SUMMER NEWS>Summer Stability ~ Life has become more stable in Nairobi and the community surrounding Galilee once again. While some of our beloved children left the area to establish new homesteads with family, distant relatives, or friends during the period of political unrest at the beginning of this year, the majority of children have returned to school and resumed their studies in earnest. Textbook Drive Success! With school back in session, textbooks became a focus once again. Textbooks are a luxury for the children of Galilee. They usually have to share books in class, sometimes 3-4 students hovering around the same book. Individual textbooks are something we usually take for granted in our local schools as we know how much more effective and efficient learning is when a child can study a text on their own. They can take their time understanding a passage, go back and review the parts they didn't understand, and focus on the words better when they do not have to look from afar. To help increase the number of textbooks in the Galilee Primary School classrooms, we held a Textbook Drive, and added another 50 sets of textbooks (a set covers the basic curriculum, including books for English, Kiswahili, Math, etc.). Thanks to all who contributed toward planting books in the hands of children! JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2008....Kenya's Unrest Impact on Our Galilee Children: Peace has been restored in the community surrounding Galilee and school is in session once again! It was a different picture in January and February, when our hearts were breaking as we continued to read news reports of the post-election violence in Kenya. Just when we thought things had settled down, we read of new waves of protests and rallies. Fanuel, School Director at Galilee, reported that on calm days people came in and out of their houses, he was able to go into downtown Nairobi to pick up the letters sponsors have written their dear children, and children came to school. But on 'rally days' people stayed inside. Children didn't come to school, and fear gripped them all. What a horrible situation for our children to endure. School was scheduled to start on January 7, but was postponed until January 14. Sadly the violence did reach the Kayole-Soweto slums as we learned that one of our Galilee student's home was burned down in the violence and she has been taken in to Holly House to live. The majority of our students are now back at school, studying hard, but some left to the rural areas to stay with relatives over the December break and have been unable to return to Nairobi as yet. Food Drive:News reports are filled with stories of the extreme poverty and hunger caused by the recent post-election turmoil in Kenya. Children are hungrier than ever, with the ever-increasing price of food, the inability of the parents to work during this period, and the interruption of the supply of food caused by the turmoil. Our Friends of Galilee wanted to know, "What can we do to help?" and immediately went into action to hold a week-long Food Drive. Thanks to the generosity and care and concern of our sponsors and Friends of Galilee, we raised over $3000 for food for the students of Galilee and WHS.  The money was used specifically to buy food for the children at Galilee Primary School and Waddington High School. In addition, many sponsors purchased bags of food for their children, a portion of which goes to feed the hungriest of the hungry through the Galilee lunch program. Thank you to all who participated in this critical drive. We continue to accept donations for food and medical care through our online shop. A New Year Begins:Thank you to all of our sponsors and donors who helped bring many heart-warming and exciting differences to help the children at Galilee Primary School, Waddington High School, and the Holly House Children's Homes in 2007. So much has been accomplished thanks to your loyalty and dedication. For those of you who are new to our site, we welcome your involvement in sponsoring a child and making a difference in his or her life. It is truly a life-changing experience to sponsor at Galilee, WHS, or HH. With great anticipation Form 4 students are walking through the doors of their classrooms the week of January 14 to tackle their last year of high school! These students are lucky -- four years ago they probably never imagined they would be sitting at desks in these classrooms, actually preparing to receive a high school diploma! Thanks to the efforts of so many sponsors and donors they will be starting out the year with some textbooks (we can always use more to reduce the ratio of student to textbook), desks and chairs, and their final exam fees (KCSE) paid! What a difference their high school education will make when they seek employment! Of course, all of our primary and secondary students gratefully tackle their opportunity for education. You can make a difference in a child's life. Please visit our Sponsor a Child page or email sponsorships@galileeschool.org for more information. ...living in NairobiOur children at Galilee are needy.Not needy like they cannot pay for school fees, needy like they have to work to buy one pencil to take the test to go to the next level. So we have a school supply fund you can contribute to if you want. Not needy like they don't have trendy clothes, needy like they don't have any clothes and they go to school with torn clothes or rags (one COC, a boy, was going to school with girl's clothes because he did not have anything else to wear). Some of our children never had a pair of shoes in their whole life. So we are collecting money to buy uniforms for them, not because it would be nice if they had uniforms, but because they don't have anything else to wear. Not needy like they don't have nice balanced meals, needy like they don't eat. They come to school without having had breakfast, they don't have money for lunch and they go home hoping there will be some food. So we offer food programs so that at least some of the children can have a meal a day. Not needy like they don't have a bed or running water in their houses, needy like they do not have houses. Some of them sleep in make shift cardboard houses; some of them sleep in the street. So we have started Holly House and Holly's Heart as orphans' homes for those who have exhausted all other places to live. (Lu, USA) Exciting Results from our 2nd Annual eBay Auction Fundraiser!Once again we held an eBay Auction to benefit programs for the children of Galilee Primary and Waddington High Schools. Tami and Holly did a fantastic job of organizing and advertising the auction. Sussi produced some lovely cards to include in purchases. Thanks to the many donors and auction winners, we raised over $2800 for Galilee programs! From your donations to be auctioned off to your participation in bidding, your efforts made a difference. As you clean and organize your homes after the holidays, please set aside items for next year's auction. It's fun and easy to be a part of this worthwhile project. Progress and Hopes RealizedGalilee has been blessed this year with some significant needs being met! This summer a few of us visited Galilee, and were inspired to see the changes occurring. The water well has been dug and is ready to bring forth life-giving water! Due to the rocky terrain, it had to be dug deeper than expected so requires electricity to pump the water. Once again, our sponsors and donors pulled together and generously provided the funds for wiring, and we now have electricity crackling through those wires. Most primary school children now sit at their desks in rapt attention to their teachers’ lessons in the new tin classrooms with cement floors. What a difference from just a couple of years ago when all primary children sat on muddy floors, crowded into jagged tin rooms. While inspired with the changes that have been accomplished, we were also made acutely aware of the tremendous needs that still exist. There are still primary classrooms in deplorable tin and pole structures off campus, across a dirt road. These classrooms have walls of peeling, sharp tin sticking out around the edges – so easy for the children to cut themselves on. The path and rooms become flooded when it rains, causing a muddy mess for the children and teachers to maneuver. We need to purchase land and tin buildings, and get those classrooms of children onto the Galilee campus! Update November 2007: A generous donor provided the funds for the purchase of one plot of land, and thanks to a grant and another large donation, we have enough funds to build 3-4 of the classrooms that need improved. This is exciting news! In 2008 we will address the remaining 1-2 rooms. In January 2008 we will open the doors of Form 4 for our first graduating class. Funds were needed to finish two Standard 8 classrooms so we could make room for the upcoming students. The bricks were stacked in wait, a few feet high, outlining the area for the Standard 8 classes. With gratitude, we accepted a $5000 donation to finish these buildings! A simple thank you does not seem enough to offer the sponsors and donors who have provided love and support to the children of Galilee. What a remarkable difference you are making in this world! If you would like more information about how to help with Galilee’s projects, please email director@galileeschool.org. Wishing for a WellOne of our major goals this year was to raise funds for a water well to be dug on the Galilee site. The drought has made clean water very expensive, impacting the availability of clean water for the school children and orphanage. One of our sponsors, Courtney, and her youth group Generation Y Not, held an inspiring event called Art and Soul. Art work was donated by local artists to be sold at the silent auction, African musicians played, and Courtney delivered a heartwarming speech to the event attendees, telling of the critical needs existing at Galilee. Thanks to their efforts, over $11,000 was raised toward the well! We are overwhelmed with the sucess of this endeavor. Additional sponsors and donors made significant contributions, and we were thrilled to break ground and now have a well! Running for FoodLondon Marathon Runner James Rivington is committed to helping feed our hungriest children at Galilee and Waddington High School. In April he ran the London Marathon in honor of Kenya’s Kids in Need - UK (Reg. Charity No. 1115886). All money received from donors sponsoring his run went to feeding the neediest children at Galilee Primary School and Waddington High School in Nairobi. What a wonderful gift! Shoes for Kenya's KidsAfter seeing the appalling footwear many of our children wear, one of our sponsors, Skye, decided to hold an event at Canterbury School in North Carolina called Crazy Shoes for Kenyan Shoes. Many of our Galilee children have holey shoes, mismatched flip-flops (in both size and color) held together with strings, or are plain barefooted and have never owned a pair of shoes. The terrain around the school is rugged and dusty, turning to mud in the rainy season. What fantastic news when Skye sent over $1600 to Kenya Kids in Need to be used for shoes for our Galilee and WHS children. Many thanks to Skye and the students of Canterbury School for helping many of our Galilee children receive much-needed footwear! Ringing in the New School YearJanuary was the start of a new school year for our Galilee and Waddington High School children. We are thrilled that this year we are able to offer Form 3 at Waddington High School. With many thanks to our friends at Aura's House, donors have rallied together at the end of 2006 to raise $6200 for WHS desks, textbooks, and additional lab equipment to meet the growing needs of the school. It is so exciting to think of the students sitting in their desks, studying from appropriate textbooks, and being able to receive an adequate science education that will serve their future goals. It's hard to imagine that just three years ago a high school education was unheard of for these deserving young people. Thanks to everyone who donated toward these needs.
SUMMER BRINGS NEEDED HOLLY HOUSE EXPANSION! It is a sad fact that there are too many homeless children living in the slums of Nairobi. Many of the children at Galilee are orphans, some have made arrangements to stay with relatives or are 'children of the community'. The children of the community stay with one family, then another, as families take them in for as long as they can before it becomes too much of a burden and they need to pass them on. Fanuel keeps an eye on the children living in the slums, and knows when there are some that are in danger. It is these children, who have exhausted all other options of a place to live, that he tells us about in hopes that we can find a sponsor for the child and they can move into the safety of our orphanage Holly House. Earlier this year we were only too aware that our current Holly House was bursting at the seams. Fanuel was able to secure a lease on a building on the same property that Galilee Primary School sets on, thanks to the help of several sponsors and donors. This second orphanage was called Holly's Heart. However, we needed a more permanent solution -- a new, larger Holly House, so began raising funds in earnest. Thanks to the donations of several generous Friends of Galilee, construction of a larger, new Holly House began. The children were so excited to see this development and we now providing almost 60 children with a safe place to stay. There are Holly House children in need of a sponsor. It is one of the most rewarding sponsorship opportunities available. For $30 a month (or $15 for a co-sponsorship), you can make a tremendous impact on an orphaned or abandoned child's life. For more information, please email Brenda at sponsorships@galileeschool.org . Lorna's spring visit highlighted the desperate need for new classrooms and cement floors for the smallest students at Galilee--the baby classes. The arguments for doing something were quite persuasive. When it rained the children were often bare foot and knee high in foul, sewage-smelling mud. Some students would even stay away from school to avoid the mud. One visitor's shoes got so stuck in the muck that they came off--much to the children's amusement! The old tin classrooms had dangerous sharp edges on which a small boy cut himself so badly that he needed stitches and a tetanus shot. Fanuel was very anxious so do something about the situation and pointed out that improved classrooms would mean greater safety for the little ones in other ways, too. If they go home early, the tots are often left alone and unsupervised. With proper floors and sleeping mats, the children could stay extra hours, safe at school, and take an afternoon nap. Finally, if Galilee owned the land, the money saved on rent would be used to provide lunch to some of the most needy pupils. So the "Babes Drive" was started on May 19th by Christy, Galilee's irrepressible fundraising cheerleader. A total of $8000 was needed - $5600 to buy the land, $2000 for four tin classrooms, and $400 for four cement floors. Donations came in steadily over the next month--everything from $10 to $500, as well as some larger donations. It says much about the dedication and generosity of Galilee supporters that, by the 18th June, Christy was able to announce that all the goals for the "Babes Drive" had been reached. It's wonderful to know the little ones are now in safe, clean, and comfortable classrooms. Thank you to all who helped provide for these children. There have been some great examples this year of sponsors raising money to help the kids at Galilee--do any of these ideas spur you on to doing a fundraiser of your own? In Canada, junior high school student Kelsey, together with her friend and teacher, raised $151.75 by undertaking a sponsored fast on April 28/29th. They wanted to express their sympathy with the many Galilee children who so often have nothing to eat. The money will fill many hungry tummies by buying food for the school lunch programme. In March and July, one of our sponsors Skye held fundraiser parties in conjunction with her organisation - The Wembly Fund. Entertainment one evening included a comedian from Australia and a Nigerian singer. There were raffles and exciting prizes. The evenings were big successes and many people asked about becoming sponsors. Skye raised over $14,000 which she donated to help establish the new Holly House orphanage. Inspired by her father's travels in Kenya, Tina has always had an interest in helping Kenyan children. In April she and husband Michael sold their "We are all Kenyans today" t-shirts at the Boston marathon. The response was very enthusiastic with over 700 t-shirts sold. Tina donated $800 to the Galilee land purchasing fund. More marathons are being planned. Some of our sponsors sell items on eBay. With an eye to helping the children of Galilee, they have donated proceeds from their sales to Kenya Kids in Need, the nonprofit organization established to meet the needs of Galilee. You can do the same and make a difference! Many of us will never get to make the long trip to Kayole-Soweto to see first hand the fruits of our labor. So with great interest and excitement we await "reports from the field," first hand accounts from sponsors fortunate to be able to experience the thrill of the safari (a Swahili word meaning adventure) and report back their impressions and experiences. Here is one sponsor's impressions: "The roads out of Nairobi were okay... We went through various slum areas...but we then turned into Kayole-Soweto and it was like moving into another world. I really find it hard to describe. The poverty is truly overwhelming. There aren't roads not even tracks. Because it had been raining so much the way was flooded... and the torrential rains of the tropical storms wreak havoc on our less than ideal primary classrooms. "We went on a tour of the classrooms. Truly what can I say. We went into the part where the youngest kids study. It was hell! Can you imagine classrooms approximately 12 ft. by 15 ft. filled with kids but overflowing with mud! Little children sat without shoes, bare feet caked in mud. Classrooms with blackboards but nothing else on the walls. One class of 45 kids was without a teacher. Their wonderful smiles and their enthusiasm undampened by these truly appalling conditions. When we went outside I cried.... Children should not have to learn in conditions like these." Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of Galilee we have come along way but there is still much that needs doing. If everyone reading this will take a minute to ask themselves "what can I do"--then share the link to this website with at least one other person--it will go a long way toward helping us put shoes on the feet of the children, posters on the walls of the classrooms, and concrete floors in the school. |
