Upendo Orphans Support Project

OUR NEW BUILDING

Prior to 2004, the women operated a nursery school out of a tin shed in the grounds of the Methodist Church.

They cooked the children's meals in an add-on shelter next to the vestry, and the toilets were a tin shack over a "long-drop".

In 2004, with a donation from the UK they put in a concrete floor in the shed, made classroom partitions and chairs for the children, and decorated the inside in bright colours. This all helped to increase the enrolment of children into the nursery school.

In 2005, the local authorities asked the Women's Group to upgrade the cooking area and toilet to comply with health standards. In addition, the classrooms were becoming overcrowded.

So in 2006, we purchased the block of land next to the church and drew up plans for a new classroom and toilet block with the help of a local architect and builder.

In December 2006 we opened our new building, complete with classrooms, kitchen, toilet and shower block, and re-opened the nursery school in January 2007.

After a couple of working bees and the help of visitors, we had established a garden full of flowering shrubs and with a large grassy play area. Being Kenya, the plants have grown like crazy and by March we had harvested our first passionfruit.

The new building has made the feeding and caring of the children much easier and more pleasant for the women (including running water and electricity), as well as providing a wonderfully attractive place for the children to spend their free time.

It has also increased the enrolments in the nursery school (which is open to all children, not just the orphans) and has created a lot of interest in the community.

All of this is good for garnering further support for the project.

PHOTO ALBUM COMING SOON!

We will be putting up more photographs of the new building, in progress and completed.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Upendo Orphans Support Project