2013
CHARITY
UPDATE
The trustees are pleased to be able to provide an update for the Bombolulu School of Promise charity. The past year has again been extremely successful with a number of significant developments and progress having been made at the school.
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Firstly we are delighted to advise that the substantial loan taken by the charity in 2011 to acquire our current premises has now been fully repaid two years ahead of our original plan. A massive thankyou to all those who have donated to the charity enabling us to do this, particularly to the staff at Euro Carparks in Ireland who continue to support the charity in such a generous manner. This is a key milestone for the charity since it will now enable us to divert much needed funding back into the school rather than repaying debt.
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Another major step was the build and opening of our orphanage “The Munday House” which was generously financed by an individual donor. This enables us to provide safe and comfortable accommodation for up to 8 children who had previously been sleeping on the floor at the school.
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The quality of the education provided by our school has been recognised by authorities when we were rated as average during a school inspection. Furthermore our record of success in the national exams enabling progress to secondary school continues to be excellent. We now have 11 ex pupils sponsored in state secondary boarding schools and a further 3 at a local day school. Their academic progress has been extremely encouraging and next year we have 4 pupils commencing their final year of secondary education , clearly illustrating the charities long term goals for the children.
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We anticipate the quality of our education to further improve as we fund the continuous education of our teachers , two are currently undertaking education at university level and a further two our taking teaching diplomas. This has been made possible by the fundraising efforts of one of our trustees who successfully climbed Kilimanjaro earlier this year.
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Earlier this year we established a relationship with the Vineyard Primary School in Richmond who have kindly offered to assist with fundraising for various projects. They have recently provided funding to enable us to construct a playground at the school and to build a small garden . A massive thank you to them.
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Following the generous donation of two laptops by a volunteer at the school we have now set these up with wifi enabling both teachers and pupils access to internet access. This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to offer computer studies to the senior classes and also enables greater communication between the trustees and the school.
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The day to day running of the school continues to become ever more efficient as teachers competencies improve and funds are made available to provide the necessary teaching materials. Visits undertaken by the trustees this year witnessed these improvements and the wonderful effect this, combined with our food program was having on the daily lives of so many children.
Finally as always on behalf of all the trustees, staff and children at the Bombolulu school of Promise we’d like to thank all our supporters for your continued generous support .
Trustees Visit June 2013
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Having just returned from a visit to the school two of our Trustees we are pleased to be able to provide an update on the schools progress.
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The purpose, of what was an unannounced visit, was to manage the completion of the construction of an orphanage that we have build within the grounds of the school, more about which later. However the visit also gave us the opportunity of seeing how the school was running in normal circumstances .. “ with no papering over the cracks for the purpose of the trustees !”
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I am delighted to advise that we were over whelmed with pride and delight with just how smoothly the school was running and how enthusiastic the children were with their opportunity to learn . These children who live in the most appalling conditions attend school everyday arriving as early as 6.30am ,despite arduous walks and possibly no breakfast , yet arrive smart , smiling and desperately keen to learn. We have 25 children in reception (infant) classes and ano 73 in classes 1 to 8 who are following the national curriculum. Whilst classes are relatively small , the largest has 11 pupils, each teacher has either 2 or 3 classes to teach so much of the time the pupils undertake quietly and diligently study on their own . The success of the education we provide was again borne out this January when 4 of 5 pupils successfully passed their exams and progressed onto secondary school thanks to sponsorships.
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It was wonderful to witness lunchtime which the generous sponsorship of our food program continues to enable us to provide. Whilst lunch was limited to a generous bowl of either Maize & Beans (3*week), Rice & Beans or Green peas & Rice, the children never complain about the lack of variety and there were always volunteers to lick the cooking pot clean . The food which takes 5 hrs to cook ! was excellent and is prepared by our own cook in the schools kitchen over a charcoal burner.
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Following an extra ordinary act of generosity by a couple who have supported the charity for many years the charity has been able to fund the construction of an orphanage at the school. Whilst the aim of the charity is most definitely focused on providing education to the most needy and not as an orphanage unfortunate circumstances have dictated that we have a number of children who now live at the school. Currently we have 5 children who live in the school on mats that are put out in the classrooms at night though this increases to 9 at school holidays when ex pupils who we now sponsor at boarding school return . We are delighted to announce that the orphanage has now been built and as soon as it is painted and bunk beds acquired these pupils will be able to move into their new home.
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Finally we are pleased to say that our intrepid trustee, Helen, successfully completed her climb up Kilimanjero earlier this year and the funds raised have enabled us to finance one of our senior teachers to attend university to get her professional teaching qualifications.
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As always on behalf of the Children, Staff and Trustees we would like to thank you for your continued support of our charity , it really has made a huge difference to so many lives .
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January 2013 Update
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The Trustees are delighted to be able provide what is a very encouraging update on the schools’ progress over the past year. This despite the significant difficulties that continue to confront us in running what is now a reasonable size operation , with 107 pupils, 7 staff and 6 orphans, in a challenging environment.
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During the year the trustees have focused on providing finance to the school to complete its renovation ensuring a safe and secure environment for the children. Initial planned works have almost all now been completed with only the refurbishment and mains plumbing of the toilets outstanding. Financing from the Dutch based charity , Doingoood Foundation, has recently been received to complete this.
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The deteriorating financial state of Kenya over the past year resulted in major strikes within the state education system and the closure of schools for an extended period. We are extremely proud of our staff, all of whom continued to attend school and teach normally. However the resultant increases in state education pay of up to 60% has created a problem for the charity and the trustees are aware of the enormous anomaly between our teachers pay and that within the state, this will need addressing next year. Similarly of concern has been the huge food price inflation which has had a detrimental effect on our food program. Fortunately the funding for this has generously been increased enabling us to continue to provide a full meal for all the children everyday, this is the only meal many of these children receive.
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The excellent education that we are able to provide the pupils has been again demonstrated by the examination success achieved in the national exams. Earlier this year 6 of the 9 final year pupils successfully passed their national examinations enabling them to continue to higher education. We are delighted to say that the charity, through several generous sponsors, has placed 5 of these pupils into the state boarding school system guaranteeing their future education. This year we have had 7 pupils taking their final exams earlier this month and we wish them every success. We also continue to support our teachers to achieve professional teaching qualifications to ensure the quality of education our pupils receive is constantly improving. We are pleased that two of them , Daniel and Hyline, have successfully commenced their second year of their teaching qualifications and again we wish them continued success.
As a charity we are delighted when European visitors are able to visit and spend time at the school, sharing experiences and a different culture. Accordingly it has been a pleasure to welcome a representative of our major sponsor, Euro Carparks, who along with his wife spent a week at the school earlier this year. We are also delighted that Doingoood Foundation have facilitated several volunteers to attend the school in the past year. Positive experiences were had by all those involved.
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Fundraising is never far away from our minds and we are proud of one of our trustees, Helen , who this Xmas will be climbing Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the school. More information on this can be found at: www.justgiving.com/Helen-Moore10.
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The wonderful achievements at the school outlined above have only been possible due to the tremendous generosity of those individuals and companies that support the charity. Therefore on behalf of the children and staff at our school a big thank you to all those who support the charity is from all the trustees.