Story
In lieu of flowers - please consider donating to this cause which was close to Mum's heart.
Typical of Mum, there's quite a story here. She's been supporting this fabulous project for many years.
Sue's connection with it came about through a long standing friendship made in Australia, dating back to before I was born. I only discovered the details when looking through her iPad for contacts last week. I knew she had been supporting "children in Africa", as she put it, but she never told the full story. Here it is, as explained to me by the charity fundraiser, Andrew MacMillan:
...She [Andrew's wife] was introduced to Sue and your father by a mutual English friend and saw quite a lot of them during their brief stay (approx 54 years ago!). They kept in touch over the years but never met up again until we went to see her in Bexhill about 3 years ago . When we met, it did not seem that 50 years had passed since they had last met! Sue's enthusiasm for Got Matar increased the frequency of our communications and it was very helpful to have her comments, suggestions and encouragement.
About Got Matar:
Around the turn of the century Kenya was hit by an overwhelming HIV/AIDS epidemic. The rural and impoverished District of Bondo, in Western Kenya, lost a third of its working-age population leaving a similar proportion of its children orphaned and cared for by their surviving relatives, mainly grandparents.
The Got Matar Community in Bondo, led by a young teacher, Grace Ochieng Andiki, agreed that they had to accept that they had lost a generation and that they must do everything in their power to see that all surviving children could get a decent education. Given the scale of the disaster, they invited Andrew MacMillan (who had met with them as part of his work with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)) to raise funds to help to meet the costs.. Andrew is the husband of Roberta (or 'Mim') who knew Sue from their Australian days in the late 60's!
Over the past 25 years and largely because of the generosity of relations and friends, including Sue, about £1 million has been raised. The GM Community has stuck to its goal and refurbished and enlarged 10 dilapidated primary schools; created a new secondary school which is thriving with almost 1600 pupils, and is now building and running an Institute of Technology, offering practical skills training to over 400 students.
Most funds raised for Got Matar in UK are collected by registered charity Ace Africa (UK) which transfers them via their Kenyan office to the Got Matar Community Development Group (GMCDG).
Much more information is available at the website: www.gotmatar.org or from Andrew (andrew.macmillan97@gmail.com).