Woohoo…We made it to 2019! Happy New Year, everyone!
First and foremost I must say it’s a blessing to be alive and well this year. We can’t take it for granted. This year also seems to be more promising and we are really optimistic about achieving more than in the previous years.
New textbooks and ready to learn!
Last year, we focused on making our schools better. We kick-started by adding classes to some of our schools. This was also the year that we officially enrolled students in our three new schools constructed the previous year (San Marco, Ndatho and Amani Kuresoi Primary).We had yet another successful Teacher’s Conference with our main focus being based on the new curriculum. Text books and reference books were also distributed to our new schools.
Saramek Primary School
We also began the construction of a new school, Saramek Primary school. The school was originally made of mud and had a population of 350 students. Within the course of the year we were also able to change our name from World Teacher Aid to Village Impact. This was based on the need to continue enhancing our communities not just through education but by enhancing other entrepreneurial and knowledge skill sets such as information technology and table banking amongst others.
Later on within the year we organized our best yet Annual Donors Trip hosting over 70 donors within two of our newest community schools. This enabled our donors to get to interact with our students and also other members within the two communities. On the second last day of the annual donor trip, we were able to do two grand ceremonies which marked the official opening of the schools.
Donor Trip 2018
In the following term, our three new schools, namely Ndatho Hope, San Marco, and Amani Kuresoi Primary school were able to get government teachers and three new principals. The students in all the three schools also increased tremendously creating a need for classrooms in all the three schools.
Our schools were also able to do the national examinations with Baraka Shalom Primary School emerging as one of our best schools with a mean score of 283 marks (a mean B- grade).This also did not come as a surprise as the community indulgence and school administration is actually one of our best yet. We organized our annual Principal’s Meeting at the end of the year which was mainly aimed at enhancing the smooth operations of our schools. We were able to tackle issues the regarding school feeding programme, technology and community involvement amongst others.
Donor Trip 2018
As 2019 starts, our hope is that we will be able to accomplish more within our schools and make them much “more awesome!” We also hope that we will be able to impact the surrounding communities by placing them at a position of financial freedom through enhancing entrepreneurship opportunities and also basic farming knowledge. This will in return aid in the development of our schools and communities within where they are based. Some of the schools also require additional facilities such as the teacher’s squatters since the teachers are forced to travel long distances in order to access the schools. The construction of fully functional libraries with some computers and reference books would also lead to the enhancement of information technology and improve the reading culture in all our schools.
All in all, we are so grateful to our donors who have supported us in making all this possible! New hope has been restored, more lives continue to change! The future indeed looks brighter! and we are all humbled to be a part of this great cause. In the words of one of the greatest painters, Vincent Van Gogh, “Things are done by a series of small things brought together.” It’s the small acts of love and generosity that matter the most! May God bless you in all and may you achieve your individual goals planned out for this year!
Happy New Year!
– Philip, Field Rep