We are pleased once again to send you our news from Enaikishomi School after our visit last September. Those of you who are subscribed to our emails will have already received this report.
Edward and Sandy
It is 20 years since Amy Elgar encouraged us to support a school in Kenya. It is inspiring to reflect on the changes to the Enaikishomi School from a single wooden classroom (pictured above) back in 2004, to a beautiful campus
The current site comprises 11 classrooms, 17 teacher accommodation units, a kitchen, dining room, sports field and flourishing flower and vegetable gardens.
Outside and inside the dining hall
Area inside the classroom quadrangle
Our special thanks to all of Amy’s friends and relatives and to Edward Elgar Publishing who have supported Enaikishomi through thick and thin.
Water from the borehole has been key to the success of the School and continues to be an important feature of school life. But gone are the days when local families used to queue with their donkeys and jerry cans to buy water from the water kiosk manned by a caretaker.
The kiosk now stands in splendid isolation with an internet aerial outlined against the sky! It has a modern dispenser so local people can buy water whenever they wish making payment by mobile phone
Outside of School grounds
Until recently there was a school rule that every child had to bring a stick to place on the pile of firewood for the kitchen stoves. As a result of climate change and deforestation, the gathering of kindling is discouraged. . . especially by local farmers concerned by the removal of sticks from fences! In response to this problem, the Headteacher, Mathew Munyi, and a team from Lewa are investigating solar powered cookers.
The entry path to the School, however, is lined with beautiful trees which have flourished over the years as a result of a watering programme which involves most of the children
Some of the girls have special responsibility for one of the many newly planted banana trees and can sell the fruit back to the School and teachers. The money is used to purchase sanitary pads.
Water conservation is a key aspect of school life. Water from the wash basins is stored in jerry cans and then used by the children responsible for cleaning the toilets.
It was delightful to see the children enjoying the new playground swings and slides. We also spotted the new school pet. . . a white rabbit who is fed on a daily basis by the children.
We continue to be impressed with the school IT and the Spectron boards in most classrooms. The digital learning team at Lewa have given outstanding support visiting the school every week for training purposes.
School Management
The school is benefiting greatly from the excellent leadership of the Headteacher, Mathew Munyi.
There are numerous timetables and rotas on the notice boards with cleaning and other tasks being allocated to both the teachers and the pupils.
The whole school area seems to run like clockwork with the children watering trees and flowerbeds on a regular basis. The campus is now very beautiful.We attended a meeting of the Board of Management (BOM) with the newly elected Chairman, Stephen Sakita, an accountant who works locally at Borana Lodge. We discussed the reluctance of some parents to pay the school fees of 400 Kenyan shillings per term (about £3) and were surprised to learn that the nearby government school at Ethi charges much higher fees!
We expressed our disappointment that the sewing programme is not well supported by the community and explained how it has always been very unprofitable for the School.We have given notice of one year that, if there continues to be little support and enthusiasm for the sewing programme, we will donate the nine Singer sewing machines to another organisation. . . most probably to the Polytechnic at Ethi Village.
Future Projects
The Kenyan Government has recently decreed that years 7, 8 and now 9 (from ages 11 to 15/16) will remain in primary schools to receive secondary education. This means that Enaikishomi School must expand to accommodate year 9 students (aged from 14 to 15/16years). These three years are to be known as “Junior Secondary“ students and are to have a different uniform to those in the primary classes.
Whilst we have sufficient classrooms, staff who were using the oldest classroom as an administrative office, have now to re-locate to the very small admin office which was previously the old kitchen.
In addition, one or two more teachers will be needed to cover the curriculum and it is expected that these will be employed by the government.
We have therefore agreed a number of new projects namely:upgrading and extension of the staff/admin room to include separate offices for the Headmaster and the Deputy Head Teacher (above)construction of two new teacher accommodation units;renovation of the roofs on some of the older classrooms;the repainting of the walls of all the classrooms. . . hopefully to be decorated with murals by the art club, subject to the research of Mathew Munyi and his colleagues at Lewa, the installation of solar powered cookers; subject to the agreement and support of Lewa, to help the Polytechnic at Ethi to provide practical vocational training for young school leavers.
With many thanks for your continuing support which is greatly appreciated by Enaikishomi School and the surrounding community.
Edward and Sandy Elgar Trustees of the Amy Elgar Trust Charity Registration No.: 1144222
We are pleased once again to send you our news from Enaikishomi School after our recent visit.
Edward and Sandy
The new dining hall stripped of posters for exams
Edward and Sandy Elgar together with their daughter Catherine, her husband Tim and their children, Eloise, Josh and Rose visited Enaikishomi School in late October of this year. Unfortunately, owing to some miscommunication, we were not made aware that the School was closed during our visit for national exams!
Sadly, therefore, we were not able to meet with the teachers and pupils as in previous years. However, the Headteacher, Mathew Munyi made a special effort and we had a long and productive meeting with him at the school on Sunday 29th October.
There have been significant developments during the last year. Enaikishomi has been designated by Lewa as a pioneer school to demonstrate the benefits of digital teaching and standard blackboards have been replaced by Spectron screens linked to the internet.
The Amy Elgar Trust (AET) is providing funds to ensure that all eight classrooms teaching grades 1 to 8 have Spectron screens, solar panels and new batteries to power them.
There are around fifty/sixty tablets (linked to the Spectrons ) shared by the students. This amazing initiative has been supported by the digital learning team at Lewa who have visited the School on a weekly basis to provide hands on instruction to the teachers to make the best use of this new technology.
This pioneering development at Enaikishomi was featured on national television as you can see in this video:
We were very pleased to see that the water kiosk has been modified so that the local community can purchase water using Mpesa on their mobile phones. There are obvious advantages in eliminating cash transactions whilst enabling the locals to access water at a time of their choice.
A new government initiative has been to provide electricity to the area, including to Enaikishomi School. This is not yet operating but it will be good to have another source of energy in addition to solar power.
At first sight, the garden appeared less tidy and well tended than on previous visits. The reason became apparent during our meeting with the headmaster. The garden is now an important part of the learning experience and is being used to teach the children the basics of agriculture.
Each class has a parcel of land and within that parcel, the plants are watered and cared for by an individual or groups of children. It is remarkable that the garden has survived very well during the severe drought of the last three years. There is also an impressive nursery where plants are grown from seeds or cuttings for distribution to the local community.
During the last year the AET funded the construction of two new teachers houses, bringing the total to eighteen units for seventeen teachers and Dan, the handyman who is in charge of maintenance. There are many advantages in all the teachers enjoying resident status on the school grounds. Suffice to say that Enaikishomi does not suffer from the levels of absenteeism prevalent in other schools!
During the past year, a new play area has been constructed for nursery and reception children.
This includes a rabbit hutch awaiting pet rabbits for the children.
We were delighted to learn that in the current “war on waste”, the railings for the nursery area were made from the shutters removed from the first classroom built in 2004.
Indeed, we were also pleased to see other re-cycling initiatives such as the filing boxes made from cardboard packaging and the rubbish collecting dustpans from leaking plastic containers.
The tailoring project has had its ups and downs over the years. The challenges have been to employ good tailoring tutors and to ensure full, continuing attendance by the adult women students. After some discussion with the women, it has been decided that the current tailoring tutor, who can only work one day per week during term time, will instruct the older pupils. The Headmaster will manage this new initiative.
We were delighted to be introduced to the new music teacher, Kenneth. We agreed that the AET would fund the purchase of an electric piano which will provide accompaniment for the school choir as well as instruction for the musically gifted children.
Conclusion
We are delighted that Enaikishomi is in good shape providing high quality education to about 258 children under the direction of the excellent and committed Headmaster, Mathew Munyi.In terms of future projects, we are keen to explore the possible development of vocational training to provide practical skills such as plumbing, bricklaying, electrical engineering, car mechanics etc. We had a guided tour of the Polytechnic at the local village of Ethi which offers courses in all these areas. Lewa has kindly agreed to do a feasibility study to establish a possible link between Enaikishomi and the Polytechnic.
With many thanks for your continuing support which is greatly appreciated by Enaikishomi School and the surrounding community.
Edward and Sandy Elgar Trustees of the Amy Elgar Trust Charity Registration No.: 1144222
We are pleased to send you a report on our recent visit to Enaikishomi School which is going from strength to strength under the direction of the excellent, new headmaster, Mathew Munyi.
With best wishes to you all for Christmas and 2023. Edward and Sandy
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Report on the visit to the School by Edward and Sandy Elgar accompanied by their daughter Laura, her husband Alex and their children Leo, Barnaby and Chloe.
It was a delight to arrive at Enaikishomi School and see the well maintained and clean school grounds.
A New Dining Hall
There has been a major change at the school since our last visit in January, namely the construction of a beautiful multipurpose dining hall.
This is a light and very large space measuring 23 by 7 metres.
It has been well positioned alongside the kitchen with a new washing-up area and a serving hatch. It will be of particular benefit in the rainy season. No longer will the children have to sit outside getting wet and muddy!
This hall will be used for many different activities including music lessons and concerts, art classes and exhibitions, meetings with the parents and community etc.
It was wonderful to see the children queuing up in an orderly manner to collect their food. Many of the children come from very poor families and some have little to eat at home. Therefore, the feeding programme is an important lifeline.
We were very moved to see an enlarged and framed photograph of our daughter, Amy, donated by a neighbour, Mr Mwai.
The Headteacher – Mr Mathew Munyi
We had a warm welcome from Mathew followed by detailed discussions of recent progress at the school. Mathew is a truly excellent leader and commands the respect of all the teachers and ancillary staff as well as ourselves as donors. He is also modest and it was only at subsequent meetings that we learned from the Lewa education officer that Mathew is instrumental at Enaikishomi School in making exceptional progress in digital technology. IT at Enaikishomi School serves as a model for the many other schools administered by Lewa.
In contrast to previous years, the general maintenance of the school is excellent with the gardens very neat and tidy and the sports pitch in good condition for football despite the drought. Mathew has organised rotas for the cleaning of all the classrooms and toilets. There were no broken windows which is always a good sign.
Mathew is compassionate and proactive in improving the well-being of the children.
During our tour, we were surprised to find some mattresses stacked up in the classroom for the three and four year old children. These were purchased from the funds that Enaikishomi receives from the Lewa marathon. Mathew explained that some of the children come from troubled families and get little sleep at home. Some of them walk for up to three hours a day just to get to and from school so they are all encouraged to have a two hour sleep after lunch!
White Elephants
This visit was very helpful to modify some of our previous ideas that could all too easily have resulted in buildings or technologies that would have been of little benefit.
We have shelved plans to construct a purpose built music room and library. Music lessons and any concerts can easily be accommodated in the new dining hall. A library for printed books is not necessary as apparently the children download and read books on the 52 tablets available at the school. In addition, the school is well served by a mobile library from Lewa.
We have also decided against installing a biogas plant to fuel the kitchen stoves. Whilst this is an attractive and environmentally friendly technology, it requires eight tons of cow manure to get started, followed by regular top ups. As a result of the severe drought, the local pastoralist farmers have taken their cows to the slopes of Mt Kenya in search of grazing. We were also told that many of the cows have died from thirst or malnutrition. In brief, it would be impossible to gather sufficient cow dung to make the biogas project viable. In view of this, we decided in consultation with Mathew and Nicholas Mutembi from Lewa to install an array of solar panels on the roof of the dining hall to supply new electric commercial cookers.
A new school curriculum?
We were advised that the new government under President William Ruto may introduce changes whereby children would move to secondary school at the age of eleven/twelve rather than fourteen as at present. If this were to happen, Enaikishomi would then have two empty classrooms that could be used for other purposes. So we do not envisage any more new construction in the foreseeable future.
The Water Kiosk
Enaikishomi is situated in the county of Laikipia which has suffered from a severe drought during the last three/four years. Fortunately, the school borehole is performing well. However, there are increasing demands from the local community on the water kiosk which is a lifeline to many. We have agreed with Mathew to install a water ATM at the kiosk which will enable local people to purchase water using their mobile phones. This will improve access to the water as well as eliminate the need for cash transactions that can be a source of temptation.
The Wildshots Programme
The weekend photography course conducted at the Lewa Education Centre by Mike and Harriet Kendrick earlier in the year was a great success, even though those pupils attending from Enaikishomi School were on the young side. Photos from the course have been selected and are currently being framed for display in the school. It is hoped that as a result of this programme, a photography club will be established in the future.
The Impact of Climate Change
The severe drought has had a devastating impact on the local community. Many families have lost their livelihood as their cows have died of starvation. Other families have taken their cows to the foothills of Mt Kenya in search of grazing. In some cases the children accompany their parents, leading to a temporary decline in student numbers.Mathew informed us that many families doubt that the traditional pastoral way of life will provide a viable livelihood for their children and as a consequence are placing a higher value on education.
New Initiatives
After long and helpful discussions with the Headteacher, Mathew, the Lewa Education Officer, Purity Kinoti and Nicholas Mutembi, Lewa Logistics, we agreed to support the following projects:
The installation of new water tanks, some of which may be linked to existing tanks through an overflow system. The harvesting and conservation of rainwater is critically important.
To support the very successful digital learning programme, we agreed to extend the internet to three more classrooms and provide three new Spectron teaching screens.
To provide a large television screen in the new dining hall so that the children can watch the news during the day and also while eating their meals. Having been brought up to believe that it is wrong to watch TV while eating (!), we initially had some doubts about this idea. However, both Mathew and the teachers reminded us that very few of the children have TV at home and that their knowledge of the outside world is narrowly confined to the local community. Watching the news on a daily basis will help to widen their horizons.
The school has a flourishing farming club run by the children. Last year they had a healthy crop of yellow maize half of which was eaten by the weaver birds! It was agreed to install posts and netting to protect the crops in the future.
To paint the old kitchen, the staff room and the headmaster’s room and to install pin boards and rails as appropriate.
To provide pebble/small stones on walkways to reduce the amount of mud or dirt brought into the classrooms and other buildings.
To remove old shutters from the very first classroom which was built and install appropriate windows.
To install an ATM system at the water kiosk for local people to make payments by Mpesa on their mobile phones.
To provide nursery play equipment.
To provide further equipment such as two working tables for activities in the new dining room, a metal table for serving food and new electric cooking stoves.
To provide invertors into staff quarters for teachers to power their mobile phones.
To provide more sports’ balls as necessary.
To facilitate a visit to the Lewa Education Centre via the Borana and Lewa conservancies.
Conclusion
This was a very encouraging visit. We are confident that the school will continue to make good progress under the leadership of the excellent Head Teacher Mathew Munyi. We look forward to our next visit tentatively scheduled for October 2023
With best wishes
Edward and Sandy Elgar Trustees of the Amy Elgar Trust Charity Registration No.: 1144222
Report on our visit to Enaikishomi School January 2022, by Edward and Sandy Elgar
Dear Friends and Supporters
Following the cancellation of two intended visits to Enaikishomi School in 2020 and in 2021, Edward and Sandy were pleased to make it in January of this year.
We are delighted that Enaikishomi has a dynamic new Headteacher, Mr Mathew Munyi who, in just six months, has transformed the running of the School.
He believes in instilling responsibility in the children who are encouraged to become involved in every aspect of school life. He is an excellent manager and has planned weekly meetings with every teacher. Staff morale is now very high. The children appear happy and well motivated.
Involving The Children
Mathew believes strongly that the children should be involved in the management and maintenance of the School. He has established daily rotas of children responsible for cleaning the kitchen, the classrooms and the toilets. There is a similar rota for the teachers to clean their communal showers and toilets!
The school and its grounds were spotlessly clean at the time of our visit and for the first time, there were no broken windows
We were delighted to see the new pupils’ toilets which were built since our last visit in October 2019. They blend into the school buildings and environment very well.
Water Tanks
Mathew is concerned that during the rainy season the 500 litre tanks harvesting water from the roofs fill rapidly and then overflow leading to a significant loss of water.
He suggested that the 500 litre tanks could be replaced with 1000 litre tanks. We took advice on this proposal from our friend Mike Scott whose house near the school has an impressive array of interconnected tanks. After much thought and discussion, it was agreed to introduce an overflow system whereby the excess water would be piped to additional 500 litre tanks that could be in a location where it was most needed. A simple but important change that will double the storage capacity while making water available in those places where it is most needed.
A Water Incident story
During the tenure of the former headmaster, we were sent photographs of a tractor with two large water bowsers parked in the school compound on a Saturday night! On his arrival, Mathew Munyi, the new headmaster asked that the school gates be closed and locked at night. The very next morning he received an anguished telephone call from a local building contractor complaining that his tractor had been locked in! It transpired that the former headmaster had made a deal to supply the builder with water from the school borehole! Any agreement with the builder has now been terminated. A retrospective payment was made by the new neighbour who was not aware that School water being used in the construction of his house.
The Garden
The School looks very beautiful with flowers blooming in the beds alongside the classrooms and amongst the trees which are now flourishing. Just walking in the School grounds is an uplifting experience.
The vegetable garden is very productive (despite the elephants – see below!) with good crops of kale, cabbage, onions, bananas, passion fruit, beans and other nutritious plants used to supplement the children’s diet.
There is a tree nursery which will eventually offer saplings to the local community. However, Mathew has made important changes to involve the children as gardening and agriculture are now part of the new Kenyan curriculum. Each class has responsibility for tilling, sowing, watering and harvesting a particular patch of land. The gardener, Dan has been redeployed to focus on the maintenance of the buildings, fences and landscaping of the School compound.
Elephants in the Garden
During our visit five clever elephants used their tusks to push through the electric fence and enter the school garden at the dead of night! They ate some bananas, many onions and other vegetables and damaged some trees before being chased away by the teachers and security guards. And to add insult to injury, when we returned to our room at Ngiri House some ten miles away there was no water…. the elephants had broken in and destroyed some water pipes. Thanks to the security and effective anti poaching measures, there are now a large and growing number of elephants who have worked out that they are safe in the Lewa and Borana conservancies.
A Classical Performance
We were delighted to be invited to lunch by some new neighbours, Sophie and Peter Kinyua who introduced us to Elizabeth Njoroge, the founder of Ghetto Classics and the Kenyan Youth Orchestra. Sophie and Elizabeth are keen to develop a classical music programme at Enaikishomi and we agreed to support this venture by constructing a new music and arts centre. During our visit we were treated to a cello concert by a friend of Elizabeth, Robert Howard and three of her pupils from the ghetto in Nairobi. The Enaikishomi children had never seen anything like this before and were transfixed!
Innovation in Teaching
Our neighbours, Sophie and Peter Kinyua kindly donated three spectron screens which were supplemented by a further four screens funded by the Amy Elgar Trust, making a total of seven in all. These herald a revolution in teaching. The blackboard is now redundant!
Spectron is linked to the internet and teachers can download educational materials from anywhere in the world. It is also linked to tablets available to the children.
The Lewa digital trainer, Jackie has done an excellent job enabling the teachers to use this new technology to its full extent. We will be funding a booster box so that the Wi-Fi signal reaches all of the classrooms.
The Nursery Class
Mathew plans to install a sandpit and swings for the many very young children who come to the School. He is also planning to install some rabbit hutches and rabbits. He thinks the children will enjoy caring for and interacting with live animals and this could be therapeutic for those children with psychological problems as a result of poor deprived family backgrounds.
Mathew will be offering an unpaid internship to a student attending a teacher training college in Nairobi. The intern will gain valuable teaching experience as well as giving support to the nursery teachers. Enaikishomi is well placed to have interns who can have good safe accommodation within the compound…. something that is not available at many other schools.
Extra curricular activities
There are many after school clubs including science, chess, art, music, agriculture, environment, gardening, wildlife, choir. Mathew is keen to have a competition (to be judged by the teachers) with the best club being rewarded with a day trip to the spectacular Thomson Falls at Nyahururu. The AET has agreed to fund this prize.
As result of covid there have been no football matches for a long time. However, many teachers have fond memories of the coaching provided by our friend Bob Reeves over two years ago. It is encouraging that one of the new teachers Martin Muriongi is a rugby player (a winger). The new rotas for cleaning and feeding mean that there are no longer large groups of children milling around, looking for something to do.
Tailoring Class
The tailoring class has prospered and we will shortly be replacing the tutor who left recently for a job at a local Polytechnic. There are now ten Singer sewing machines in use.
Mathew himself wears a well fitted red long sleeved shirt and grey trousers on Mondays and Fridays, an excellent advertisement for the class.
Our new neighbour Sophie Kinyua is keen to support the tailoring class and may purchase new uniforms for the staff at her home near the school. There is apparently an excellent tailor at the nearby village of Ethi who by all accounts would be ideal for the school.
A new Dining Room/Sports Hall
This has been on the agenda for a long time and we are pleased that it is supported by the new Headmaster, Mathew. The dining hall will be linked directly to the kitchen and will be designed with a dual purpose to serve as a sports hall. This project is timely as our new neighbour Sophie Kinyua (who owns a restaurant in Nairobi) is keen to help develop courses in cookery and domestic science.
Fuel for the kitchen stoves
Mathew is concerned that in years to come the government may prevent people from collecting wood in the forest. This measure would help to deter charcoal burning and serve to protect the trees. However, it would make it impossible for the children to collect firewood for the kitchen stoves. To forestall difficulties in the future, Mathew is keen to explore a Biogas system that would be powered by animal dung. More information on this innovative technology can be found at http://www.biogas.co.ke
Meeting of The Board of Management (BOM)
The meeting was chaired by Mathew Munyi who has a policy of restricting meetings to one hour.
Concern was expressed for a girl who as a result of being abused and beaten at home had attempted suicide. We were very impressed to learn that Mathew had visited the family and arranged for her, as a temporary measure, to attend a boarding school. However, he appreciated that this was not the perfect solution as she was eager to return home. The community will try to help the family.
There was a discussion about the advisability of having bees in the garden to deter the elephants. It was decided not to go ahead as African bees are very aggressive and could attack the children. In addition, the next door neighbour, Caroline Thouless is very allergic to bee stings.
There was a reading of a long letter from Dan the gardener detailing every aspect of his work and requesting the assistance of a casual worker. A member pointed out that Dan was exaggerating the pressures on his time as some of his duties (such as the pruning of trees ) took place once a year. It transpired that every day Dan left work an hour early at 3.00 p.m. as he had an agreement to transport some children on his motorbike to the nearby village of Ethi. After some heated discussion (especially from Sandy Elgar) it was agreed to support Mathew who has a plan to reorganise Dan’s workload and manage his time more carefully.
It is noteworthy that the Chairman, appointed by the previous Headteacher, made no contribution at all to the meeting. There will be an “election” for a new BOM in March and candidatures have already been submitted for vetting by the government. However, we were impressed by the BOM and think that it will make an important contribution under the leadership of Mathew Munyi.
The School and the Community
During our visit, there was some excitement as a lorry arrived from Lewa packed with bags of beans, rice, maize etc.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the feeding programme in an area recently affected by severe drought. We were told that many of the children do not have enough to eat at home.
With the support of Lewa, the school environmental club will approach the owners of a bar and shop opposite the School and provide them with steel litter bins, similar to those already within the School compound, for the disposal of bottles and other rubbish that disfigures the road alongside.
There is also a plan to install speed bumps and signs to encourage the traffic (mostly motorbikes) to slow down near the School. We were encouraged to learn that the local government school at Ethi is improving and hope that this will reduce the number of children wishing to attend Enaikishomi. The school now has 278 pupils.
With best wishes
Edward and Sandy Elgar Trustees of the Amy Elgar Trust Charity Registration No.: 1144222
We are all unanimous in saying that 2020 was a very difficult year, not only here in the UK but throughout the world. In Kenya, the Enaikishomi School was closed from March to mid-October, only re-opening fully in January this year. Our trip to Nairobi in May to inspect some eco-toilets and deal with other administrative details was cancelled as a result of the covid virus.
However, even before the pandemic arrived, Edward and I were so saddened by the sudden death of a family friend and loyal supporter of the Amy Elgar Trust, Annie Marchant who died on 9 January 2020. Annie’s generosity still continued as we learnt later in the year that she remembered the Amy Elgar Trust in her will.
Despite the fact that we could not inspect more modern eco toilets in Nairobi, we felt that the urgent need for more and better pupils’ toilets still remained. We therefore decided to agree to the recommendations of the logistics team at Lewa Wildlife Conservatory and building… or rather digging first of all… began in the autumn.
Throughout 2020, Dan, the gardener continued to work within the School compound and both the vegetable garden and the flower borders flourished.
A new friend and neighbour at Enaikishomi, Mike Scott, continued to inspect the borehole, the header tank and all the meters every quarter and report back to us. We are now beginning to build up a clear picture of the water usage, despite 2020 being such an odd year.
In addition, other new neighbours to Enaikishomi School, Peter and Sarah Kinyua, secured donations which enabled the recent purchase of Spectron boards to enhance the technological education available to the pupils.
It is good to see the children returning to Enaikishomi School and resume their education. We have yet to learn the effects of 9 months’ lack of education and especially for those who were not able to graduate at the end of the academic year in 2020.
Edward and I hope to visit the School in May this year (just re-booked our flights) but in the meantime we thank you all for your continued support and interest.
We were delighted to visit Enakishomi again in October and to have with us our eldest daughter Catherine, her husband Tim and their three children Eloise (11) Joshua (9) and Rose (nearly 7) as well as my nephew Ben and his girlfriend, Justine.
We received a very warm welcome from both teachers and pupils. As part of our introduction, we were treated to some presentations and poems on the environment, followed by some excellent traditional Maasai dance and song from members of the music club.
The School Accounts
The school accounts ….or rather lack thereof …..have been an ongoing source of concern. This issue was raised both with the Headteacher and members of the School Board of Management who are co-signatories to the bank accounts. Thankfully, the Headteacher had kept records and there was no obvious evidence of wrongdoing.
It has been agreed that in future school fees (KES 400 or £3 per child per term) will be paid electronically by Mpesa (98% of Kenyans use Mpesa on their (more…)
We visited the Enaikishomi School again in January 2017.
Pupil numbers have grown significantly and are now around 230 with ages ranging from 3 to 12/13 years. As usual there are some steps forward and alas some steps back but, all in all, the School is making excellent progress and is now a pioneer in many areas such as environmental conservation and permaculture.
Enaikishomi Examination Results
The pupils at Enaikishomi have consistently performed extremely well in the continuous assessment tests. Of the 22 schools in the North Laikipia district, Enaikishomi nearly always features in the top three. It has to be said that the Enaikishomi teachers are intensely competitive and are mortified if their class performs less well than expected! This is a significant achievement for a (more…)
It has been agreed that in future school fees (KES 400 or £3 per child per term) will be paid electronically by Mpesa (98% of Kenyans use Mpesa on their 
The Amy Elgar Trust 