Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Western Endeavour - Issue No.: 1151 Issue Date: 22 Dec, 2024

Rotary Club of Western Endeavour has proudly supported students at the Kimuka school in Kenya for over a decade.  Club member, John Boxall provided the club with an update this week. 

Kimuka school is located in a small village approximately 1800 metres above sea level in the rift valley 80 kilometres from Nairobi.  Kimuka is renowned for its self-help approach to life. Although the village and school are impoverished, education is appreciated and there is an impressive attitude to providing the children with a “way out” through improved schooling.

A relationship that started Emmanuel Mopel Sakuda when in 2006 teachers, Kath and Len Collier saw his potential while doing volunteer teaching and gave him the opportunity to continue his education through to University from where he graduated in Actuarial Science. They also set up a fund, The Masai Education Fund, to enable other children to attend primary school. While primary education is state sponsored it does not include requirements such as shoes, books, stationery etc. Secondary education is not free, and children need to board away from their village. For just $500 per year a child can be sponsored through secondary school which includes the cost of all fees, books, food and board.

John Boxall has championed this project including establishing it as a Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) project allowing tax deductible donations to provide guidance, expertise and assistance to the Kimuka community such that the community as a whole and the children in particular can improve their standard of living.

During the past decade, the club has sponsored uniforms for students which is a mandatory requirement to attend school.  Food has also been provided to the school to provide meals and the parents were responsible for preparing the meals for the students.

Rotary Club of Western Endeavour worked closely with Rosalie Primary School to establish an interact club and the students developed pen pal relationships as well as ran fundraising to help build shelter for the students.

When power was installed near the village and connected to the school, communications became even stronger following the purchase of computers for the school.

Student education sponsorship is usually for a 4 year period to allow them to successfully complete high school, two recent sponsored students plan to go onto further studies in gynaecology and nursing.

Melanie Peyian, the RCWE sponsored student, was recently honoured by her village in Kenya. Melanie is the first person in Kimuka to graduate from university and become a doctor. Melanie expressed her gratitude to RCWE for making this possible and is determined to help her village in the future.  A video clip of her graduatioin can be found here:

Download then view (64 mins at 60kb/s).. 226 Mb

If you wish to support such a worthy cause, please use the following link Maasai Sustainable Development Project, Kimuka, Kajiado County, Kenya