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Miruya Primary School

Miruya Primary School

Early in 2017, William Aludo introduced us to a small school located about two hours from his home. The Miruya Primary School is tucked away in the hills of Migori County, in a beautiful but very rural part of Kenya. He had visited the school, and found three dozen young children waiting for their teacher to arrive. There were no desks, so the children were sitting on the dirt floor. After speaking with them, he learned that on the days she came, they sang songs and played circle games outside. There were days she didn’t come though, apparently because she wasn’t always paid. The government hadn’t yet recognized the school, so it was up to the parents to pay someone to teach their children. The children still came every day, in hopes that their teacher would show up.

William reported all of this to the EC USA Board of Directors, who responded by partnering with CBN to hire teachers, establish a lunch program, build a kitchen, and provide uniforms and school supplies.

Miruya Primary School

“If you build it, they will come,” the saying from the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” bears repeating here. During the past two months two new classrooms have been built for the seventh and eighth students. Enrollment is up from last year. What is more, the school is now fully registered with the government – as public a school as they come. This means they are able to receive government funding, and can hire government paid teachers.

Outside the new stone classroom with a green metal roof and orange casings around the windows
The new 7th grade classroom at Miruya Primary School
Several young adults at the Miruya Primary School standing in their new classroom, dressed in green shirts and blue shorts.
Seventh graders in their new classroom

A Visitor to Miruya Primary School

Not long ago, the area MP (Member of Parliament) came to visit the school. He was greeted enthusiastically by the students and joined them as they danced and sang. The new tile floors made an impression, and gave him the confidence to say that he wants to help with some other changes to the school. Among those improvements, he plans to initiate the hiring of a government paid ECDE teacher. He will also give the school 80 new desks. The students and teachers have come a long way since the day that William found them sitting on the dirt floor waiting for their teacher to show up.

A visit to MPS from area member of Parliament Hon. Mark Nyamita 

Walk for Water

Last month, walkers all across the US joined forces to raise funds to dig a well at Miruya Primary School. The goal was to raise $5,000 to be matched by the generous donations of our supporters. A well at the school will cost $14,000, so our intent was to conduct another small campaign to get us to the finish line. Once again, the heart and generosity of our supporters came shining through. The Walk for Water event raised over $9,000, allowing us to sign a contract with the well digging company. Plans are underway to have a well dug before the start of the new school year!

A map of the world showing where people walked to riase funds for a well at Miruya Primary School
The Walk for Water map
Images of walkers for the walk for water event for the Miruya Primary School well
Walkers across America! Clockwise from the top: Michael & Nancy Brink in VT; two enthusiastic walkers in VT; Ben Crosby in MA; Adam, DeeDee & Calvin Braun in MD; Ryan Galli & Tracy Guion in VA; Steve & Ruth Young in PA; Stephen Guion in VT; Ari Clark in VT.

Moving Forward

As we look ahead, there is a lot to look forward to. With two new classrooms in place and a well soon to be dug, we hope to see a lot more smiles on the faces of these children. As always, we want to thank all those who are helping these students reach their goals and realize their dreams.

Please click here to learn how you can help to educate, care for and connect with students across Kenya and India.

Thank you and bless you!

Ruth

Providing for Needs

Providing for Needs

The Needs

Providing for needs is constant in life.  We have basic needs that deal with our survival as humans: water, food, and shelter.  Then there are less-essential needs, such as designer jeans, computers and dirt bikes.  What you have been blessed with in life defines your perspective on your own personal sense of needs and provision for those needs.

A Donation

A relative of mine recently decided to give a recurring donation to Everyone’s Child.  I asked where the donation should be directed, and received the most amazing response, copied below:

“My goal was to donate enough to bring water to a school in a year…I went online to learn more and saw the need for water.  It was something on my bucket list that has not been fulfilled. Here is my bucket list:
I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat:
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: 
I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me:
I was sick, and ye visited me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

providing for needs: two adults give a meal to a child in Kenya
EC Program Coordinators Susan Enoch and William Aludo providing a meal for a child in Kenya

Provision

I was in awe of my relatives’ ability to use Matthew 25:35-40 to identify a selfless list of objectives for life.  These objectives were all about providing for needs.  I wrote the following reply:

“Yours is a more than worthy bucket list.  Thank you for sharing it with me.  As to your dream of bringing water to a school in a year’s time, we are always on the lookout for that need.  After walking to that muddy river in Kampi Ya Moto, Kenya it has become my personal quest.”

I was thirsty

I went on to say that the EC Board of Directors had just recently decided to provide a hand pump to a ministry in northern India.  I mentioned that this ministry is providing for the needs of 85 children, but they have been faced with tremendous persecution, making it very difficult to support these children.  They had asked us for help with a hand pump, nutritional care and educational supplies, so our first effort was to provide them with a hand pump and repair their bore well.  This pump and repaired well will hopefully prevent the sickness and disease they have all been dealing with from drinking dirty river water.
I ended my email by saying how glad I was to be able to participate in this bucket list, made only more meaningful by the fact that I was proud to be related to this special person.

Providing for Needs

Providing for needs includes the act of caring for and about others.  Sometimes that act is a prayer, other times it involves an action or a financial gift.  Here at Everyone’s Child we appreciate contributions of all kinds.

Love is the defining expression in my relative’s bucket list.  Please click here to give to someone who will greatly appreciate your gift of love.

Two Kenyan children walking arm in arm providing for needs
Walking to get water at the river in Kampi Ya Moto

everyone’s child: they belong to all of us

Finding Solutions

Finding Solutions

At Everyone’s Child

we are all about seeing problems and finding solutions. When this organization began in 2009, we were presented with the problem of providing an education, healthy meals and clean drinking water to orphaned and at-risk school children in three different locations in Kenya. We found solutions in reaching out to friends, family members and even strangers to ask for help. Nine years later, thanks to the generosity of many supporters, hundreds of orphaned and at-risk children in Kenya have received meals, an education and potable water. We have also had the opportunity to build new classrooms and connect students in the USA with students in Kenya.

finding solutions for children who are now drinking clean water from a spigot in sub Saharan Africa.
Clean water for kids in Kampi Ya Moto

Last year, for the first time in the history of this small non-profit organization, we were able to go beyond the borders of Kenya into a new country. This past year saw EC opening a unique afterschool study program for 20 children in grades 1 – 8 in a rural community outside of Hyderabad, India.

a classroom full of boys learning
Learning after school – an important part of life in India

HIV/AIDS

Unfortunately, the problems we encounter don’t just go away. HIV/AIDS continues to rob children of their parents at an alarming rate each day. It is estimated that there are over 3 million orphans in Kenya, 47% of whom are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. It is also estimated that an orphan sibling heads 12 – 15% of Kenyan households. These children are just that, children. They are not equipped to face problems that adults face. Typically they become anti-social, and are also an easy target for child-traffickers.1  Needless to say, finding solutions for the problems these children are confronted can be very challenging.

child sitting with her head on her hands
A child waiting for an answer

More Problems

Family members will often take in nephews and nieces who have lost their parents, but in many cases, they are ill equipped to care for them. These families find their resources stretched and have to choose between feeding and clothing their own children or their orphaned relatives. The orphan frequently goes hungry.  Oftentimes they are given clothing that is either too small or too big to wear. While the Kenyan government now provides free primary and secondary education, uniforms are required in all schools. Orphaned children typically do not have access to an adequate uniform, as their families usually cannot afford to provide for all their needs.

a group of students in blue uniforms smiling for the camera
students at Nakuru Teacher’s Primary School in Kiti

Finding Solutions

Last year, through the generosity of our contributors, EC was able to supply daily meals to over 400 orphaned and at-risk children. We also provided scholarships to 21 high school students, and conducted a yearlong mentorship program for orphaned high school juniors and seniors. Additionally, our Program Coordinator discovered a school in a rural area in western Kenya where children were simply waiting for a teacher to show up. Those who gave to EC made it possible for a teacher to be hired, allowing these 112 primary school children to begin receiving an education.

Children playing outside with their teacher at Miruya Primary School in western Kenya
A circle game with students and their teacher at Miruya Primary School in western Kenya

One of our BEST Solutions

Our 2017 Annual Appeal has been very successful. Today we are just $2,500 shy of receiving the same amount we received in 2016 ($21,625.00). Our programs are decided by our budget, and our budget is determined by how much comes in each year.

We are extremely grateful to each person who contributed to the 2017 Annual Appeal.  As I wrote in each thank you note I sent out, your gifts provide real and immediate help to children we are serving today.

students sitting in a classroom in Kenya
Bishop Donovan secondary students

Our Resolution

In this New Year, our resolution is to continue supporting school children in Kenya and India. We also hope to reach more children in need in both these countries.

To those who have not yet given, it’s not too late. We welcome your participation in finding solutions to the problems faced by youth who are living in an uncertain world.  Please click here to learn how you can help.

To all of you, I wish you all a very happy, healthy beginning to 2018!

Reference: 1. https://lightuphope.org/the-plight-of-orphans-in-kenya/

Dear friends

Dear friends

Dear friends,

Every year I begin our Annual Appeal with these words, and every year I have the pleasure of crossing off “friends” and personalizing each letter that goes out to our supporters.  The rest of the letter describes our programs and gives a short report of what has happened in the past 12 months.  I love being able to add a note at the bottom as it brings me that much closer to those who have helped EC to accomplish so much.

The Appeal

Three weeks ago I sent these appeals from coast to coast and even into Canada.  My hope is to once again reach out to the dear friends and supporters who have been so faithful to the children we serve overseas.

Children receiving their lunch in Kampi Ya Moto, Kenya
Children receiving their lunch in Kampi Ya Moto, Kenya

This Year

This past year in Kenya EC fed over 430 orphaned and at-risk children daily, educated 21 orphaned high school students, and led a monthly mentorship program for seven orphaned high school students.  Two state-of-the-art preschool classrooms were built and dedicated in April.  We also started a unique after school program for 20 at-risk primary school children in rural India.  Each of these children now have a chance to reach their potential in life.  And that is possible because our supporters have made it so.

a classroom full of boys learning
Learning after school – an important part of life in India

Our Goal

In the coming year our goal is to continue feeding, mentoring, and providing an education for as many orphaned and at-risk students as we can, in Kenya and now in India as well.  The children at the Miruya Primary School in Kenya needs school supplies including desks and schoolbooks.  They also need a well.  Altogether, our fundraising goal for this season is $50,000.00.

Your Part

Even if you did not receive a personal letter from me asking for your support, you can still help. Your gift of $30 will feed a student for one month.  $300 will provide a high school education for an orphaned child for one year.  $1,000 goes a long way toward digging a well for the Miruya Primary School.  And $2,000 will fund EC’s After School Program outside of Hyderabad, India.

All donations are tax-deductible, used for and appreciated by the children we support.  Please click on this link  to make a secure online donation to Everyone’s Child.  You can also send a check or money order to Everyone’s Child, 19204 Cole Road, Conneautville, PA 16406.  And from the bottom of my heart, thank you.  Your gift will make an immediate and real difference in the lives of these children.

John, Ruth and Synthia in Migori County, Kenya
John, Ruth and Synthia in Migori County, Kenya

Blessings,

Ruth

Water. Not enough, too much, then not enough again.

Water. Not enough, too much, then not enough again.

kampiriversm

Collecting water from the river in Kampi

a dusty schoolyard shows in this child's hair in Kampi Ya Moto

A dusty schoolyard shows in this child’s hair

Kampi kids drinking water
Clean water at last!!

clean water tank

The tank & rain harvesting system

school flower bed

Water = Life ~ a  garden begins.

IMG_2325

Abundant smiles from kids in Kampi

clean water tank

The rain harvesting system

CBN Living Water

Water has been an issue in Kampi Ya Moto long before I knew this place existed.  For years children in this area, many of them orphaned, have had the daily task of walking the hot and dusty two-mile trek to a river to collect water that was then used for drinking and cooking.  I’ve been told that the water was usually boiled before it was consumed, but the mere fact that the mortality rate in this area was 50% or higher leads me to believe that boiling alone didn’t remove the incidence of water borne illnesses.

Kampi Ya Moto is an arid region of Kenya that literally translates to “Camp of Fire”.  I used to walk to the river in this area with the children every time I visited their school.  In a word, it’s repulsive.  The water is brown, and the shore is filled with mud-pocked holes made by the hooves of the cows and other animals that share this water hole with members of the village.

For the past several years we have tried to have a borehole dug, but were met with obstacles at every turn.   It’s been an uphill climb since we’ve started this process, from the purchasing of the land to the conducting of two geological studies (yes, that’s plural – the first one was lost along the way!), and ending with the unfortunate circumstance of hiring a company who claimed to be Living Waters International but made off with our hard won funds instead.  In June 2013, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) – our partners in this project, hired a company that drilled down 215 meters before experiencing “high borehole collapse”.  At that point it was determined that the well was dry.  After some research and deliberation a rain harvesting system was set up as an alternative, a spigot was installed outside the school and today the children are able to get clean drinking water whenever they are thirsty.  This is a HUGE change for these kids, and the presence of the tank has revolutionized their school.  During our visit last May I immediately noticed two big differences, first in the appearance of the children – they met us with smiles and waves, despite the relentless heat. The second thing I noticed was that there was a small garden started outside the school.  This was a novelty, as prior to this time nothing planted there would have survived the trip up through the soil much less the searing temperatures at the surface.

By last May the 10,000-liter water tank had been in place for over a year, so the teachers and students had been through both the rainy and the dry seasons that dominate that region of Kenya.  At that point in the year they hadn’t run out of water, but the previous year they had watched the tank overflow during the rainy season, only to be used up during the months of hot, dry days that followed. The frustration of having more than enough water for a few months and then not enough throughout the remainder of the year, meaning that children would once again have to make the trek to the river for muddy water helped us make the decision to install a second 10,000-liter tank this year.  It’s a fairly straightforward process to purchase and install the tank, but one that requires funding, oversight and faith in the people in charge.  This is just one of the major projects EC is embarking on in 2016.  Stay tuned for more updates!