Sisit School, Kenya

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Sisit School, Kenya

The Need.

As has been the case in several of our school communities dedicated to providing an education for their children, the first step will often be the building of a kindergarten classroom. This is because the older children are able to make the long walks to the nearest primary schools located in other villages. As the local kindergarteners "age up" into higher grades they begin using the orignial kindergarten classrooms as their families want them nearby. This forces the new kindergarten students out of the existing classroom structure.

This was the situation in the Kenyan community of Sisit in 2020. A dedicated individual stepped forward and began volunteering as the kindergarten teacher. He worked with the children outside, weather permitting, in an effort to continue providing them with an early childhood education. (See photo). The community had already built two classroom blocks housing grades 1-6. They wanted to expand the school to include grades 7 and 8 but did not have the funds.

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Ongoing Support.

2021: Sisit kindergarteners began receiving food and other essentials funded by Gary's Fund via a collaboration with a feeding program run by Africa Exchange
- At a cost of $50/child/school year (about 200 days) about 80 Sisit students received::
  - Daily meal lof nutritious porridge and snack.
  - Snack
  - Bi-annual anti-parasitic medication
  - Treated mosquito netting
  - School supplies
  - A tree seedling from the community's tree nursery to plant.
2023
- 59 Sisit kindergarteners received a daily meal for an average total cost per child $35/school year.
2024
- 47 Sisit kindergarten students were fed a daily lunch and snack at at a cost of $70/year/child.
- Sisit's costs were higher this year because Gary's Fund began funding transportation, fuel and delivery costs plus the stipend for the school cooks. Due to inflation this additional assistance was needed.
It only takes pennies/day to feed these children. The average cost to provide a nutritious lunch for our Kenyan kindergarteners each school day is only 23 US cents/day/child, money that most of their parents do not have.

The Project.

Our Kenyan partner proposed a free standing classroom building to house the kindergarten freeing classroom space to serve the primary school upper grades.

In 2020 Gary's Fund made a donation of $30,000 to build a beautiful, free standing three classroom school and latrines in the village of Sisit for the community's youngest children to attend kindergarten. This additional space was badly needed and created space for all of the community's children to attend school.

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The Community.

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Located in the Kenyan Highlands in the northern part of Kenya, this remote, mostly Pokot community has shown great dedication towards improving the quality of life for their children and future generations.

During the past decade, the Sisit community has benefited from a water system project that was implemented enabling the community to pump water from the river in the valley. First they used a gravity fed turbine system then replaced it with a solar pumping unit. Today there is enough water for the entire community plus sufficient supply for a tree nursery (added in 2018) which assists in environmental preservation efforts in the area.

The tree nursery was established by the community in partnership with Africa Exchange to help with deforestation. As mentioned above, Gary's Fund was happy to provide some support towards this endeavor by including with the children's daily meal a tree sapling to take home and plant. We hope to continue supporting the nursery and its goals.  The community watches over and cares for this project.

Sisit has reported that enrollment at the school increased since the construction of our three classroom building and the provision of porridge, lunch and school supplies. Many of the young children are now able to attend school. Covering the cost of their daily meal and snack takes pressure off their families.

Community Contribution.

Prior to the launch of the Sisit project funded by Gary's Fund, the community had an existing school which was overflowing with students. As a result, the kindergarteners were ending up attending class outside. The original building housing this school had a partially finished addition (see photo to the right). A proposal was made that the community finish that addition before we move forward with funding for the stand-alone kindergarten classroom building. They did so and the new building was constructed.

Our partner established a tree nursery in Sisit some time ago and the community has worked tirelesssly to maintain and expand it.

This level of commitment is in keeping with all of our projects thus far. It is expected that the communities "buy into" these projects by making a contribution in any way they can beforehand or that they provide significant help after the projects are launched. Without a major commitment on the part of the entire community these undertakings are often not successful.

Given the level of poverty and hardship experienced in the areas where our schools are located, it does take dedication from the adults to make it work.

All photos provided by Africa Exchange