It has been another busy but rewarding year
for THE GEOFF AND DIANNAH CHARITABLE TRUST in remote Western Kenya
with ongoing water projects, the official opening of the new Geoff
Brown Girls High School and our continuing interest in supporting
the orphans groups at Chebukutumi, Tunyo and Mapela as well as our
continuing support for the Voice of the Disabled group at
Bisunu. A significant event this autumn has been the visit to
UK of the headteacher of Chebukutumi Primary School, David Saenyi,
whose vision it was to set up the new girls’ high school.
No new water tanks were built in 2012 but we did embark on 2
ambitious deep hand dug wells at Nalondo and Murembe in an attempt
to get below the 40 ft dry season water table level in the hilly
and rocky terrain. Nearly all local hand dug wells are
shallow and dry up in the dry season causing the women and children
to walk many kilometres to a polluted stream or river. At
Nalondo we hit rock at 40 ft and failed to find water and so we
will now build a harvested water tank for the community
there. At Murembe the first sinking met a similar fate but we
have now achieved success at a slightly different location and have
found water below 50 ft. This well will have a hand pump but
most local shallow wells are only for hand drawing.
On 4 March the Bishop of Bungoma, The Rt. Rev. George Mechumo
officially opened and blessed the new Geoff Brown Girls High School
in Chebukutumi. It was a grand occasion and cause for much
deserved celebration.
The first 2 classrooms had been built by the end of 2011 with a
grant from our charity and equipped with desks and text books ready
for the January New Year intake. This year the school has
achieved a remarkable success in coming second out of all the 16
secondary schools (5 girls’ and 11 boys’) in the district in the
mock exams. Later this year our charity awarded another grant
to enable the final 2 classrooms of the first phase of development
to be completed which allows a maximum enrolment of 160
students. With the new intake the numbers are expected to
rise immediately to over 120. The school is permitted to grow
to 640 boarding students and is already attracting huge interest in
the area where secondary girl child education is virtually
unobtainable. Currently it is a day school with annual
fees of £40 and boys are allowed to attend but hopefully it will
soon become all girls, such is the demand from them, and then the
boys will have to attend the nearby boys’ school. When it
becomes boarding annual fees will range from £160 to £240 and will
enable the girls to concentrate on their studies and avoid the
distraction of daily domestic duties at home in fetching water and
wood, cooking and cleaning.
The Orphans and Vulnerable Children Foundation which we set up at
Tunyo decided to invest in a milking cow as well as providing some
school uniforms. The milk will not only provide valuable
nourishment to the orphans but will provide a source of income for
the foundation. There is no primary school at Tunyo which is
set high on a hill and the community there is in desperate need of
one. In the meantime many of the young children are prepared
to walk several kilometres to the nearest school at Chebukutumi to
seek an education.
This year some of the orphans at Mapela were given school uniforms
and some had jumpers because the nights can be very cold at 1500
metres. In 2010 they all received blankets and in 2011 they
received uniforms. No child can attend school without a
uniform and so for an orphan a school uniform costing only £3 is a
passport to an 8 year education and highly prized. As usual
they were also treated to drinks and biscuits.
At Bisunu the Voice of the Disabled used our grant to buy a wheel
chair, a goat, 2 beehives and set up a nursery.
On and off during the whole year our charity correspondent,
Elizabeth Mukholo, has carried out valuable work for us in
travelling around our projects to take photographs and send back
reports. She is a great asset to us and has acquitted herself
very well in this her first year. She is a great communicator
and we hope she will continue working for us in 2013. During
this time Elizabeth has also been studying for her final exams for
a diploma in Information Communication Technology which she took in
November. Here is a photo of Elizabeth at college with the
old laptop we sent out to her last year and a more recent one
taking a break on a college educational visit to
Uganda. Most of the photos in this newsletter were
taken by her.
In late September we were privileged to welcome David Saenyi the
headteacher of the Primary School at Chebukutumi linked to Crick
United Benefice. We had set out a 3 week programme of visits
and meetings with primary and secondary schools, churches and
charities to raise awareness of our charity’s objectives and to
promote our mutual interest in developing secondary girl
child. We visited 2 local secondary schools and are hopeful
of forging links with them. As a result of his visit we are
now looking into a simple solar power scheme for the school.
Electricity is still a few miles away but the government must
eventually provide power to the school. David is a great
advocate and active supporter of our charity and helps us
enormously during our visits in hosting and escorting us to remote
communities. On his return he has investigated the desperate
situation at the natural spring in Chebukube which we plan to
protect in 2013.
Our ambitious target for 2013 is to build another 6 water tanks,
protect Chebukube spring, install some solar power at the new
girls’ secondary school and continue with our support for the
orphans and the Bisunu Voice of the Disabled which we have pledged
to do over the next few years. We are extremely grateful to
all our fund raisers and donors, especially to Wilmslow Wells for
Africa without whose continuing support we would not be able to
achieve so much on water projects. If you can support us in
any way through regular giving, no matter how small a donation, we
would be extremely grateful as it allows us to plan
ahead. Gift Aid forms are available on the
website.
Geoff Brown - Chairman
