Photos have been removed from this issue because of a law in Kenya requiring strict documentation for photos and videos featuring school children.
I'm an accountant and I like numbers. But while it is fun to talk about putting books in 3,021 schools impacting 680,000 children plus their families and teachers, it is really all about the children. My granddaughter and I have had the pleasure and privilege of talking with students and teachers in Kenya. Our Board member, Jean-Marie Cote' has compiled some videos from those discussions so you can see and hear the children. Like kids everywhere, they have hopes and dreams for the future. They just need the resources to reach their goals.
2 More Containers - ETA Nov 7 On September 9, 2022, two more containers started their journey to Kenya with over 70,000 books. This will create libraries in approximately 300 more schools impacting the lives of approximately 67,000 more children. These containers were made possible by the matching grant from doTERRA Corporation. They are scheduled to arrive November 7 2022.
The rural schools are run by college trained teachers. They are dedicated, underpaid, and have limited funds. While they are familiar with libraries, most weren't trained on how to get the most utilization out of a libraries. Our team in Kenya led by Wanjiku Francis has received training to introduce them to Librarianship and activities of bringing books to life, promotion of a reading culture, and training teachers to see the value of the books as part of primary and secondary school curriculum, and as part of the current CBC (Career Based Curriculum) curriculum in Kenya. Pictured here are Gladys Ndina (standing), and seated are Wanjiku Francis, Cosmos Kilonzi, and Jeremiah Kyai. The training included preparation of a workplan that we are to start executing on Monday at a rural school in Kitui, Kwa Ngindu Primary school, that has received books from Libraries For Kids, Int'l. It will be an outreach program to train the teachers and promote reading to the learners in that school.
It isn't practical to get teachers to get teachers together for training because of the distance and expense so our team has been trained to train the teachers when they deliver books.
