Dear Friends and Supporters

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