OFFICIAL CHRIS MORRONE SCHOOL FUND
Latest Update (18 March 2012):
St Julian's School have raised £373.68 towards the Chris Morrone School building project. This amount is included in the 'offline' donations below. A very big thank you to the pupils of the school and to Lewis Thomas for co-ordinating the fundraising!
The first classroom has now been completed - see the photograph we have added. Young people from Newport schools will be helping to build the second classroom this summer. We will post plenty of photos on their return!
Update (Nov 11):
We have had some really exciting news ... The money raised will not just build classrooms that will be named after after Chris but actually start a brand new Secondary School, that will be called "The Chris Morrone Secondary School".
It will be built in Tigithi (near Blue Line Hotel, Naro Moro). The area already has a Junior School that has been refurbished by Moving Mountains but the village is desperately in need of a school for the older children to attend. The new school is approx 10km away from Solio and will replace the original plan to build classrooms in one of the seven Solio villages. The increased profile of the plight of Solio caused the Kenyan government to recognised the desperate need and agreed to fund the school classrooms. Moving Mountains is still providing some classrooms and a significant amount of infrastructure projects like kitchens, housing etc in Solio and will continue to support the communities for many years to come. Francis Kioni (MM Project Manager) met with the parents, local government contacts, teaching staff and the school committee to make the arrangements with approval from Chris's mum Anne-Marie and they have given the go ahead for a school to be started. It is intended to get the first of four classrooms up as soon as possible on the land owned by the local community. In total there will need to be four classrooms, administration rooms and a laboratory but the priority is to get the first Classroom up and running ready for the first year of students to start. The community are delighted with the project and were inspired by Chris's story. Some of the children that will attend the new school are from the families of the porters who climbed Mount Kenya with Chris and knew him during his time in Kenya. It is likely that a small group from Newport will go out and visit the school and meet the community some time in the next 12 months or so... If you are interested in joining the group please let us know?
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Chris's family, friends, ex-Africampers and all those who support Moving Mountains are raising the money to build a school in central Kenya that will be named after Chris.
Chris tragically died on 3rd December, 2009 after a very bravely fought battle. Chris fell ill in Kenya during the summer of 2009, where he went to help renovate a school in the slum of Kibera and run a summer camp for street children. Chris completed the project and successfully summitted Mt Kenya, but was taken seriously ill a few days later, the cause of his illness has still not been established.
A two-room schoolbuilding, including all furniture, costs 700,000 Kenyan shillings, which is around £5800 at today's rate. .
The fundraising target is higher than the amount needed for the school, as it is our intention to also look into sponsoring some of the young children with whom Chris developed a relationship when out in Kenya. He talked a lot about the children and we know he felt strongly about their welfare.
Once we've raised the money, those who are up for a further challenge will get the chance to go out with Moving Mountains and get their hands dirty helping to build them! Who would like to join us?
Once you donate, Justgiving send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
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