All is well on this side of the World!

---

Hello Family and friends! All is well on this side of the world! I wanted to update you on the status of the projects I am beginning to undertake here in Western Kenya. First of all, St. Elizabeth’s Nursery School in Mukweha village: I got started by meeting with the teacher and school committee to decide what things were needed most. We decided together it would be wise for the school to purchase and gain ownership of the land where the current building sits in order to progress with any construction or additions to the property. We also price estimated what it might cost to build an second classroom that would be used for standard one & standard two classes next year. With the fundraising that I did over the past year… it looked as though we would have enough funding to both buy the land and construct the additional classroom. YAY!!! I was very excited!

BUYING THE PROPERTY
On June 23rd we met again with a surveyor to officialize the purchase and discuss procedures of buying the land. We bought 0.2 acres which sits directly on the road. Paying the surveyor, officializing all of the documents, buying the title deed, constructing the official agreement, and actually purchasing the property would altogether cost about $1,200. The title deed will be ready for me to pick up in a couple of weeks. The purchase was made with a handshake between myself and the original land owner… the whole process made me a bit nervous, as I had never done anything like buying land before…especially in a foreign country. Luckily, in Kenya, once land is bought… it is officially bought… there are no property taxes that must be paid annually or anything like that.

BUILDING THE FENCE
On June 24th I bought all necessary materials to build a proper fence that would surround the property that the school now owned. Wooden fence posts were about a dollar and half each (100 KSH) and the roll of barbed wire was approximately $50.00 (3,000 KSH); money also went to transportation of materials, oil for the fence posts, nails, lunch for the workers, and worker wages. The fence was built in about 5 hours with the help of seven community members. After the fence was built, some investigating led me to realize there was some mischief in the process. Without getting into too many details, some people in the community were trying to take advantage of the assistance that was being given to them and their children. When making monetary decisions in Kenya , one must be very careful and be sure that the money is going directly where it should be going or else it begins to disappear faster than it should. For example one U.S. dollar can stretch about 3-5 times further in Kenya than it can in America, unless someone is lining their personal pockets. Luckily, my friend Jason and I caught onto the trickery before it cost us any unnecessary money.

However, I wanted to inform all of you at home who are watching the progress of these projects that I am being very careful with the money you’ve donated and will make sure it goes where it is needed most. After almost being taken advantage of by those people, I feel it is best to ask the community of Mukweha to contribute partial funds of their own to that school before any further work can take place at that school. I am going to meet with the school committee to discuss this proclamation this coming Monday.

---

Comments

[Paris]

Money
Hey love! Great to hear your making some really good impacts over there. It's interesting what happened with the money, and how you want to ensure the school/community is on side so they raise their own funds so it is THEIR school. I met a Kenyan woman recently, who goes to my Uni and works for the Govt in Nairobi, and we shared some interesting thoughts on fundraising in Kenya, and indeed Africa. How it is difficult for Kenyan/African people to see muzungus as more than just a source of money sometimes, and that they can in fact do fundraising. An idea we came up with was perhaps an organised sports day, where people pay a small amount to participate or to be a spectator. Perhaps a continual yearly or quarterly thing?? She expressed to me how when her young daughter had to fundraise for a school trip (as all students did), she was reluctant as she saw is as something degrading. Just thought you would like to hear that view, perhaps it is something you can work with on the ground. :) I'm loving reading your blogs. Keep it up!! x