Hi All!

Everything is going really well here in Matoso! We have all had a lovely weekend off. Last week was brutal to say the least. My major partner, Brittany, and I were all over West Kadem visiting local schools and having meetings with the headmasters and teachers.

Brittany and I are trying to figure out ways to make education more accessible. The government run schools are overpopulated and less engaged with the community as a whole. The private schools, like SCHAP, struggle to get the fees from the children, especially considering the amount of orphans and extreme poverty in the area. We are going to hold literacy programs for the adults to emphasize the importance of education to the community. Well, hopefully. We will see if there is even a market for it. From my experience, there are a lot of people that I have encountered in Kenya who just expect people to fix things for them. SCHAP can donate time, money, and resources for years on end, but the community will not be sustainable. There needs to be the desire for a holistic approach for change. It is there in a few people: the seed has been planted. But, it is going to take time.

The week was really enlightening and we met so many amazing people. We met a lot of people who are interested in becoming computer literate, which will open to doorway to many different avenues – not just in their respective job fields, but for more specialized job opportunities. Brittany and I are busting our behinds trying to put together a computer program. We have 4 people signed up for the beginner program. Those people have literally never seen a computer and do not know how to turn that one. Then we have 5 people in our intermediate class. Those people have used computers. We start our 6 series workshop TOMORROW! I am so excited!! We have beginner class Monday, Wednesday from 4:30-6:30 and the intermediate is Tuesday, Thursday 4:30-6:30. Fridays are days for labs. We will have assignments and more access to the teachers for practical training.

I will keep you all posted on how well it goes!

Love to you all!