in Kenya. Loanna Day was there to meet with the girls and Koi came and brought her mother Dr. Helen Muchira. The MWEEP Kenya women, Lucy Pulei and Josephine Kistompol also spoke with the girls. Koi and Helen made a big impact on the girls and the women.

Koi was asked and volunteered to return in April 2010 with a 2 day workshop that was held in the Oloshoibor community at their conference site SeuSeu. She again brought along her mother and a friend. MWEEP USA and Kenya facilitated this meeting. It was called a Career Retreat where she gave the girls information about their strenghts and avenues for Career Planning as it pertained to their education.
One of the highlights was to give each girl a book of her own. Four of the girls had never owned their own book. At Koi's recommendation "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho was given to each girl withthe idea that in August they would have a "book group" discussion. A few extras were left in the MWEEP Kenya office to start a library.

The girls had an opportunity to share their hopes and dreams, learn more about themselves and be inspired to do well at school.

MWEEP USA continues to raise funds to support the school fees for girls, to bring them the workshops during their school breaks and purchase books for their personal use and the library. If you are interested in supporting this work, you can click on the Donate Now button on our website www.maasaiwomen.org or mail funds to: PO Box 1958, Silverdale, WA 98383