Newsletter: May 2008

ESUKUTA BOMA SCHOOL: On May 19^th our first preschool class will open to +/- 38 children. Thanks to generous contributions of several of you, we have built this new building. On the 5^th we celebrated its opening. The next question is: Do we put in a cement floor or build a second classroom with the funds you provided that surpassed our immediate need and expectations?

LEMONG’O BOMA SCHOOL: With all the political and community challenges with our school, we had expected to move the children to our new site in Esukuta, but parents pleaded with us to keep them in the church building for now – so the children would be closer to home. We now have two schools! Here is a picture of the LBS preschools and 1^st graders receiving their uniforms (Maasai shukas).

VISUALS: For the opening celebration of the Esukuta School I brought some seashells, a poster of the human skeleton, a world map and a globe. Most had never seen a seashell, or understood the human skeletal structure. And until that day, these men in the picture had assumed the world was flat and the sun really rose. Visuals are a vital part of education for people who have seen so little and, for the most part, are illiterate. Our aim is to acquire many more learning visuals. ("Vision Trumps All", Dr. John Medina, Brain Rules )

ADULT EDUCATION: Pilot program: On May 20^th we will be launching our experimental Adult Education and Culture Program. Adults 14-74 will be invited to study the same material as the preschoolers. Elders will also instruct on and oversee learning of traditional skills. Moran (warrior) will work with the boys on dancing, jumping and spear throwing, while the women work on their dances, songs and beadwork.

GROWING INTEREST: Another community of Rombo has requested we establish a school, and two more sites have been brought to our attention. Our long-term target is seven schools – but for now "pole pole" (slowly).

CONTRIBUTIONS: Thanks to all of you who are supporting this school project. It is so needed and they are so poor. We still have hundreds of children and families to help. What I love most is the education we are providing is excellent education – high standards so rarely found in rural East African schools. We are currently applying for funds from Feed the Minds, the Japanese Embassy, the Australian Embassy and the Canadian Embassy. If we can secure these funds, it will be a very promising 2009.

THE FUZZY CURSE: Cute and cuddly is not universal: It seems that a well-meaning visitor wrapped small teddy bears in white tissue paper and gave them to several children in Rombo; three of these children were Tipape’s small siblings. At first they delighted in these soft white packages, until they were told the white paper was just the wrapping. So they dutifully tore off the white paper to discover, to their horror, mini fuzzy brown creatures with human like bodies and a dog like head (there are no bears Kenya). These gifts were quickly abandoned by the weeping and frightened children. Now, anytime Tipape desires to be left alone for rest or work, he merely has to place one of these brown bears in front of his door, and the children will remain away in fear of the fuzzy curse. One just never knows how things will work out here.

As for me, I am doing well. The task of helping a community with so many needs can be overwhelming, and even disheartening. But these people are so kind, and appreciative. For all of us this is new – none of us have started schools before. I suppose more experienced people would have secured more funds and strategies before they started – but perhaps this is the best way because it is Tipape and the Maasai who are doing the work, and learning daily as they move forward.

Esukuta Boma School is our new campus: We officially opened May 2 in the school building we were able to erect thanks to the generosity of several of you. Esukuta is a Maasai community adjacent to Lemongo (where our first school was launched in March 2007). In Esukua there was previously no school to serve the 45 families living there and their children (an average of five per family). They are enthusiastic and grateful to have such a school because the journey to other schools in neighboring areas was far and treacherous with wild animals.

Lemong’o Boma School update: We lost our five classrooms that had been contributed there, due to political issues at an election time. We had to moved the children to the local church building as a temporary solution. The families in Lemong’o have asked that we allow them to try to find a new plot of land in Lemong’o instead of joining the school at Esukuta. So the children will remain in the church at least until December of 2008. In October we will try to assess whether or not the school that took over our former campus will survive as the level of commitment of the founders is uncertain. We don’t know if the school was a short term political promise or a long-term vision to which they are committed. I have heard that the children who are now enrolled there, who had previously studied with the Maasai Boma School but chose to move to the "new" school, are all the top performers in their classes. Their parents realize the quality of schooling their children gave up and some are now asking to reenroll their children in our school. We cannot do this now because of leanness of funds.

In Dr. John Medina’s new book, Brain Rules, he explains that the brain remembers 60% more of what it sees verses what it merely hears. John (a dear friend) has been sharing this with me for years, and this became very clear to me during the visit of one parent to our office. He was fully outfitted in shukas and beads – and missing one ear from his foolhardy but successful attempt to kill a buffalo, alone, with his knife and spear (to affirm his manliness). Pointing to a map in our office, I asked him if he knew what it was. He thought it was a map, but of what he did not know. We explained that is was of the world and showed him various countries he had heard of like China and America. THEN we brought out the globe. He had no idea the world was round and wondered (as so many of us considered as children), "are they walking upside down on the other side of the world?" In ten short minutes, this father’s mind had been wonderfully challenged – and the globe helped make the concepts so much easier for him to grasp.

Modern education references things that mean nothing to people who have never walked more than ten miles from home. Many have never seen a television, or a magazine, or a picture of a dinosaur or a fish, or a building more than two stories tall. If possible, in the not to distant future, we hope to acquire solar panels, batteries and a large screen or projector to show educational DVD’s to the children and adults: DVD’s on educational programs: math, science, language, nature, travel, … almost anything (even School House Rock). Until we have the funds for that we will collect posters, books, models, science projects, learning games, foreign languages, pictures of planets... Your contributions and product suggestions are welcome.

That’s all for now! Be blessed!

The financial needs are always growing – we do what we can afford. If you’d like to give – welcome (www.adeaafrica.org). Think about coming to visit or even teach for a few weeks!! - Douglas - Oloikurrukurr