aquinoe.org

Linda writes:

Making our first trip to The Aquinoe Learning Centre in Kenya has been a source of great excitement which we shared with all our friends and family.  We wanted to take useful and much needed items to the school and amongst our donations we received a wonderful bag of sports equipment from the Tunbridge Wells Schools Sports Partnership.

I have been involved with the charity since its inception and missed out on a visit by the Trustees in 2007 because I was still working.  However last September we retired and Chris and I were able to plan the long awaited visit with Jean and Tina to see for ourselves all that we had heard about.  We left for Kenya on 10th May and met up with Jean and Tina in Nairobi on 14th May to make the trip to Aquinoe together.

Jean and Tina left the U.K. on March 30th and stayed overnight in Nairobi. After a very early start, they flew to Eldoret, where they were met by Alfred Kivisya (the Chairman), Josphat Shaduma (the Director) and Cory Shaduma, (Josphat’s daughter), from where they were driven to Kitale.

The first week in Kenya was spent in Kitale

• Visiting the school

• Looking at the progress made on building the boys’ dormitory

• Meeting the pupils and staff

• Planting two trees

• Attending a ceremony to mark the end of term

• Depositing money for the school in the bank

• Buying two sewing machines, and some other equipment/supplies

• Meeting the Municipal Education Officer

The charity has been funding the construction of a new dormitory for the boys to replace the rather old existing one, so it was really good to be able to see the new building with our own eyes, especially as it is almost complete.

Jean stayed in Kenya for four weeks in the summer holidays of 2004, part of which was spent doing some voluntary work at the Aquinoe Learning Centre. She collected some money before she left, £2340 in all, thanks to some very generous friends and family members, which was changed into Kenyan Shillings on her arrival. This sum really stretched in Kenya, so was worth far, far more than it would have been in the U.K. We were able to buy a huge number of items and provide money for some services - food until November (big sacks of beans, rice and sugar); some much needed text books, maps, exercise books and a football, pay for teachers’ salaries and also fund a new physiotherapist. Even after this, there was still cash left over to deposit in the bank.

The children at the school were lovely, and so pleased to see a visitor. The big ones were eager to ask questions and find out about Jean’s family and the United Kingdom in general, once they overcame their initial reserve, and the little ones were just happy to come up and hold her hand or stroke her fingernails at break time!