Overview
Project Name: Classroom for high school students in rural Kenya
NGO Partner: SEANet: Sustainable Environment and Agriculture Network
Project Cost: $15,000
Target Start Date: October 2008 / November 2008 Update
Target Completion Date: January 2009
ODFL Partner Schools that contributed funds in 2008-2009 to complete this project:

• Gunn High School (CA)
• Los Altos High School (CA)
• St. Paul's High School (OH)
• Terra Nova High School (CA)

ODFL finished our second new high school in Kenya January 21, 2009.  This one, the Ngenia school, is in a village called Timau. This could not be possible without the one dollar donations from students at Gunn HS (CA), Los Altos HS (CA), St. Paul's HS (OH), and Terra Nova HS (CA).

This is a photo of the classroom itself (see the old building in the background to the right).

This is a photo of the plaque commemorating the building.  

Background
On the western slopes of Mount Kenya, 180 kilometers north of Nairobi, sits the small rural town of Timau. Nearby residents practice mixed subsistence farming, growing crops such as corn, potatoes, wheat, beans, and small livestock. It is a precarious existence, with 50% of the people earning less than US $1 per day.

In 1984, the people of Timau built a small school for their children, the fist such school ever built in the area. By 2003, the Kenyan government began mandatory education for all children through sixth grade. But there was only limited opportunity for higher grades. A classroom for students in seventh and eighth grades was added in 1997 but their remains a shortage of space for high school students.

Since the country has few resources, if families want more education for their children, they must pay for it themselves. But poor parents cannot afford such costs so many students end their education at sixth grade, going to work in the fields or drifting into the cities in hopes of finding work.

In October 2008, ODFL began construction of a high school classroom at the Ngenia School in Timau. The construction is in partnership with the parents of Timau who contributed labor for the project, and SEANet, a Kenyan non-governmental organization (NGO) that has successfully implemented three other ODFL projects in the past year.

The Ngenia secondary school project is expected to take 75 days from start to finish. It will cost some $15,000, with ODFL contributing $12,000. Local community members will contribute the difference as well as the labor to keep the cost of the school within budget. The classroom will be a 25’ by 25’ stone walled building, similar to the one ODFL and SEANet built in nearby Naromoru in the spring of 2007. A picture of that School follows.

A detailed project plan, including materials list, budget, and administration procedures, is posted here. ODFL hopes high schools in the U.S. will help with funding for these kinds of most worthy projects. If students give only one dollar, we can provide generations of educational opportunity for teenagers who otherwise would have nothing. In the process, we will make American students bigger people.

Bigger People. Better World. That is ODFL. Thank you for your support of our vision!

Yours in a Better World,
ODFL