So, it's been a few days since I posted last, but I want you all to know that I am doing fine, and everything is alright here. We got a little busy over the weekend, because on Thursday - after I posted the last post - we met up with the carpenter and purchased the materials for the toilette. We hired a matatu to take us down to the school to drop everything off. We arrived at the school in the evening, so we didn't get to start any construction, but we woke up bright and early Friday morning, and began working at 8:30 (after the 20 minute walk to the school).
The costs for the project broke down as follows: Cement/Iron sheets/Nails - $2710 KS Lumber - $6080 KS Bolts - $140 KS Labour - $3000 KS Transportation - $900 KS
This gives us a total just under $13000 KS, which is about $200. Unfortunately, nobody in Ngong had a door available last week when we were buying our supplies, so there is only a door on one of the toilettes. I will try to upload pictures to this blog, so you can see them. If not, then click on the link to the right for my pictures, and you should be able to see them there. We worked all day Friday - from about 8:30-5:00, and the again on Saturday from 8:30-5:00. The construction of the toilette was done using very simple means - no electric tools were used, so all the wood was hand cut (by me and Dustin), all the holes were hand drilled with a chisel and hammer by Dustin and I - basically a lot of physical labour, compared to what a similar project in Canada would entail. It was extremely rewarding on Saturday evening when we finished, because were both so sore and tired, but could see that our efforts created something that is needed, and will be used. To put things in perspective, the school has 400 children attending on most days. There are now 7 working 'toilettes' with one waiting for the door. Also, when I say toilette, I refer to squatter toilettes - not sitting toilettes like those in Canada. Hopefully blogger will let me post a picture, so you can view it. If not, then take a look at my pictures by clicking on the link to the right.
It took us 3 weeks to organize everything and build the toilette, but now that we've established everything, and know what we're doing, we're hoping to move along at a much faster pace. We are still waiting for Virginia to contact the headmaster to arrange a meeting with the parents to discuss the other projects at the school. However, even if we do not do any more projects at Kimuka school, there is still a lot that we can do here. There are a couple of other schools that are in need of assistance that Virginia said we can work at. The only issue with those is that they are further away than the Kimuka one, so we are hoping to continue working there. We have also been talking, and thinking of other projects to do for the people in Kimuka. These include:
- Finding North American buyers for Maasai jewellery - Establishing tourist interest in the Maasai community - Purchasing solar panels and batteries for homes in Kimuka - Constructing traditional manyattas in a field behind Virginia's home (to be used for traditional ceremonies, and to house tourists) - Constructing compost facilities at homes in Kimuka - Creating better water collection techniques to be used by families in Kimuka
As mentioned before, in order to complete these projects we will be contacting individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses back home in an effort to raise the necessary funds. After talking with Chris - a volunteer who was here previously here in 2006, and is back visiting the family - he said the best way to get money here is to have it sent all to one or two persons in Canada, and then sent directly to my bank account in Canada, so that I can withdraw all the funds at one time here. If we do direct bank-to-bank transfers from Canadian banks to the MEAC account here, each transaction will get hit with an international banking transfer fee. However, if I withdraw all the cash at once here, I will only have to pay one international withdrawal fee. So, with this in mind, I will be contacting my bank to make sure that my sister can deposit into my account, and then all of you back home can send her or my parents money and they can then deposit the money into my account, and then I can withdraw it here. So, thank you all who have voiced support for the projects, and hopefully later this week I can confirm with my sister and the bank how we can get money to me without incurring lots of fees. Also, hopefully this week will have the meeting with the parents, and we can go from there.
As stated in a previous post, the costs for the rest of the projects at the school will likely be around $2000 CAD. Dustin and I have had a couple of people indicate they'd be willing to donate large sums, which should cover about half the costs. With this kind of support, Dustin and I have been looking at other areas we can help the community here, as it looks like we should have more than enough money to complete the projects at the school. So, we are by no means only raising money for the school projects, but will be putting any extra funds into projects like sponsoring children (mainly orphans) to go to school (about $40/month), purchasing solar panels and batteries for families (costs still being determined, but likely less than $250/home), and completing some of the other projects I have listed above.
In conclusion, Dustin and I are very happy with the completion of the toilette at Kimuka primary school, and are excited to begin new projects in the community, granted we can garner the funds necessary to do so from people back home. I will be contacting my bank to ensure that my sister can deposit cheques and cash into my account, thus making it easier for us to transfer funds from Canada to me here in Kenya. Once I have confirmed this, I will let you all know how you can make your donations.
Thank you all again for all of your support, and for reading. If you have any ideas or comments, please feel free to let me know.
