A Case for Education

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle

Education, the love and thirst for education to be precise, is the reason we’re positive the library is such a necessity. One has to remember that in Kenya, education is NOT free, not even here..

Yet, fortunately, this little place works a little bit differently. Those who can afford to pay the small monthly fee do so to compensate for all those – and there are many – who cannot afford any kind of education!

School will soon be closing for the holidays so we made a small visit. The upper primary students were busy doing their final exams,

The ECD (Early Childhood Development) kids, those between 3 and 5 years old, where happily playing along and got really excited when they saw us! They are a true joy to be with – always smiling, not a care in the world – and all of them really wanted to shake our hands (and see their picture on the camera!). They have so little, yet they give so much.

We hope they have a safe holiday and we cannot imagine the looks on their faces when they return to school next year and find our little surprise all up and running!

Stay tuned.

Androo & Alan

Library Project Update: It Begins!

Habari za mchana!

So, today work officially started on our library project. Early in the morning, two skilled workers came to the compound and started tearing down the wall, that divides the adjacent rooms, brick by brick. Nothing is wasted here. Every brick that was part of the wall will be reused to seal parts of the surrounding walls that have been damaged by time.

Next up is levelling the floor. Since the room was never actually used for anything (apart from storage) the floor was left to the elements. In the coming few days we shall be buying the cement and sand for the plastering too.

Needless to say, we are very excited to see it all happening at such a quick pace.

On, and this little guy was very happy and eager to help..!

Stay tuned.

Androo & Alan

Christmas is coming, and we have the perfect gift!

On our first day in Lolgorien we were given a tour of the compound by the priest in charge, Fr. Thomas Chepkwony. It is quite a well equipped little place, complete for all levels of education. During the tour, he showed us two adjacent rooms, somewhat abandoned, where the plan was to someday build a proper library, but unfortunately funds weren’t available.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends, they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers. – Charles William Elliot

This sounded like the perfect opportunity for us to do something truly worthwhile during our stay here in Kenya. Thanks to the funds we collected from all the donations, we are very proud to announce that by the time we leave for Tanzania in January, there will be a fully equipped library in Lolgorien!

We shall be allocating around €1200 for this project, approximately KSH135,000. Fortunately this will allow us to buy all the cement, level the floor, plaster the walls and roof, demolish the wall that divides the rooms, buy timber and build all the shelves, wire electricity for the computers and last but not least, buy as many books as the funds will allow.

School is closing next week for the holidays and will commence again beginning of next year, when – God willing – the library will be well and truly ready.

A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty , because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them. – Lemony Snicket

We cannot thank enough all those who contributed towards our mission. Truly this would not have been possible without you! Work on the library shall officially begin Monday. We will keep you updated as it all starts taking shape.

Plus, who wouldn’t want to read a good book here..?

Stay tuned!

Alan & Androo

Jambo from Kenya!

Jambo!

It has been a very hectic few days, as expected. After safely landing in Jomo Kenyatta Airport on Wednesday, we were greeted by the Director of the Pontifical Mission Society here in Kenya, Rev. Fr. Celestino Bundi, who was our host for a day. Thursday, we set off towards Ngong, a small suburb south west of Nairobi. We had lunch there and were then left in the hands of Fr. John, the parish priest of Ngong, who took us for a 7 hour drive west of Nairobi towards Kilgoris. We arrived late at night at a missionary compound where a small graduation party was being held for Year 8 students who had just done their national exams. We were greeted with fanfare and even got to participate in a traditional Masai dance!

The next morning we headed towards our final destination, Lolgorien, a small village 280km west of Nairobi, right next to the famous Masai Mara. We are staying in a private missionary compound, complete with a primary and secondary school, kitchen, separate dormitories for girls and boys, and even a small dormitory for the teachers. It is actually more of a small community than a compound.

Our work, for the coming two months, will be based here. We have a lot of exciting news to share with you all, regarding the project that we’ll be undertaking, all thanks to the donations we received from all over Malta and Gozo. Stay tuned!

An Introduction

The team.

First of all, welcome to my humble blog.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a 25 year old teacher from the little island paradise that is Gozo (look it up), situated in the middle of the Mediterranean, as part of the Maltese archipelago. 

It’s been well over a year ago since I took one of the biggest decisions of my relatively short life, when I decided to put everything on hold for 9 and a half months to do voluntary work in some of the most impoverished countries in Africa, namely Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi.

Well, in two weeks, I’ll be on my way to Nairobi along with one of my closest allies, Alan. It’s been a tough and bumpy ride, sometimes even coming fairly close to quitting, yet we’re almost there. I’m positive that all the mishaps we encountered will serve as adequate preparation for what we’ll actually face once we’re there.

This blog will be my photojournalistic virtual portal. As the title,  A Case For Truth, suggests I am hoping that I can give my readers a different idea of what Africa really is. The media has fed us one image of the beautiful continent  (famine, poverty, disease and death), yet I’m sure Africa and its people can offer so much more, and I will do my best to show it here. Although I know very little about photography and next to nothing about journalism I will do my best to capture the moment, in picture form and in writing.

So, watch this space!