In January 2010, Gill David and Sue Thain visited Kenya in order to  find out more about a project the Charity was considering undertaking. The trip was both exciting and  frightening. Their excitement was seeing a remarkably beautiful country with  wild animals and birds they had never seen before. The frightening side was  seeing the extreme poverty and lawlessness – very much worse than any of them had  met with in Ecuador or  Peru. Gill  wrote:

“The long dusty  track to Tomaini Pre-school (the name means ‘hope’) is bordered by some  of the loveliest stretches of land in East  Africa. Huge sacred fig and other trees give way to rolling pasture,  dotted all over with Giraffe, Zebra and Eland. The village we came to was  primitive and rubbish-strewn, and the little school, neatly built of second-hand  timber, stood out among family homes and the most unlikely shops, boasting  extravagant English names. The school has a tiny office and store area which  could become a kitchen, and a long school room, divided into 3 spaces by  partitions.

The children range from under 3 to 8 years old, and the head teacher told us that by  the time they go to Primary School they can all read and  write. The whole village has only  one water tap where the women gather to fill their plastic containers. So the  school has no water supply. The teachers are caring for  152 children in one big noisy space with no facilities whatever. Their one toilet  is a stinking hole in the ground and an obvious health hazard. There is no water  to keep the place clean, or the children clean.”

Now at the cost of 3,000 euros raised in Lanzarote, they have a water supply to a big tank which flows by gravity to separate loos, showers and basins.

The Unity, Rubira and Kamuyu Primary Schools, had no desks. As you see the children sit on rough planks resting on rocks and have nowhere to write. This Unity Primary classroom for 90 eight to nine year olds, needed 30 desks, each desk to seat 3 children, made locally for 15 euros each. We have already sent the money for these desks.

The heads of  Rubira and Kamuyu Schools also have no desks for their 370 children and have asked us for the money to buy 90 more, as well as, 2 Office desks, 20 lockers and 20 chairs for teachers. It is something we can only do with your help.