MAJI SAFI PROJECTS

(Registered charity no. 1106384)

NEWSLETTER - AUTUMN 2009

Linda Greenland & Mike Radford 102 Whitecross Ave Whitchurch Bristol BS14 9JE Tel: 01275 834883

Mobiles: Linda: 07803 052039 Mike: 07803 248218

Download the latest Autumn 2009 Newsletter here. Care, it is large, a 5MB pdf file, for which you will need Adobe Acrobat reader.

DFID GLOBAL SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIPS EXCHANGE VISIT

The great news that the 3-year application was successful meant that Paul Miller & Sheila Hill came to Kenya in July for the first leg of the exchange programme. The activities and projects planned are well under way and both schools and communities will greatly benefit.

From left to right: - Melly, Myanajuma, Sheila, Paul, Miriam, Bekker & Mr Josphat.

HOT NEWS!! Miriam, Mwanajuma and Melly travelled with me to the UK on 22nd August, they go home on 29th September. More about their visit later in this newsletter. MORE HOT NEWS!! - Miriam will stay behind with me until 13th October, the others return with Mike.

INSPIRATION SCHOOL -GREAT NEWS!!

Since handing the school to the government it's now recognised on the municipal exam list. And guess what? In our first term results we came NUMBER ONE government school and also managed NUMBER THREE in competition with all the very exclusive and elite private schools. WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT!!

Maji Safi did well seeing they have such large class sizes now, due to the expansion of the village and a huge increase number of children needing education. We do not have funds to build more classrooms or pay for more teachers. The government built 3 classes but funding teachers is always a problem.

HELP! WE NEED MORE SPONSORS!

We've lost sponsors owing to the "credit crunch" and various other reasons. We need to maintain funds to pay teachers. If anyone can "spread the word" to family and friends we would be very grateful. (We have a FACEBOOK FRIENDS GROUP, why not join that and spread the word?) Even though the schools have been handed to the government, this doesn't mean we are cutting back on sponsorship or fundraising. In fact we haven't received ANY funding towards the running of Inspirations School yet from the government. They have given us a Headteacher, Deputy Head and employed 2 of the teachers that were working there. So that has helped - BUT for the day to day running NO MONEY YET! Could you help organise a group of people to help towards paying a teachers wage? This can by fundraising or a monthly commitment. The exchange rate during the last year was dreadful; its gone down 25% which greatly reduces our spending power, and prices are still increasing in Kenya.

We have struggled to continue giving the nursery children porridge every day and also had to stop teachers working Saturdays doing Arts, Crafts and other extra curricular activities as we can't afford to pay them extra duties!

NURSERY CLASSROOM

After our appeal in the last newsletter we had a wonderful donation to build the classroom. As you can see (at the side), it is nearly finished, just waiting for the windows and door, it will be ready in September for the nursery class to use and alleviates the overcrowding we had. We also had a donation towards more tables and chairs. THANK YOU!

ASHTON PARK SCHOOL VISIT

After 3 long years of waiting, teachers and students made it to Kenya. Last years trip was cancelled due to post election violence but thankfully all went ahead as planned. The cholera outbreak was a scare but it was contained and hasn't affected tourists.

First lesson in building classrooms! African style! They got stuck in, dodging rain showers (but that gave them an excuse to play with the children)

Plans are under way for next year visit, it looks like a large group are planning to come, which is great for the amount of help they bring. This year loaded with sports kit etc that Ashton Park kindly donated, we managed to give 2 local men's football teams a full kit, another school a junior football kit, Maji Safi school had 3 kits so it was shared around.

The classroom they funded and started to build, the first in the "2nd phase" which means the school will have 2 streams in the future. Thanks to another generous donation from a sponsor who decided to build a classroom in memory of her mother. It means that 2 classrooms were being built together when the students were in Kenya, the photo (below, on right), shows how far they got before they left.

There is a 3rd classroom and storeroom planned on the end, (when finances allow!) you can see the blocks are around 5 high, (the far right of the picture) since the photo was taken the roof is now on the 2 classes, and doors and windows finished.

WATER PROJECT

Early 2009 we had major problems in our school & villages with boreholes being contaminated and not safe for drinking. There's only been "small rains" from July 2008 until March 2009 this meant a severe shortage of water for the village families. The cost of buying fresh water had quadrupled in a couple of months. Many illnesses happen because families cannot afford to buy drinking water that comes from the main town. Cholera, typhoid and water-borne diseases are killing so many - a 22-year-old friend died of cholera in April 2009, he leaves a wife, 18 month child and a baby of 6 months. He worked and provided for his family, his mother and younger brother, now they have no income. This could have been so easily avoided.

(On a personal note: - Mike came back from Kenya at the end of April and was VERY SICK he had to go to hospital every day for a week with a water borne infection caused by a parasite, he lost 5 kilos in 10 days but luckily had the best medical care and got well. So it can even happen to US!

YET - there is a solution!

RAINWATER - We wouldn't dream that we could drink it, but once collected from an aluminium roof, the water is filtered through a muslin cloth and treated with water purifying tablets - IT IS FINE!!

Thanks to donations we are trying to alleviate this problem by erecting guttering and supplying water - tanks to some families that have houses with aluminium roofs. Some families had 1000 litre and others 3000 litre tanks, it depends on the size of the roof!

The amazing news is during the rainy season one 3000 litre tanks will be full within 48 hours with rainwater. This means approx. 20 village families will have enough water for a week! As the rain continues, more families will take water from the tanks on a daily basis as they refill very quickly, so even more families will be helped.

When the heavy rains are over, the "small" rains that come will still mean the tanks will have water at certain times of the year, which is still a major improvement for the families.

We are hoping to get more funding to help many more families with water tanks & guttering. This is now our "new" project for 2009.

Some of you may think it strange we have a "new" project when we are so short of money to pay teachers etc, but we have regular donors who wish to donate to something new to help the community. We try to look after everyone's wishes. This year has seen so many droughts in Kenya and the "rainy" season is happening at different times. There has been a real need for us to address this problem.

CLOTHESBUNDLES

Some sponsors donated towards buying bundles of 2nd hand clothes for the school and the villagers. These contain around 200 items and normally sell for around £50 - £80. I found an outlet in Mombasa that was closing down their import of clothes and managed to buy over 20 bundles VERY CHEAP starting from £10 the dearest was £35. Our small apartment was taken over by clothes, what seemed like a small bundle increased ten-fold when opened.

We decided to help some villages ladies set up their own small "income generating" business by sorting the "best" for them to sell. Besides is one of the stalls.

Many bundles were gratefully received by the schools and villages; given to the poorest families. Our builders, watchmen etc., benefited from warm sweatshirts etc, as it has been quite cold and wet compared to other years. The rains are still continuing on the coast, which is great for our water projects, but not good for local's health!

SCOUT GROUP

The Scouts finally got the tents that we bought; the students carried them in their luggage. Big smiles when the first tent was put up, the Scouts couldn't wait to get inside to get the feel of "under canvas"

SECONDARY SCHOOL SPONSORSHIP -

I am so grateful to sponsors whose children left Maji Safi and did not continue to further education (for whatever reason). They have continued with their payments. to help one of the other students who have gone to Secondary school. These students are costing £25/30 monthly, so some have 3 or 4 sponsors helping them. For others I still have a BIG SHORTFALL. Some people ask why we encourage this and not ask them to sponsor a younger child? The reason is that if we keep sponsoring younger children in the lower classes and we have a BIG shortfall at the top, then how are we going to continue? Yes, if I get a new sponsor I will ask them to help the older children but I won't turn away a new sponsor if they specifically ask for a younger child.

The bursary fund we set up 3 years ago is now empty, so from now on we must make sure that the students who have worked hard and got the highest marks get a chance to go to Secondary School. I feel that when we "dangle the carrot" for the chance of education, then we really need to continue through with the highest achievers to college and University. This is another BIG ISSUE as it doesn't come cheaply!

CHRISTMAS 2009

As alwavs sponsors & donors can send any cards and cheques for gifts for their child and families to me, and made payable to Maji Safi. I won't be in Kenya for Xmas, our project workers always make sure that the families are given. I will be going back to Kenya on 13th October for a month depending on my Dad's health.

KNITTED DOLLIES

I felt I had to mention Mary who is in her eighties and a friend of Bobby & Ken. Mary has been knitting dollies for our little ones for the last 6 years! Every trip we manage to put a dozen or more in our suitcases and give them a good home. Most children had a "pretend" dolly Which is normally a small empty plastic water bottle which they wrap in a piece of rag.

As you can see this little one looks quite bewildered to have 2 dollies - one Mzungu (European) and one African!

TO ALL DONORS AND SPONSORS

We really do value the continued support and interest you have shown, and on behalf of everyone at Maji Safi Projects I would like to give you "many thanks" once again. Please accept my apologies for not phoning and keeping in contact so much recently, the work and the preparation that had to go into the exchange visit was enormous. Also time has flown since they arrived! Family commitments with my Dad being so poorly means that time is stretched even more than normal. THANKS TO ALL THAT HAVE SENT THEIR THOUGHTS AND WISHES TO US.

IMPORTANT DATES

DATE TO BE ADVISED! 2010 Yearly Barn Dance - with CATS WHISKERS & guests at Ashton Park School - ALL PROCEEDS TO OUR PROJECTS For tickets email or phone me or Dave Byett 01934 835435 or Bobby 01761490627

We think we may have the Barn Dance at the end of March 2010 (20th or 27th??) owing to many other commitments, how does this sound to our regular supporters? Please let me have your thoughts or suggestions. THANKS

EMAIL ADDRESSES

Please can you let me have any new email address or changes. If you haven't received an email from me then it means I don't have an email address for you. Mine is at the top of this newsletter. Also, please let me have any change of phone numbers or addresses so I can make sure you get all the newsletters and information.

THE 3'Ms VISIT! Melly, Miriam & Mwanajuma at Heathrow Airport

Since arriving on 22nd August every day was very busy. In the first week they went to Wookey Hole, Wells, Cheddar Gorge, played Prize Bingo at Brean, Cabot Circus, a Barn Dance, Bristol Waterfront, meeting various sponsors & donors at local churches and social groups. They bought bargains at a local car boot sale. Visited local allotments to see our small "farmers" Also planned is a trip to Scotland for Miriam & Mwanajuma, and for Mike and Melly a day watching Chelsea play Spurs & Miriam is off to Bristol City Football on 19th September. (All this thanks to donations from donors!) But from 15th September until 28th their commitment is at Ashton Park School as part of the exchange programme. Then serious work begins - this first bit is a holiday!

They have been amazed at EVERYTHING they have seen, so many new experiences, they are going to write a diary and maybe I can publish it for a future newsletter!! Thanks to all sponsors that have taken (or offered to take them out), and to those that have donated towards this visit and those who have bought them presents or given them "spending money" otherwise Mike and I would be bankrupt!

SMALL PROBLEM!!

I have a few problems with direct debits paid into the bank. Firstly some sponsors have given up without telling me - which makes life very difficult - secondly a few others have changed banks. It's great when a direct debit has a reference but a few haven't. For example, a payment from H & G ????? set up May 2008. Any ideas? Also, a new payment from 15th May this year, sort code 20-13-45, ? I have the account number (phone or email if you think it is yours). Obviously, I don't want to publish the full account number!

Maybe some sponsors are no longer getting newsletters or information. That's why it's really important if you can let me know if you have to give up or if you haven't had any information for a while.

BIG THANKS to Andy Kybert M-D of The Woodside Press Ltd., Bristol for the printed version of this newsletter.