Teams 2009
The Asterias Organisation is a Christian charity working in Kenya with the aim of serving the
Kenyan people in Jesus' name. As part of the work of Asterias we took 2 teams to Kenya in August 2009.
Kimuka Girls Boarding High School - The school in Masai-land is doing extremely well and currently has almost 150 girls. There are 9 teachers, of whom 8 are now paid for by the government. The main problem at present is the lack of dormitory space in fact some 20 girls have to sleep in converted classrooms.
The schoolplans to take on another 80 girls and a waiting list has already been set up. The girls' performance is exemplary. They have not graduated a class yet but the marks are very good. The school's reputation is such that they continue to attract very good students.
Plans are in place to make the school "Two Stream" which should raise the pupil level to 320 and the School Board have managed to secure Community Development Funding to build two laboratories.
With 320 pupils this would make the school the largest boarding school in Masai-land and Asterias want to continue to help make it the best. The school recently received an award from the Education Ministry for good record keeping.
Karai Home and School - Formerly known as Sugoi Children's Home the home was situated in Eldoret. Founded 10 years ago it had 30 children and consisted of a primary school, dormitories and kitchen.
In 2007 there were tribal clashes throughout Western Kenya and particularly in Eldoret in consequence of which the children's home was destroyed leaving many children homeless.
These children who had been living on the streets found refuge in a local Presbyterian Church and lived in tents within the church grounds for 8 months.
Last year under the auspices of the Outreach Foundation of America (our Partners in Kenya) and a Lutheran Church a home was established for these children in Karai. This now cares for 160 children. Three members of the Asterias Board met with the folk running this project during a visit to Kenya in August 2008 and were impressed with the work being undertaken. That being so we were delighted to be offered the opportunity of providing much needed additional facilities.
The facility is currently caring for these children, many of them traumatised by the events of 2007.Many are orphans, some are from one parent families and there are currently 34 boys and girls in residence at the home. Until summer 2009 they had been making do with two nursery rooms and two classrooms and an off site High School facility. They needed a Vocational School to prepare children for jobs such as carpentry, masonry tailoring, etc., and four additional classrooms were required.
Asterias has provided these four classrooms and the work was completed by one of our teams in August 2009. We are making a difference and creating an opportunity so that these children will not return to the streets.
Photos of the 2009 Asterias teams to
Kimuka and Karai,
along with specific prayer points, can be found in our Teams 2009 Prayer Letter here.