Kitchen Construction

Expanding Opportunities has been working for three years to build a kitchen and common area for the home school's residents. Bev says, "The mantra for 2006 is 'kitchen, kitchen, kitchen.'" When asked "Will we have a field trip this year?" she replies, "No! The kitchen must be done!" "Can we install the gate?" "No, first comes the kitchen!" Focus on the kitchen. And her efforts have proved fruitful. Right now, the stones are pointed, the plaster is smoothed onto the walls and the doors are installed. Mama Mwangi, who will use the kitchen to cook for the home school's residents, finally sees an end to storing sugar, rice and cooking fat in her bedroom. For the first time, she will have ample work space.

Costs have risen and forgotten details have added to the kitchen's estimate. "We are stretching each shilling to its limit," says Stone. "I chew my pencil in hopes the building funds will stretch. The ability of the organization to accept additional children rests on its completion." If you'd like to donate, you can send a check or a visa or mastercard number to: Expanding Opportunities, 84 Payson Rd., Brooks, ME, 04921. Donations may also be made online using paypal. Additional money is needed to install a gas stove and have an additional large gas stove built for cooking in bulk. Expanding Opportunities also needs to purchase furniture for the dining room.

Bible Distribution

One donor has, for the second time, given money to be used to purchase bibles in Swahili. Expanding Opportunities has been able to purchase twelve bibles and divide them between three local congregations. At the congregation closest to us, the pastor asked people who felt that they would like, but could not afford, a bible to come forward. Six people came forward. Since there were six people and only four bibles, the pastor asked each of the prospective recipients to consider whether he or she really needed the bible, or if someone else might have a greater need. Eventually two people sat down and John and Cali Slaughter, Nancy Foreman and Barbara Witherly presented bibles to the remaining four grateful recipients.

Visits to Schools

On Jan. 20th, we visited Mangu Primary school. One or two volunteers visited each of the eight grades, reading books to them, playing games and answering questions about life in North America.

Because Kenyan kids are unfamiliar with western authors such as Dr. Seuss, they have no concept of what age level they're appropriate for, and so even middle school-aged kids enjoy such literature. The younger students, who are just learning English, also appreciate Dr. Seuss. Although they often don't understand the words, they enjoy the rhythm and the rhymes and they laugh at the obviously made up words like "snergelly".

We also accompanied a local acting troop to Mema Secondary school, also in Mangu, Kenya, to help facilitate a drama workshop. The high school-aged kids first watched the local troop perform poems addressing topics that are relevant to African youth. AIDS, in particular, was given a lot of attention. One poem featured a girl pledging to "tighten her skirt," indicating that she meant to resist the advances of men in order to preserve her health.

We then did a short workshop introducing the kids to improv theater—a style of acting reminiscent of the TV show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" in which scenes are made up on the spot instead of depending on a script. The students were shy at first, but then began to enjoy the games. By the end of an hour, they were miming actions to improvised stories.

Solar Cooking

We've been experimenting with using the solar oven that Expanding Opportunities purchased from Trans-World Radio five years ago. So far, cooking has been frustratingly slow as the oven takes a long time to heat up, but we visited Solar Cooker International (SCI) in Nairobi, Kenya and talked with them about possible improvements we could make to our oven. We also bought one of SCI's "CooKits"—a low-tech solar oven made out of cardboard lined with silver reflective paper. We'll keep experimenting and trying to work solar cooking into the routine at the home school.

In an effort to spread solar cooking beyond our compound, we've invited SCI to come to Mangu to do a solar cooking demonstration for people in the area. The details are still being worked out, but hopefully we'll be hosting an SCI representative for two days at the end of February. If African women can find a way to make solar cooking feasible for their lifestyles, it would eliminate the burden of buying firewood or charcoal—expensive commodities.

Unfortunately, solar cooking for our group, which sometimes reaches 20 people, is going to be challenging. SCI sells a solar oven designed to cook for large groups, but it costs 10,000 USD, so we're looking into alternatives. Trans-World Radio also provides a larger version of the solar oven we have now, and we've requested that they send us those plans so we could have them built locally.

Tanzania Trip

In the last week of January, Bev took us to visit a distance learning center in Kasulu, Tanzania, and a community development project in Rabondo, Kenya. We hoped that such a trip would provide ideas, encouragement and new friends, and we found everything we were looking for.

We traveled by bus to Rabondo to meet with the Rabondo Community Development Project. The project's leader, Timone Bondo, is a wonderfully charismatic gentleman who grew up in Rabondo and now lives and works in the US. He returns to Kenya to spearhead projects to improve education, medical treatment and other local community needs. His work has already resulted in the construction of a primary and secondary school, and he is making steady progress on a new medical building. While his developments are truly impressive, his work, like all such projects, is slowed by a lack of funds. We thank Timone for his tremendous hospitality, and hope we can collaborate on projects such as starting a distance learning center.

We then traveled into Tanzania, headed for the Kasulu Internet Project. From Mwanza, we took the charming, if frustratingly slow, train to Kigoma, and from there the bus to Kasulu. Perhaps the most striking cultural discovery of the journey was that chicken and french fries is the only dish consistently available everywhere in Tanzanian restaurants. It is this kind of cultural insight that one can only acquire through travel.

On the bus to Kasulu, we had the great fortune to sit beside Reverend Jackton Lugumi, of the local Anglican church. He was involved with the community internet project we hoped to visit, and volunteered the next two days of his time to guide us through it. While in Kasulu, the Reverend invited us to stay in a guest house facilitated by the local Anglican church and surrounded by an incredible garden that thrives in that region's hot and humid climate.

The Kasulu internet project was still thriving. Two computer labs, serving as community enrichment and distance learning centers were connected to the internet and functioning as hoped. Bev took notes on everything, from the bio-gas electricity source to the kind of classes offered to the community, in the hopes of starting a similar distance learning center in the future. She also took an afternoon to talk with our gracious host about the possibilities of collaboration between Expanding Opportunities and community projects he is involved with in Kasulu.

We cannot wait to explore the opportunities that will come of making connections with these groups around the region.

Feeding Program

Even with our ongoing expansion, there are many more homeless children in Kenya than could possibly be housed in our modest compound. To help address this, Expanding Opportunities has a program to provide street kids in Kericho with healthy meals. With current funding, Expanding Opportunities provides one traditional Kenyan meal to 25 homeless kids each week.

To start this year's program, we traveled with Bev to the town of Kericho, Kenya to meet the street kids and see how they live. The heart of the city is a central park where locals relax in the shade or catch up with neighbors walking down the dirt paths. The bright, clean and friendly park is in stunning contrast with the area just behind its toilets. This is where the street children live. The small area is covered in piles of garbage and permeated with the stench of rotting trash. A pile of magazines scavenged from around the city provide their only distraction. The street kids wear old clothes covered with filth. A few of them sport baseball caps, but most have little more than sweatpants, an old shirt and flip flops.

Sammy Waithaka, a native of Kericho, will facilitate the feeding program this year. Sammy is a charismatic actor in his mid twenties whom the street kids seem very comfortable talking to. Sammy mingled with the kids, finding out their names, ages and asking about their families.

Sammy brought the kids to a local restaurant that serves traditional African cuisine. The price of a meal is less than 50 shillings (about 70 cents). The kids cram into the restaurant's small space, shoulder to shoulder, and enjoy the meal of ugali (similar to polenta) and hearty sauces. Even though this is perhaps the first solid meal they have had in weeks, the kids are polite to a fault and offered us some of their food.

Our Kids' Progress

The eight kids at the home are growing into men. Emmanuel is about to launch into his vocation as a barber. Collins, Vincent and Kamau are in their last year of Primary school. This year is critical to them academically. In November, they will take the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination (KCPE). Their performance on this exam will determine whether they will continue into high school. Though there are many distractions for the boys, they are trying to study hard.

Kiplangat is showing a new confidence as he rests in the security of a place he can really call home. Paul, John and Samwel continue to grow strong and healthy. They work hard in school and at home. While traveling to Tanzania, one member of our group saw the name "Samwel" written somewhere and said, "Oh, I miss Samwel." Going away made us all realize that the home school has become our home, as well.

Work Continues

The wheels keep turning here at the home school. We hope to have lots more progress on all our projects to tell you about in our next newsletter. Take care, everyone!

Sincerely,
Saima, Jesse, Bev, Ian, Jordann, Barbara, Cali, John, Nancy, Pastor, Mama and all the boys