Hope, Celebrate, Adapt

My hands are warmed while sipping black tea from Kenya, and my heart is warmed knowing that the work of Mwanzo continues in the Rabuor community. We are so grateful to those of you have shared your abundance with Mwanzo during our annual holiday appeal, keeping hope alive. We celebrate as your donations are nourishing children and maintaining salaries for our staff. The Mwanzo education center is preparing to fully open the school again in January, with the building of additional sanitation facilities, purchasing more desks and chairs, and hiring an additional teacher. In January, some of our original kindergarten students will be starting 7th grade! 

Kenya is implementing a new competency-based curriculum. All Mwanzo teachers were trained prior to the pandemic, and now must attend an additional COVID update to the training. The government also extended the school semester further into December so our teachers are working long hours to continue the 4th graders in-person class, attend training, and reach out to students still at home.

The coronavirus pandemic is causing much hardship. With students at home and markets closed, families are running out of food. Some students come with their 4th grade sibling, hoping for a meal, which staff are providing. COVID-19 has reached the village. The guardians/grandparents of a few of our students have passed away. Mwanzo teachers have been reinforcing the importance of wearing masks and sanitizing hands during their contact with families. Our hearts ache knowing that relief from all this is still many months away.

Mwanzo staff distributing COVID information, food, and hope with the help of grants from our Love and Justice and ODW partners

The work of Mwanzo is adapting during and in response to this crisis. The Mwanzo board will be launching a sustained giving program and a student sponsorship program in the coming year. As we look to the future, we are planning to install a solar panel array, upgrade the MEC kitchen to electricity and propane, improve our water collection and storage system, all of which will help to alleviate hunger and improve sanitation. In the not too distant future, we will begin a capitol campaign to build a community center with medical clinic space, a library and internet services, adjacent to the school.

Clearing the space for future construction of the community center

With your help, we are indeed giving hope a home. As we look towards 2021, we celebrate the ways in which our UCUCC home has joined with us to draw our circle wider and keep hope alive in the Rabuor community.

May your New Year be filled with hope, celebrations and blessings!

Mary Sue on behalf of the Mwanzo Board of Directors