[ad_1]
IT seems perfectly fitting that the first Kenyan child sponsored several years ago by Carlisle man Paul Moffat and his wife, Eunice, as they sought to give youngsters a better life in the East African country was named Joy.
For that is the overriding emotion Paul expresses before his latest journey to the small, poorly equipped town of Taru — 80km from Mombasa — where the couple have built a primary and high school to give children living in poverty the chance of a better life.
Paul and Eunice — who have a son, Matthew — were married in 2015 having met two years earlier when he visited Kenya. By that stage Paul was already supporting orphanages and individuals in the country having left a stressful job with long hours in search of a better work/life balance.
Paul is deputy chief executive of Age UK Carlisle and Eden
He was taken by Eunice to Taru several times, she being acutely aware of the disappointment he felt about exactly where previous donations were going.
And, in their initial quest to support a deserving youngster, the couple began sponsoring a girl named Joy to attend a private school in a town where no state education was provided.
“We thought they were charging too much,” Paul had said during an interview in 2019. “We didn’t think the teaching standard was too high. We’d bought a piece of land for a house. We built a school instead.”
That cost around £20,000, he and Eunice contributing the lion’s share with some money also being donated. Low fees mean places are affordable for many parents while scores of others have benefited from other individuals or businesses providing funding for their children.
Their primary school, Future of Taru Academy, opened in early 2018 with just 23 pupils. A registered charity was launched the following year, the student roll was increased to 220 and, with a high school having been recently added on a new piece of land, 330 students — aged three to 20 — currently attend. Of these, almost 200 are sponsored at a cost of £12.50 per month.
“That gets them into education, fed on a morning with a porridge breakfast and a staple Kenyan meal at lunchtime,” said Paul, who expressed deep gratitude to their loyal sponsors.
“Also, if necessary, it also gives general support with uniform. We don’t want to give the parents nothing to do. But if the child is desperate we’ll support them. It’s mainly education and food; and even though we’re out in the sticks we have running water so they can have a drink at any time of the school day.”
There is a school principal, heads of primary, high and pre-primary education along with 15 other teachers, two cooks and three site watchmen.
Pupils are taught a range of subjects from mathematics and English to native language kiswahili, creative arts, life skills and physical education.
Covid in early 2020 presented a sizeable challenge, says Paul, bringing a temporary halt to lessons. But the timely arrival of a £30,000 grant as the pandemic hit proved invaluable, as did the fact that most sponsors continued their generous support.
“A lot of the kids and their families rely on them coming to school, partly so they get their meal,” said Paul.
“One of the big things through Covid, when the kids were off school, was that we took parcels out to a lot of houses with the help of our teachers; basic staple foods from Kenya including flour, cooking oil and salt and sugar, rice, and probably some grains. It certainly made a difference, a lot of the families were very pleased about it.
“The grant helped us to tidy up, paint, organise the primary school, and build a small dormitory for some of the vulnerable girls to stay in. It’s also helped us buy the piece of land to build the high school.”
Eunice has been based in Kenya since last August, helping to oversee development of the high school, the teaching staff and manage the finances.
Paul, meanwhile, has remained in the UK but returned to Kenya earlier this month for the first time since April. “I just love seeing the kids, saying ‘hiya’ to them, and they love seeing you; going into the classes, just having a chat with them about any questions they’ve got; anything on life; whether it’s snowed in England! Anything.”
He saw a “massive” difference to the burgeoning school site on his return in April. Yet Paul and Eunice still harbour big ambitions and he admits: “I don’t think it will ever be finished.”
“We’re at the stage where we need to seek more funding. It’s not about being greedy. Whether it’s small amounts to improve the solar power in the high school — we do have solar but it’s quite a cheap package — then great; big funds are also needed to offer the kids more, across primary and high school,” he says.
“We want to offer children the chance to play different sports so we need the equipment for that; to have a proper piece of land where we can have a running track, a nice football pitch, a place where they can get changed — just something they can call a sporting area. Also somewhere other schools in Taru can come and compete.”
A step towards that goal was achieved earlier this year with the charity’s first shipment of supplies to Kenya — of football kits and boots collected by loyal York-based fund-raiser Mark Mattinson.
“I also want to give them the chance of being able to play music. I plan to buy some instruments when I’m there this time. I want them to be able to do drama, potentially having a teacher who can do drama and media, and a teacher who can do PE,” adds Paul.
- For more information about the school and charity, visit www.futureoftaru.org.
[ad_2]
Source link