Visit to Kyangala - July 2016
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In July, a small group of the Friends of Kyangala Trust had the pleasure of visiting Kyangala. For John Harrison, Trustee, and Paul Tyler, Chairman of the Friends, this was a chance to re-visit the community and see friends. For Will and Luci Neville, this trip brought back some wonderful memories of when the couple first visited the village two years ago as part of their honeymoon. For David and Rose Bloomfield, this was their first opportunity to see Kyangala in the flesh and visit the people they have heard so much about over the last 5 years whilst supporting the charity.
As always, the group were greeted with the warmest of welcomes and saw many familiar faces as well as other members of the community who have now become important members of the Trust in Kenya. It was immediately evident that the local community has really taken ownership of the progress of their village and it was a great relief to see that previous building works were still standing (!) and learn that the community had begun refurbishing the rest of the primary school. Whilst Will, Paul and John were wrapped up in the various committee meetings to establish how the Trust plans to move forward, David, Rose and Luci had the privilege of visiting some of the poorer village families and learning a little more about their lives, and their daily struggles. |
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Luci was particular keen to visit a gentleman named Peter whom she met back in 2014.
‘Peter had the most awful two previous years having lost five members of his family to malaria, as well as contracting the disease himself, and had been left the sole carer of his two young grandchildren. Whilst the children slept in his 'single bed', Peter slept on the mud floor with the chickens. He struggled to feed his grandchildren, let alone himself, and the young boy was tasked to fetch water from the bore hole up in the village, as Peter physically could not. Peter received minimal to no help from the community; if the women visited him, they would be seen to be promiscuous and the men, well the men have a different role in the community and helping other men is not it! We were the first visitors he had received for months.
Having politely challenged this approach last time we visited in 2014, it was incredibly heart-warming to hear Peter tell us that the community had become proactive in helping those in need; he regularly has people helping him with the farm and with his grandchildren and some of the ladies kindly deliver his groceries. With the help of some government funding, both of his grandchildren are now in school, in clothes created by Newport’s own ‘Knit and Natter’ group and in shoes that have been kindly donated and stored in our Rev. Neil's garage!’
Peter's family is just one of the many families that Kyangala Trust has helped. He now has access to clean water, his grandson is accessing the local primary school whose facilities have been improved by the Trust, his farm is starting to thrive and more importantly, local people are now starting to recognise themselves as a community and are helping each other.
Next year’s trip is set to be another big work party trip, where we are hoping to organise a group of twenty or so people to physically help improve education, healthcare and water with an achievable building project currently in the planning stages.
Projects being discussed are building boarding a ceiling in the village’s Health Care centre and building some sustainable houses for poor families living in sub-standard accommodation.
We are already funding the construction of a first floor extension to the girls school, the purchase, installation of water tanks for the health centre and the rebuilding of the primary school kitchen.
If you are interested in joining us or would like more information about Kyangala Trust and the work we do please contact John Harrison on john.harrison@integra.london or telephone Paul Tyler on 07768 743 879.
Also if you have spare shoes, clothes and blankets that are in good condition, we are collecting these and sending them to Kyangala for needy families- please get in touch!
‘Peter had the most awful two previous years having lost five members of his family to malaria, as well as contracting the disease himself, and had been left the sole carer of his two young grandchildren. Whilst the children slept in his 'single bed', Peter slept on the mud floor with the chickens. He struggled to feed his grandchildren, let alone himself, and the young boy was tasked to fetch water from the bore hole up in the village, as Peter physically could not. Peter received minimal to no help from the community; if the women visited him, they would be seen to be promiscuous and the men, well the men have a different role in the community and helping other men is not it! We were the first visitors he had received for months.
Having politely challenged this approach last time we visited in 2014, it was incredibly heart-warming to hear Peter tell us that the community had become proactive in helping those in need; he regularly has people helping him with the farm and with his grandchildren and some of the ladies kindly deliver his groceries. With the help of some government funding, both of his grandchildren are now in school, in clothes created by Newport’s own ‘Knit and Natter’ group and in shoes that have been kindly donated and stored in our Rev. Neil's garage!’
Peter's family is just one of the many families that Kyangala Trust has helped. He now has access to clean water, his grandson is accessing the local primary school whose facilities have been improved by the Trust, his farm is starting to thrive and more importantly, local people are now starting to recognise themselves as a community and are helping each other.
Next year’s trip is set to be another big work party trip, where we are hoping to organise a group of twenty or so people to physically help improve education, healthcare and water with an achievable building project currently in the planning stages.
Projects being discussed are building boarding a ceiling in the village’s Health Care centre and building some sustainable houses for poor families living in sub-standard accommodation.
We are already funding the construction of a first floor extension to the girls school, the purchase, installation of water tanks for the health centre and the rebuilding of the primary school kitchen.
If you are interested in joining us or would like more information about Kyangala Trust and the work we do please contact John Harrison on john.harrison@integra.london or telephone Paul Tyler on 07768 743 879.
Also if you have spare shoes, clothes and blankets that are in good condition, we are collecting these and sending them to Kyangala for needy families- please get in touch!
