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During the month July 2003 we (Joke, René and Frank de
Vries) traveled through Kenya. In our tour party some people were interested in visiting (if possible) elementary schools.
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Rosie, the woman who organized the field trip to the schools
for us.
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As the journey progressed, we saw many intriguing and fascinating things, but we felt discouraged about the possibility of actually visiting a school.
Finally we reached our last hotel called Pinewood Village in Diani Beach.
On July 26 René and Frank decided to book jet ski's for July 27 and a snorkeling
tour for Monday morning 28 July. We booked this at the hotel office, named "Wet & Wild". René had a nice chat with booking officer Roselyne Anami (Rosie). She asked René what his profession was. They talked about education in Kenya. René told her that it was his wish to visit a school in Kenya and he asked Rosie if she was able to organize a field trip to a school. She promised to do her best for him.
At the beginning of the Monday afternoon, when René and Frank returned from their boat trip, Rosie told them that she managed to arrange a trip to some schools. She arranged a guide, a driver and a car and she picked out three schools in her hometown
Ukunda.
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Click here for a photo coverage of Diani Children
Village.
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First we visited an orphan's home (Diani Children's Village). During the time we were there, all the kids except one were at school. The "mother" of the house showed us the house, the rooms and
(surprise!) we were able to talk to the Dutch woman Yvonne. Yvonne founded the house in 1994. For more information on our visit to this orphan's house: see "Travel > Diani Beach".
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Click here for photo coverage Mvindeni Primary School.
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After that, we followed a very bumpy road, leading to the primary school Mvindeni.We had some bad luck: school was just out but we were able to talk to the students.
Mrs. Mwanajuma Rigga, the headmaster, and her staff made us feel very welcome.
Mrs. Rigga showed us the school building and we talked with her about the difficulties for education (see also: Most Needed). We were touched by the circumstances the staff has to teach around 500 students. We promised that we would organize "Africa Projects" on our own schools to raise money and materials for their school.
Finally we paid a visit to the P.D.S. School Complex. This is a private KG through College school. We were welcomed by the principal, Mr. Jim Nzamba. Again we heard about the problems schools are facing in Kenya. The building itself is in a better shape than the elementary school we visited earlier (see: Most needed).
After we returned, we thanked Rosie very much for her assistance for this field trip: organizing a guide, a driver and a car.
We promised to stay in touch with her.
René and Frank discussed the possibility to setup a new internet project: The Ukunda
Schools Project. Rene contacted Global SchoolNet. For USA schools, it would be easier when the Ukunda
Schools Project would meet the USA standards for not-for-profit organizations. Working together with GSN would mean that the Ukunda
Schools Project will become an official "501(c)(3) not-for-profit education organization" project.
On Tuesday 5 August 2003 we received an email from GSN in which GSN declared that GSN is willing to work together with them on this project. So, on that day
we could officially launch our project. Frank
De Vries started to design and build the website. Hilda Anami (sister of
Rose) wrote the
chapters about Ukunda. Communication is mostly done by
email and SMS. The website is available in
two languages: US-English and Dutch.
At the right you see red menu buttons; when you click on a certain button,
then you will get more information on that subject. For instance, on
page "Your Help" you will find more information
on education in Kenya, about lesson plans, special activities and
more.
Note: on our website we offer you a lot of photos. You sometimes will find
a photo "sideways": a portrait saved as landscape. We did this
on purpose, to keep the quality of the large photos as good as possible.
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