I Am Learning Everyday.

Working with this project has been an eye opener to me. I have learned a lot about the life of our friends in Makindu, Kenya. Every communication with Principal Muoki educates me about the life of the people in Makindu, and I in return try to educate him about the lives of the people in the US, and about the educational system in America. It has really been enlightning.

One of the things that I have come to learn is how incredibly blessed we really are to be living here in the US. We have everything at our fingertips. I have a computer at work and a laptop at home. I can easily lay on the couch or in my bed when I want to check my emails. This is not so for the people in Makindu. They have to travel to the nearest cyber cafe to get online, and then they can only use the service if the electricity is up and running. They have rolling blackouts there to preserve energy. We really have nothing to complain about.

Rechel

The Beginning of a great Friendship

The Parkway Kawelu Project is one of my recent brainstorms. I will be going to Kenya this summer to visit my husband's family. While I am there, I want to do a couple of projects that will benefit the people of Kenya. The Parkway Kawelu Project is one of those projects.

With the help of my husband, I found a primary school in Makindu, Kenya called Kawelu Primary School. I was able to make contact with the head teacher (principal) Kiio Muoki. He has been instrumental in giving me the information that I need to start this project. The help that he has been giving me is not without sacrifice. He goes out of his way to travel quite a distance to a cyber cafe to send me emails with answers to questions that I have. He does not have access to a computer other than the cyber cafe, and Kawelu does not have electricity. My students have been asking lots of questions, so I forward those questions on to him and he answers everyone of them even if some may seem a little strange. Mr. Muoki wants to help educate our students, and the dialogue that he has had with them has be excellent.

The plan is for Parkway to serve Kawelu by doing some fundraising activities to help supply Kawelu with materials that will help improve student achievement. The infrastructure at the school is lacking, and there are not enough readers, books and desks for the students. Parkway and Kawelu are forming a friendship that will help both of the student bodies to learn from each other. This project will not only help the students at Parkway, but it will also benefit the students at Boggy Creek and Ventura Elementary schools. Both of these schools have agreed to assist us in this project, so it will truly be a community effort.

When I go to Kenya this summer, I will take letters from the Parkway students to Kawelu, and when I come back, I will bring letters back from the students of Kawelu and give them to the students at Parkway. We will begin a series of fundraising activities on Monday, March 29, 2010. Our goal is to initially raise a minimum of $3000. That is a lot of money, and the Parkway students are struggling just like the students at Kawelu, but it is on a much different level. We want our students to understand that despite their individual struggles, there is always someone that is struggling more than they are.

I truly believe that this project will bless the lives of all four schools. As we all embark on this project, may we all cherish the journey ahead, and forge strong relationships of friendship and respect.

Rechel