Alternative Gift Fair

Denise and Bonnie set up a Kisima booth at John Calvin Presbyterian Church's Alternative Gift Fair today.  They sold gifts of school supplies, food, 10% of a dairy cow, and sponsorships.  Thanks to them and the wonderful people who bought the gifts!

Alternative Gifts

When you're working on your Christmas list please consider honoring your friends and family with a gift to Kisima in their name.  You may want to give a of school supplies for one child ($20), food for a child for a month ($20), a flock of chickens ($25, textbooks for one child ($40), or 10% of a cow ($55).  A downloadable gift card will be emailed to you.  Thank you so much and Merry Christmas from the entire Kisima community.

Class 8 exam

 It's impossible to overstate the importance of the Class 8 exam.  The students have been studying hard for months and their results will determine which secondary school they qualify for.  Since police would be present to monitor the exam Martin brought in some policemen (left) to talk to the children several days beforehand. 

 Last Saturday Martin invited a guest pastor and community members to a prayer service for the students.  Prayers and words of encouragement were offered.

The exam was given Nov. 4-6 in the dining hall.  Government proctors administered the test.  Security is taken very seriously--the students were "frisked" as they entered and the desks are widely spaced.  The anxiety leading up to the exam is over but now the students have the anxiety of waiting for the results!

Exam results, new uniforms

The term two district exam results are out:
 
Class 8--#8 out of 111 schools
Class 7--#12 out of 117 schools
Class 6--#7 out of 80 schools
Class 5--#1 out of 51 schools
Class 4--#2 out of 51 schools
 
Wow!!  What great results!  Everyone, staff and students alike, are to be commended.  They are all working very hard.  Last week Martin brought in English and Swahili specialists to work with Class 7 and 8.  Some Class 8 students from other schools were invited to the sessions also.  Not only the students but also the teachers benefited.

One of the June visitors donated funds for new uniforms.  Judging from the photos, everyone was very happy to receive them!

Soccer win

A LOT of rain makes for a very messy soccer field.  Kisima won 2-1 against Brightsite.  Hurray!

You might have noticed that the school in the background is not Kisima with its neat blue-trimmed brick buildings.

A truck!

Wonderful friends bought Martin a truck!  Such a blessing!  Up until now he has had to call a motorcycle to take him to the highway where he could catch a bus into town.  Even bringing back supplies like soap and toilet paper was a problem.  Now he can pick up what the school needs from textbooks to mattresses.  And when children have an emergency in the middle of the night he'll be able to take them to the hospital.  Huge thanks to our wonderful friends!

Late rain

Unfortunately the long rains did not arrive in April as expected.  They did get a heavy rain last week.  Hopefully it will do these poor maize stalks some good.

Cow feed

It's the end of the long, dry summer in Kenya.  The normal cow feed, nappier grass, is gone and other grazing is very scarce.  Feed has to be purchased.  Fortunately the long rains are due anytime now.

Much to be thankful for

 

The Class 8 students are working hard to prepare for their exams.  A recent and much appreciated donation from Jamie and Laura Anne enabled the purchase of review materials.

 

Another wonderful donation bought Charlie (Charlene? Charlotte?).   Thanks, Signe! 

 

The boys' and girls' soccer teams and volleyball teams plus cheerleaders had a lively day of competition with a couple of other schools.  They performed very well against a strong, more experienced, and older team.  Thanks very much to Garrett and Kendrick for donating the uniforms, equipment, and coaching!  

 

 

The outstanding academic performance of Kisima students is due in large part to the teachers' commitment and to Martin's leadership.  Martin organized a seminar for the teachers where they talked about goal setting, teamwork, and professionalism.

New boys' latrine in use

The boys are so happy to have the use of their new latrine. 

Boys' latrine complete

The boys appreciate having a very fine new latrine plus urinal.  There are two sides so eight latrines.

Preschool classroom started

Ground was broken for the preschool classroom--the 10th and final classroom.  So much progress has been made since 2008 when Kisima consisted of three mud classrooms.  Many, many people have made this possible and we are so grateful to all of them.  It will be wonderful to have all the classrooms completed. After that, though, there's still more construction to be done:  about half of the teachers live at the school and need adequate housing.  Some are dorm supervisors but the others, including the principal along with his wife and baby daughter, live in the old mud buildings.  

Every child has one sponsor as of today! ( Still need more for older students, teachers and water project)

Hooray!!  As of today, every child at Kisima has one sponsor supporting them for the coming year!! This is outstanding and provides 65% of the proposed budget for the coming year!  The upper class students and teachers still need additional sponsors because each require two sponsors for full support.  Spread the word to friends, neighbors, and relatives to expand our Kisima community.  We currently have supporters throughout the U.S. and in various regions of the world.  So far we are supported by folks from :
Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Germany, Indiana, Kenya, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Switzerland, Tennessee, Texas, United Kingdom, Virginia, Washington, and Washington DC.

Help us create a water supply for the surrounding community in Naitiri!!  The borehole project will cost $40,000 and we have our first $4000 grant from the Vienna Rotary!