Last year, we started a lunch program at Empakasi Primary School. With the help of our project manger, Kevin, we constructed a chicken coop and a greenhouse to help the school feed the students. We have started similar projects at our many partner schools in Uganda, but this was our first attempt at starting a lunch program in Kenya and naturally, we faced some unexpected challenges that we have been working through.
Unfortunately, due to lack of oversight on the ground, the chickens went unfed during a school break in May and stopped laying eggs completely. Our efforts to recuperate the birds was unsuccessful so we decided to sell them off and start over once we had established the proper maintenance. Fortunately, we were able to recoup all the funds we put in to the chicken program.
To prevent anything like this from happening again, Kevin recommend creating a lunch committee that would be in charge of all garden and chicken related business. We hosted a parents meeting to review the status of the lunch program and form a lunch committee. Many parents showed up and we were able to elect a lunch committee of two parents, two teachers, and Kevin.
We decided to test out the effectiveness of this committee by planting another crop in the greenhouse before we invested in more chickens. The new crop should be planted by the end of the month with the help of our maintenance worker, Opiyo, who just recently underwent an organic gardening training course with Kevin.
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Lunch Committee and Garden Maintenance Worker |
While I was there, I was able to help facilitate our pen pal letter writing program where every student at Empakasi received and wrote a response letter to their pen pals at Eagle Crest Elementary in Longmont.
Attached to each pen pal letter, is a picture of themselves that will be shared with their pen pal. When we first started this program, they were very shy in front of the camera, however this time I didn't have that same problem as most of them would strike a pose before I was even ready to take their picture!
It was hard to leave such loving and energetic kids, however I am hopeful for the future with the renewed excitement and organization of our programs!