Kipsamoite Primary School is in Nandi County, Kenya about 70 miles away from from lake Victoria. It is a very poor area where people mainly farm to survive. We are raising money to refurbish the run down classrooms of the local school but after falling in love with such a gentle loverly people we have now increased our ambitions and are re building the whole school. The project is totally self funded with donations from friends and family, sponsored events and table top sales and every single penny goes direct to the project.

The children of Krakatoa Pre-School in Watlington have done a sponsored Scoot to raise money for the school and raised £400 however this page has still some time to run so we are keeping it open for people to continue to donate. Although the story below was written with the children in mind I'm sure even adults will like it!

Parents please tell the children who are doing this event about how what they are doing will make the children's life in this village so much better. Here is our story written for the youngsters.

The story

Once upon a time some travellers from a town near your school took their own children to Africa and stayed in the biggest best hotel near the Indian Ocean. The children Kieran and Liam played in the big swimming pool and had fun in the hot African sun. Every day they would eat 3 meals and could have as much as they could manage. They went on Safari and saw lots of wild animals Elephants, Lions, Buffalo, Giraffes with long necks and lots of cheeky monkeys it was the best holiday they ever had.

Kieran and Liams daddy was chatting to a security man at their hotel who kept them all safe at night. The guard who is called Vincent told him about his village and invited the family to visit.

The next day Kieran and Liam were so excited to go and see the village but when they got there they became very quiet... "Whats the matter" said their Mummy. They said they were disappointed that the children in the village had no toys or anything to play with except an net full of plastic bags which they used as a football.

They went to the family's room it was small and very smelly, Liam said "where are the bed rooms?" Vincent told them they had no beds and they had to sleep on the floor this made Liam very sad.

Vincents Children were called Miriam and Theopulis who went to the local school, they were so excited to show Kieran and Liam their school and soon we were off along the dusty dirt paths where the coconut trees hung over keeping them in the shade.

The school was closed because it was their holiday but the guard let us in to look around. The children looked in the first classroom and Kieran said "Theres no desks or chairs" Theo laughed and said "We all sit on the floor" The classroom was more like a animal shelter, with dirt floors, and shutters on the window making it so dark it was almost impossible to read books.

Theo told them about the lessons they did and that he could already speak two languages he also told them about how the donkey would go to the river every day to collect drinking water for the school in big cans they carried on their backs. Theo liked to play football and knew a lot of English teams Mirriam liked to run and wanted to be a Kenyan athlete.

After meeting Vincent his wife Caroline and the 2 children the family decided to sponsor them through school so they could get a good education and sent some money every year to pay for school fees. The family's became friends for many years sending letters and speaking on the internet.

Seven years after this first visit Kieran and Liams Daddy returned to Africa and went to the family's new village which is called Kipsamoite where again he visited the local school it too was very run down just like the first school, so he made a promise to rebuild the school and started work immediately raising money from friends and relatives. Soon he had enough to start and in April 2017 finished building the first two new classrooms.

Now when lots of people work together things can be done very quickly and it wasn't long before there was enough money raised to build two more classrooms, a staff room, three offices for the head teachers and a bright new library. Now we want to buy desks and chairs and book shelves for the classrooms.

In the village there isn't a shop to buy these desks and chairs. The children's daddy's go into the forest and chop down a tree then with a big saw, saw the wood up with which the local carpenter makes all the desks and chairs and book cases. Each desk and chair set costs just £7.50

Picture of the older boys helping to move the new desks into the new class rooms behind. (if your wondering ages at primary school run from 5-14 years old)

The next part of the story is up to you children if you can Scoot the best you can and raise some money we will be able to buy some desks chairs and book cases so the children don't have to sit on the dirty floor and they have somewhere to put the books. What you are doing is very important and it will help children in a country where they are very poor, if the children can go to school and get a good education like you will they have the opportunity to get a job and earn money to help their families and hopefully they will live happily ever after..............The End?

Fortunately there is no end to this story we plan to build a total of 14 class rooms, a hall, a feeding program and sponsorship program to name a few things, if as a family you would like to get involved and find out more or help fundraise please speak to CJ Holding for details or call me Duncan McDonald on 07595 022163

Our website and Facebook page can be visited at

Nandi School project website

Facebook

Thank you Krakatoa Pre-School for this wonderful gesture