Heading into the summer and with many of you traveling to our 410 Bridge Communities in Kenya, we would love to share the most recent updates to the communities so that you are aware of what changes and growth has happened this year so far…
The following is information covered with our Karima Community church partners. We hope that all of you who have visited Karima will be encouraged at the growth and health in this community! (sorry there aren’t any pictures!)
News:
- Heavy rains have been in the area for three weeks now. Even though this is the long rain season the rains have been extremely heavy with flooding taking place.
- Last week a 7 year old first grader named Joseph mwangi Mbaria was on his way home from school with a friend. They reached the swollen Kawamaitha River and threw their backpacks across and the first boy jumped across. Joseph then tried to jump but did not make it and was washed downstream and died. The funeral was this past Saturday. School has been canceled on some days due to the rains.
- Last week 30 masters degree students from St Pauls University paid a visit to Karima. They are all getting master’s degrees in development and were very interested in our model. Our education program was explained to them by the 410 Education expert and the Kawamaitha headteacher explained the impact of 410 Bridge and Brightpoint on the school. The group was also introduced to the Mwihoko womens project. They were shown the water project and explained the impact it has had on the community. The students were all very impressed at how well the 410 model has worked in the community and how much ownership the community feels in the projects.
- The Leadership Council from a new 410 Bridge community named Kawira visited Karima to study the water project. Kawira will be doing a borehole this summer and wanted to see a successful water project to model theirs after. It is always a proud moment for the LC in Karima to show off the water project that has changed their community.
- Esther, the girl with a heart problem is doing fairly well on the medication she is taking. The doctors are still trying to determine the best option for her as her problem should have been corrected when she was very young and now her age gives the doctors some concern as to the success of the surgery. She is able to go to school and help with chores now that she is taking the medication.
- The teachers and some of the best students traveled to Kirinyaga Primary to see what this school is doing as the students there perform very well on the KCPE.
Projects:
- The water project is going well. Water lines have been extended to Nyaturu region and also to Karima Girls School. Several community members have paid to have pipes extended to their houses.
- Early Childhood Development classrooms are completed and in use. The ECD parents have funded and are constructing a toilet for the ECD kids.
- The Mwihoko womens project is progressing and the women are now formulating a business plan for marketing their products. They are continuing to raise funds to buy a plot of land for a permanent building.
- The Kawamaitha head teacher has had some of the roof repainted and some of the walls resurfaced. This has been done and funded by parents.
Future projects:
- There are still 4 additional water distribution projects to be done in Karima to have water readily accessible to all of Karima.
- Kawamaitha Primary is doing better academically which is great but also brings more kids to the school and makes the overcrowding worse. Because of this additional classrooms will need to be built in the near future once funding is in place.
- Bibles are needed in Karima for adults and students.
- Even though many textbooks were purchased for the school, many more are needed still.
Brightpoint for Children:
- The program is working well in Karima but sponsors are still needed to enable the program to do all it is designed to accomplish.
- The school is doing better as a result of these sponsorships.
Rafiki mail:
- Dan continues to handle the Rafiki mail kids in Karima and the kids are excited about this opportunity to connect with the US. Additional Rafikis are needed on the US side. It is a great way to connect your youth to someone in the third world.
