Newsletter Item
Edition 05-05-10
And With These Few Words…
And with these few words…
The last few weeks have been busy both with Easter’s aftermath and our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Service. This is the time every year when we drag our sponsored
students away from school and village to make a day of giving thanks to the Divine and our innumerable sponsors for the blessing of secondary education. This year, we
have over 125 sponsored students in 20 different schools, up from 75 in 2009 and 22 in 2008. Admittedly, the service was a bit of a mad house. The students and parents
arrived by any means necessary, and all morning long piki-piki’s (motorcycle taxis), matatus (minivan taxi/bus), and school buses pulled into the compound of St. Thomas,
our local parish, to drop off their charges. Grace and Rose (our volunteer and secretary, respectively) had it rough getting everyone registered and photographed, while Peter
extracted the necessary thank-you letters, and we all struggled with the ever-difficult task of getting the service started, much less on time.
The Elewana Project’s public profile must be on the upswing, given the number of local politicians who made an appearance. There are two sides to this coin. Certainly,
the presence of any local dignitary is an honor and lends both credibility and visibility to our work. The flip side is that, by custom immemorial, attending politicians are offered a
chance to say a few remarks to the assembled crowd. And nobody likes to talk as much as a Kenyan politician with a captive audience. Such grandstanding extended our service
well into the afternoon, and it was hours before the Bishop could give his concluding remarks and we were released for lunch. Not that there weren’t some memorable
moments, and I was particularly amused when the District Education Officer had the nerve to bemoan the government’s beleaguered coffers as the reason for its inability to
cover secondary school costs. So amused, in fact, that I felt compelled to remind him of the recent scandal in which officials in the national education office had absconded
with a few billion shillings while the Minister for such affairs refused to resign, claiming simply, “I didn’t know”.
But it wasn’t all fun and games, and before everyone broke ranks, I took the opportunity to sit on my traditional stool (a sign that an elder is about to lay down the
law) to remind our students to bring home the bacon (i.e. good grades) less they risk loosing their scholarships. While I was at it, I couldn’t help but challenge the assembled
mass to find a way to mend the educational system such that it doesn’t rely on foreign assistance to make secondary education a reality for young Kenyans. To hear it, you
would have thought I didn’t like my jobJ. All in all, it was a great day. Keith sang to the crowd, the students ate their fill of good food and mingled freely with friends, and the
parents and guardians, many of whom are widows or the beleaguered aunts and uncles of orphaned nieces and nephews, were grateful for the fellowship and the opportunity to
express their gratitude for the assistance their families had received. All of us, it seems, found joy in giving thanks for the generosity of you at home who made the education of
so many young people possible.
To know me is to know that I hate Facebook. Even so, you may be tempted by recent addition the Elewana Education Project’s Facebook page, replete with photos of
our students, schools, and the aforementioned the Thanksgiving Service, to suspect I have repented of such loathing and now fully embrace social networking as a means of
communication. You would be wrong. I have merely grown wiser with age and asked the younger and more technologically astute (and enthusiastic) Grace Hornsby to create
and update said page. She has done yeoman’s work in that regard, and we can’t thank her enough for her high quality work and from saving me from having to do it. Take a
sec to check it out (the photos really are great). Link below. Oh yeah, become a ‘fan’ while you’re at it, whatever the hell that means.
Another blog is coming in about two days, this one written by The Ever-Illustrious Emojong Keith (his self-appointed title, not mine), who promises his own take
on the Thanksgiving Service and the craziness that is our life in Western Kenya. Stay tuned and keep in touch.
Mad Love, Zach
Elewana Facebook Page
The last few weeks have been busy both with Easter’s aftermath and our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Service. This is the time every year when we drag our sponsored students away from school and village to make a day of giving thanks to the Divine and our innumerable sponsors for the blessing of secondary education. This year, we have over 125 sponsored students in 20 different schools, up from 75 in 2009 and 22 in 2008. Admittedly, the service was a bit of a mad house. The students and parents arrived by any means necessary, and all morning long piki-piki’s (motorcycle taxis), matatus (minivan taxi/bus), and school buses pulled into the compound of St. Thomas, our local parish, to drop off their charges. Grace and Rose (our volunteer and secretary, respectively) had it rough getting everyone registered and photographed, while Peter extracted the necessary thank-you letters, and we all struggled with the ever-difficult task of getting the service started, much less on time. The Elewana Project’s public profile must be on the upswing, given the number of local politicians who made an appearance. There are two sides to this coin. Certainly,the presence of any local dignitary is an honor and lends both credibility and visibility to our work. The flip side is that, by custom immemorial, attending politicians are offered a chance to say a few remarks to the assembled crowd. And nobody likes to talk as much as a Kenyan politician with a captive audience. Such grandstanding extended our service well into the afternoon, and it was hours before the Bishop could give his concluding remarks and we were released for lunch. Not that there weren’t some memorable moments, and I was particularly amused when the District Education Officer had the nerve to bemoan the government’s beleaguered coffers as the reason for its inability to cover secondary school costs. So amused, in fact, that I felt compelled to remind him of the recent scandal in which officials in the national education office had absconded with a few billion shillings while the Minister for such affairs refused to resign, claiming simply, “I didn’t know”. But it wasn’t all fun and games, and before everyone broke ranks, I took the opportunity to sit on my traditional stool (a sign that an elder is about to lay down the law) to remind our students to bring home the bacon (i.e. good grades) less they risk loosing their scholarships. While I was at it, I couldn’t help but challenge the assembled mass to find a way to mend the educational system such that it doesn’t rely on foreign assistance to make secondary education a reality for young Kenyans. To hear it, you would have thought I didn’t like my job. To know me is to know that I hate Facebook. Even so, you may be tempted by the recent addition of The Elewana Education Project’s Facebook page, replete with photos ofour students, schools, and the aforementioned the Thanksgiving Service, to suspect I have repented of such loathing and now fully embrace social networking as a means of communication. You would be wrong. I have merely grown wiser with age and asked the younger and more technologically astute (and enthusiastic) Grace Hornsby to create and update said page. She has done yeoman’s work in that regard, and we can’t thank her enough for her high quality work and from saving me from having to do it. Take a sec to check it out (the photos really are great). Link below. Oh yeah, become a ‘fan’ while you’re at it, whatever the hell that means. Another blog is coming in about two days, this one written by The Ever-illustrious Emojong Keith (his self-appointed title, not mine), who promises his own take on the Thanksgiving Service and the craziness that is our life in Western Kenya. Stay tuned and keep in touch. Mad Love, Zach |
All in all, it was a great day. Keith sang to the crowd, the students ate their fill of good food and mingled freely with friends, and the parents and guardians, many of whom are widows or the beleaguered aunts and uncles of orphaned nieces and nephews, were grateful for the fellowship and the opportunity to express their gratitude for the assistance their families had received. All of us, it seems, found joy in giving thanks for the generosity of you at home who made the education of so many young people possible.