Hi!
I finally got to an internet cafe, and I’ve been trying to answer my mail. So here’s a short update:
Hanford High in Ukwala (near Busia), Kenya is in big trouble. We met with Alfred, the director, and had a long talk about it, but the bottom line is that he’s going to have to lower the population. There are 794 students, 600 of which are orphans, and all of which are completely poverty stricken. Since their sponsor died, they have been struggling, but H.O.P.E. cannot feed 800 people every day! Some of them will have to go home, pay something towards lunch, or find sponsors. We do pay the teachers, thanks to HJUSD donations, but only about $40 per month. I’m trying to generate some food from other places, at least until some of the food can be harvested. Here’s a short message from Alfred
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George of A.G.R.I has just telephoned me.I am pleased you have shared with him the plight of our kids and the food situation at Hanford .Since the roads to the school are impassable right now,he thought I should instead meet him in Eldoret,which is equally good for me.Once I get fare enough to take me there,I will travel and discuss further with him.George would not have been aware of our hardship if you never told him-thank you.God bless you for your tireless efforts in changing the conditions at Hanford high. Alfred. The crops here are a disaster, and all of Kenya will be in serious trouble in the coming year. Fortunately, Ukwala sounds like they have had rain, and things have grown there. Here’s more from another e-mail from Alfred: We are exhausting the few bags of food left today.But we are getting the first harvest of kales from our farm tomorrow.The old students are at the farm right now picking tomatoes(The tomatoes have done very well!).Thank you mama for funding this very successful farming! We will reserve some tomatoes for the school’s lunches and take the rest to the market so we could get money to buy a few boxes of chalk for our teachers.My sympathetic teachers VOLUNTARILY agreed to give out shillings 500 each from their last week’s pay to enable the school buy two bags of maize.We have already bought the maize and we are getting it to the miller this evening.The first harvest of kales(they have done quite well too) will be enough to feed us for close to one week.This is indeed a pleasant yield considering the number of kids we have! If not for our desperate situation,it is advisable to pick the second harvest after a month(from the time of first harvest). Alfred. Of course, we’ll buy the oil. On a brighter note, we’re in Eldoret now, staying at Lewa Children’s Home with Phyllis Keino. She has 19 babies under 2, and over 50 under 4, so I’ve been buying diapers (cloth), and Crocs for the toddlers to play in. Cute doesn’t cover it – they are beautiful children who are happy and healthy. She’s a dynamo! I’ll talk more about her soon, since this is getting long. We took Ian to the Nakuru Game Reserve, so he could see the rhinos, giraffes, impalas, water buffalo – all sorts of critters in their natural habitat. We’re having fun! More soon – Darleen |