Kenya Classroom

Click for full size photo.

In October 2004, Martin and Liz Davies, both former school teachers and now private teachers in Truro, went to Kenya for their two–week annual holiday. They stayed in a luxury resort on the Indian Ocean coast some twelve miles north of Mombasa. There were spacious apartments, two swimming pools, a first class restaurant, two bars, a tennis court and fitness suite not to mention a private beach etc.

Two local “beach boys” offered to show Martin and Liz around the nearby village which turned out be an eye opening experience. The term “Third World” suddenly meant something. Here were people living in abject poverty; flimsy houses constructed of palm tree branches with crude mud walls and roofs made of palm leaves, no plumbing, no electricity and a communal well for a water supply. As both Martin and Liz have been teachers for over thirty five years, conversation led to the topic of schools. An invitation was issued for them to go on another day to see a local school.

FURAHA COMMUNITY PROJECT is a privately run establishment catering for about 200 children between the ages of four and ten. They go there either because they are orphans or because their parents are too poor to afford the 1000 Kenya shillings (about £7.40) for the uniform of the nearby “state” school which is part funded by the Anglican Church.

The little school was housed in three classrooms, if they could be called that, which resembled larger versions of the houses already described. The floors were merely bare, rough stones and sandy earth on which the children stood or sat, the only concession being an old sailcloth on the floor of the room for the four year olds. There was no electricity and no running water; the water supply was a 30 metre deep well, a long rope and an old plastic bucket. There were no toilets so the children had to go out into the bush. (At the time, money donated by a horrified tourist had paid for the partial but then incomplete toilet block; the money ran out.) The only seating for the children was simple planks of wood straight from the trees balanced precariously on stones. One dilapidated blackboard had to be shared between the three rooms. The three young female teachers can only be paid when money can be found, usually donated by tourists. (An average wage in Kenya is £25 a month.) There was next to nothing in the way of educational resources and, unless the kids can find the 1000 shillings, this is the only education they will get and it will stop at the age of ten. The sight was truly pitiful.

Furaha also provides health and hygiene education for girls aged 11 to 16. If the girls attend these classes, they are allowed to play for the centre’s three football teams. Girls’ football is big in Kenya.

Several tourists visit the school, take photographs and videos, comment on how dreadful it is and retreat to the safety and luxury of the resort scarcely a mile away. Martin and Liz decided that, having had such a wonderful time in Kenya, going on safari and seeing exotic animals in the wild and experiencing the generosity of people who have nothing, they would have to do something to help Furaha. They had never experienced a reaction to a holiday quite like this.

So far, just over £9400 has been raised thanks to donations from their students, friends, St Paul`s Church, Truro, non-uniform days and other activities at Truro High School, a concert at St  Paul’s and the revenue from the Summer Show presented by the Purple Dance Studio, Probus and fund raising schemes from Year 8/9 pupils at Penair School where Martin was Director of music for twenty years. It doesn't’t sound much but that comparatively small amount paid the four staff and fed children for two Christmases and  New Year and has enabled the floors of the original classrooms to be concreted (The old classrooms were damaged beyond repair by a storm in 2006). The donation from the people of St Paul’s provided sufficient funds for a pump and cover for the well. The toilet block is now complete, medicines and food have been provided and two permanent classrooms have now been built and are in use. Materials for a third have been purchased and the foundations are already in place.

We have enabled four children to enter mainstream education by providing them with the appropriate uniform and an extra member of staff has been employed at Furaha.

Also, the girls’ football teams have been kited out with two proper football strips and kit.
We have now also provided proper seating and tables for the classrooms and now we want to enable the school to provide books and other basic educational requisites and to get electricity into the classrooms.

All this for the price of a Ford Focus !

The next phase of the Project is to complete the already started third classroom; to install electricity to the classrooms; (the nearest supply is about 25 metres away) to build a watertight - i.e. damp-proof store room for school equipment and foodstuffs and to provide a workroom cum staff room for the teachers.

Martin and Liz Davies have never undertaken anything like this before and any help that can be given to the Furaha Community Project would be gratefully received and appreciated by the children and the staff of the little school.

Martin Davies
Co Administrator of the Furaha Community Project
St Keverne
Moresk Road
Truro TR1 1BW
T 01872 272612     or email;
E martindavies@elmada.freeserve.co.uk

(Martin can give you details of how to get involved, how to make donations in the UK etc.)