The Friends of Kinyambu is a project in support of the school and village of Kinyambu in Kenya. The project has two parts:
1) Friends of Kinyambu, will provide regular support funds to the school to purchase resources and
2) The Kinyambu Primary School Library project, working with Cardinal Leger School in Saskatoon, is raising money to build a library.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010

The wonders of Skype

This morning, 11am in Prince Albert, Philip and I talked to Simon and his family in Kinyambu via Skype. They were all there except for Joseph who had to go back to Nairobi to work. They were using the laptop with a rocket stick or internet stick that connects to a satellite from their shamba (farm) in rural Kinyambu. It was hard to see them because they don't have electricity there so they were using a flashlight to light their faces. What a juxtaposition! Computers, satellites and flashlights and no electricity! Black on black doesn't show up well either so mostly we could only see smiles and white shirts but it was fun to talk to everyone.

Kenyans seem to spend their Christmas and New Years visiting and spending time with family and eating, much like here. The new school year begins in early January so they will all be back into their work and studies around the same time most of us return to work and school too.




Sunday, December 19, 2010

We welcome your contributions

Friends of Kinyambu is very much a group venture and we welcome your input. Please feel free to click on the "comment" below each blog and leave a note. I hope you will also click on the follow button and stay in touch with the blog. We will be bringing you more information about the needs of "our" school, and updates as to how our funds are making a difference. There will be pictures!

Here is a cute little video of the children singing For Connie and her son Philip when they visited the school:

The Wonders of Technology

When I was in Kenya 30 years ago I wrote paper and pen letters and postcards home and waited weeks for replies. A letter was a special occasion and a thrill. Now the thrills are more immediate - today Simon and his son Francis contacted us via Skype and we were able to talk and see each other in real time. It was a great surprise and nice that I was able to introduce my non-travelling husband to my distant friends.

We have become so accustomed to the technological wonders of our world that we forget what a short time ago it was that none of this was possible.


Friday, December 17, 2010

Fundraising Update

Fundraising for Friends of Kinyambu and the Kinyambu Library project are going very well. The SIAST library today had a coffee and entertainment (The wonderful Donny Parenteau) and all money collected there is donated to Friends. Many people have contributed so that we are on our way to $2000 in the Friends fund and Cardinal Leger School has over $5000 for the library.

Since I've never done anything like this before I am amazed that so many people are stepping up. Most want to be part of something so personal and direct, from our village to yours. Contributing to a big organization that shovels vast sums into earthquake or famine relief is necessary but impersonal.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Beginnings . . .

Dear Friends,
In the best tradition of my uncle, Alphonse Gerwing, I am asking you to support a project in Kenya which will help the children and families of Kinyambu, a village about 200 kilometers east of Nairobi.  The Alphonse Gerwing Foundation has agreed to take donations for this project and we will be working through Rainbow of Hope  which has extensive experience on projects of this sort. Both are run exclusively by volunteers so you know your money will all go directly to the projects.

The project has two parts: 
  1. Friends of Kinyambu, will provide regular support funds to the school to purchase resources 
  2. The Kinyambu Primary School Library project, working with Cardinal Leger School in Saskatoon, is raising money to build a library.
In the spring of 2010 I went back to Kenya for the first time in 30 years taking my 23 year old son, Philip, with me.  I had taught there for a term, 3 months, in 1980.  Some things had changed but some seemed to be the same.   Mobile phones are everywhere, a great boon to people who never had a land line system and who often found themselves in difficult situations because of poor communications.  The secondary school where I taught has new buildings, an American foundation built them a library and they are about to get electricity.  But the publicly funded primary schools look very similar to those I saw so long ago.  Education is seen as the key to a better life in Kenya as in much of the world but government funding provides only teachers, a basic building and a few resources such as poor quality paper.


Before I left I was able to contact a Kenyan friend, Simon Muendo Ngumbi, a former teacher, who is now a district school officer.  Simon’s wife Beth is a teacher in the primary school and they live on a small farm near the village of Kinyambu. As we prepared to go to Kenya we filled an extra bag full of school supplies crayons, colored markers, construction paper and some sports equipment.  We presented our gifts to the school and the children were thrilled, especially with the soccer balls and Frisbees. I also gave Beth $50 and asked her to get whatever she and the other teachers felt that the school needed.  We went off to see the sights of Tanzania and came back 2 weeks later. The teachers had started an art club and hired a local artist to paint educational murals on the exterior walls of the school.  


That is a creative solution to the problems of keeping paper materials in classrooms that have no glass in the windows and where insect and weather damage begins quickly. We were surprised and pleased with how far a small amount of money and a few supplies could go.  I determined at that time that I would try to help in any way I could.

At the end of our visit Mr. Stephen Kamenzi, the headmaster, thanked us for our gifts and asked if we could find a school in Canada that would be interested in a twinning project with Kinyambu Primary School.  Through a family contact I found Cardinal Leger School in Saskatoon where the principal, Guy Werbicki, was very interested in working with a school in an underdeveloped part of the world.  He made  contact with Mr. Kamenzi and the children have sent letters and are very excited about contacting children in Africa.

Those of us involved with this project hope that you will see how a small amount of money can do a huge amount of good for the people of Kinyambu.  Please specify if you want your donation to go to Friends of Kinyambu (support funds to the school) or the Kinyambu Library Project.


The Alphonse Gerwing Foundation         
Ted Gerwing    
14 Harvard Cres.  
Saskatoon, SK., S7H 3R1  

Rainbow of Hope 
P. O. Box 2883
Wainwright, AB T9W 1S7