UPDATE FROM THE FIELD: JUNE 2023
OLMESUTIE’S DAY SECONDARY SCHOOL NEARS COMPLETION
Jeremiah, right, with intern Ann Muntati, center, and Schools Coordinator Rebecca Ledidi, left, sharing their perspectives on Olmesutie Primary School’s biggest needs in 2022.
Our new secondary schools in Kenya’s Loita Hills are built through partnerships with existing primary schools and their local communities. The community sets a goal to collectively fundraise for, and then we offer a 100% funding match to their effort. Later, after seeing tangible progress in the form of finished classrooms, the government will often kick to help finish a final needed classroom or lab space.
In March, Olmesutie Primary School’s headteacher, Jeremiah Vaille, who helped pilot our RACHEL program and has been a powerful local partner and advocate for girls’ education, helped energize the community of Olmesutie’s efforts to fundraise for the final classrooms and laboratory needed to complete their secondary school. Olmesutie met their fundraising goal in April and after receiving the first installment of our matching funds, broke ground on new construction in April. As we write these words late in May, they have nearly completed construction on the final two classrooms, science lab and admin space required by the Kenyan government to officially register and begin supporting their new secondary school. We couldn’t be happier to see this school finally come to fruition.
WORKING TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: TREE SEEDLINGS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
A young students plants a seedling in Mausa, May, 2023. Photo: Josephat Mashati.
Villages in the Loita Hills have traditionally used local trees for building construction. When we began constructing schools there in 2021, we explored other, more sustainable building materials. Ultimately, in deference to community preference, ended up following traditional norms and using lumber in the construction. To offset the cutting of these local trees, we are partnering with communities to replant five tree seedlings for every tree cut for classroom construction. Nearly all the seedlings are native trees, along with a handful of fruit trees at each school to help feed local families. For the Good purchases the seedlings and the community plants them and takes responsibility to nurture them into maturity.
On the last day of May, the students, teachers and community members of the village of Mausa, along with our staff, planted 100 tree seedlings near the school. Several days later, students and teachers at Olmesutie did the same. We’re heartened by the caring of these awesome young people, their parents, and teachers. Every small act of restoration matters, and they also transform our own lives. Our relationship with the planet is reciprocal, and, in the words of one of our favorite writers, Robin Wall Kimmerer, “As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
FOR THE GOOD SELECTED AS A CLASSY AWARDS FINALIST IN 2023
Classy is a fundraising platform that offers nonprofits powerful tools to raise awareness about their work and increase their circle of donors. The created their annual Classy Awards in order to recognize and amplify the impactful and thoughtful work being done by innovative nonprofits around the world.
We're deeply humbled to have been chosen as one of fifty Classy Award Finalists – and to be sharing this honor among some of our own nonprofit heroes, including Days for Girls, the Fistula Foundation and Hope for Haiti. Learn more about the awards and the good work of the amazing 49 other finalists here.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: NASERIAN NAITIPA
The insights, hard work and dedication of our Kenyan staff translate our vision for more opportunity for all children into a reality on the ground. This month, we’d like to shine a spotlight on one of our Team Angaza interns: Naserian Naitipa. Just a month after starting her work with us, Naserian helped organize her village to start a new preschool. She also supports three girls in her village to help them stay in school. Learn more about this powerhouse intern here.