Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife

More in Swahili Imports Benevolence Partners... Caravan to Class

Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife (FKSW) is a non-profit organization supporting participatory community development in rural communities in Kenya. The world has never been so prosperousyet nearly 1 billion people, trapped in abject poverty and gross inequality live on less than $1 per day. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage (58%) of poor people in the world.

Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife was established in 2002, when Director Gwen Meyer and her husband John Neumeister spent three weeks in Kenya. Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife grew out of a desire to help address the poverty and inequity they saw during that first visit. In collaboration with Kenyan Mike Lawrence, owner and operator of Westminster Safaris, they formed FKSW in 2003 with some of the $4000 in donations they received as wedding gifts. Since 2006, FKSW has worked in partnership with the Network for Eco-Farming in Africa (NECOFA), a local organization based in the town of Molo, Kenya.

Between the early months of 2004 and August of 2006, FKSW projects focused on education - specifically the construction of nursery schools, support for teacher salaries, school supplies, school lunch programs and scholarships for students to attend primary school. These projects provided educational opportunities for 230 nursery and primary school students who previously had no chance to attend school. From this FKSW spread their focus to other areas of the UN Millennium Goals:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

EDUCATION
In sub-Saharan Africa, 40 percent of primary aged children have no opportunity for schooling. Even though primary education is free in Kenya, some children are still unable to attend classes because their parents cannot afford uniforms, shoes, books or school fees. Although it is a requirement for children to attend nursery school before being admitted to primary school, many rural communities do not have the means to build a nursery school or to pay a teacher's salary.

Our educational focus has been on constructing nursery schools and providing scholarships for children to attend primary school. Girls are often withdrawn from school by their parents because they are needed at home for chores. Boarding scholarships are one way we attempt to address this issue. When girls attend boarding school, they are less likely to leave school.

129 students who were not previously enrolled in school are now attending primary classes. 57 of these students are girls. Scholarships of $50 per year purchase uniforms, shoes, books and pay incidental fees.

• 5 nursery school have been constructed by FKSW
• 180 nursery school students attend school in new classrooms
• 8 nursery schools have received educational materials and supplies
• 1 dormitory at Kokwa Primary School has been renovated for girl boarders
• 19 girls board at Kokwa Primary School rather than walk an hour over hilly terrain to their homes in the evening to do chores. Now they are able to devote more time to their studies and have a little leisure.
• 4 nursery school teachers are receiving salaries for the first time ever
• 1 10 year old student with a hearing impairment attends school for the first time in his life and is learning to use sign language and to read and write.
• 1 nursery school teacher who had had no training graduated with a teaching certificate in August 2009

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• 45 women participating in the Molo Wool Project have learned to spin, knit, weave and dye the wool from their sheep to create products to sell. Since 2007, they have received nearly $19,000 in income to pay school fees for their children and to purchase other items needed by their families.
• 34 spinning wheels and 21 looms have been purchased to assist the Molo women in their efforts
• 60 families on Kokwa Island each received 3 chickens to start their own flocks. They now sell meat and eggs and the size of their flocks is increasing
• 25 members of the Langwenda Self Help Group are using a machine to make bricks to sell for the construction of buildings
• 7 women on Kokwa Island have learned to sew and now sell school uniform, clothing and other items to residents of nearby communities
• 25 members of the Michinda Primary Boys School 4K Club in Elburgon are successfully raising chickens to supplement their school meals and to sell eggs and meat

HEALTH

• 288 residents of Kokwa Island at Lake Baringo attended a free medical camp in February 2009. Thirty nine local medical personnel donated their time and services. The medical camp featured: curative services, pharmacy services, optician or eye specialist services, laboratory testing for malaria parasites, voluntary testing and counseling for HIV/AIDS, health education on nutrition. A second medical camp was held on the island in February 2010.
• 300 families received bed nets to prevent malaria
• 28 girls at Kokwa Primary School learned how to make sanitary napkins from locally available materials and were given instructions and counseling on reproductive hygiene and safety
• Members of 3 communities helped to construct the first toilets ever in their villages
• 58 nursery school students at Kirepari Nursery School receive a nutritious lunch daily. They also receive micronutrient supplements to address the malnutrition discovered during screening at the medical camp
• 172 nursery school students receive lunches daily (food supplied by the government) prepared in kitchens constructed by FKSW
• 324 residents of Kirepari village on Kokwa Island at Lake Baringo have bacteria and fluoride free water after the installation of a community water filter and the receipt of individual household filters to remove excessive amounts of fluoride and bacteria from the water they use daily
• 4 solar batteries provide power for the refrigerator at the Kokwa Dispensary for vaccines and other medications that need refrigeration

If you would like to learn more about Friends of Kenya or make a donation to help with current projects, visit www.fksw.org.