Friday, April 20th, I got together with my
students at Singorwet Secondary for the Tree Nursery Project and I’m happy to
report it was a great success! I had prepared a whole lecture for the students
and went into it really nervous because I had never planted a tree before in my
life, let alone built a whole nursery. But luckily when I got there, the
students seemed to already know exactly what they were doing. We built two
beds, plated each with different seeds, and then covered each with mulch cut by
the students. It looks really professional! I was excited to provide these
seeds to the students because the school could really use the extra income they
will generate from selling the trees once they become seedlings.
After planting, we had a trash cleanup contest in the
community. I told the students to get into teams of 2 to 3 people and whichever
team picked up the most trash would win a prize. We walked up to the center of
town from school picking up more than we could even carry. Every bag was
stuffed full of trash and we still didn’t even clean up as much as there was.
There are no trash cans in the village so people just throw trash on the
ground. It’s a horrible mentality around Kenya in fact. There is also not
really any type of recycling program here, and people just burn their trash.
Although, bags and bottles are used over and over again. Anyway, we picked up
so much trash and at least made a dent in cleaning up the community. Plus, I
think it showed a good example to the rest of the villagers that we were
willing to get our hands dirty to clean up our village. Today, as the students
reward, I’m donating a soccer ball to the school and getting them each candy. I
couldn’t choose just one team to be the winner because they all did such a good
job.
The rest of the weekend, I spent in Nairobi where I had a GAD (Gender and
Development Committee) meeting. GAD funds gender related projects to PCVs in
the field. In fact, I funded my entire International Women’s Day event through
a GAD Grant. I applied for GAD awhile back and was selected to be on the
committee so this meeting was my first. We talked about that we are in
desperate need for money. We funded about $900 in projects this last year and
now all we have left is $40! People at home, if you are willing to donate to
GAD please let me know! You can Western Union
me the money and I can put it directly into our account. It goes a long way to
helping PCVs fund their projects and creating sustainable projects that benefit
women all over Kenya.
So also at the meeting, we had elections for officers because they will all be
finishing their service soon. I got nominated for Chair, Co-Chair and
Secretary! I had wanted Chair for a long time and I’m happy to announce that I
got voted in as the new Chair for GAD! So I’ll be running the program and plan
to put a lot of effort and work into building up this committee. We also run 2 CAMP GLOWs
a year, which are girl camps that teach empowerment and reproductive health. A
lot of our funding for these camps comes through PEPFAR, but we also raise
money from home for this. Please let me know if you can contribute to help (aflynnschneider@gmail.com).
Anyway, so I’m back to work in my community now. I’m really
trying to put in a big push for this maternity ward. I’ve been struggling to
get the project budget done because I’m having trouble finding medical
suppliers in Nairobi
(plus my internet has been really bad lately). I want to get as much as I can
done as quickly as possible because all of June I will be traveling with my dad
when he comes to visit me here, and in July I have a trip planned to Zanzibar
in Tanzania. All the positive energy you can send me would be a great help J
Alright, that’s all for now folks. Missing all of you always
and keeping you in my prayers!
Much Love
Chepkosgei
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