Kenya Project
Posted by Gerald G. Kallman
Rotary Ridgewood in Action
School is open for Kenyan students
When the Preschool and Kindergarten pupils at Kishermoruak Primary School in Kenya returned last week after their August recess and a one-week nationwide teachers’ strike, big changes awaited them and their teachers. Instead of the corrugated tin “shack” they departed in late July, --- a hot and dusty hovel with a dirt floor and hole where a window should be--- the kiddies gathered in two bright, new classrooms, the latest project of the on-going support K-School has been receiving from the Ridgewood Rotary Club.
The classrooms were formally dedicated in mid-July when Jerry Kallman and his wife, Lorraine, made their annual visit to the Maasai school. The new building is the latest facility provided by the local service club and joins an Administrative Block and eight additional classrooms (one for each grade) previously provided for the 300-student primary school.
“Although the school year officially begins in January in Kenya, we wanted to get into the new surroundings as soon as possible,“ Kallman explained. “Ever since Lorraine first saw the conditions of the Preschool building, she had been lobbying strenuously to ‘do something about it’”.
Lorraine commented that while there are only a total of 42 tots in the Preschool and Kindergarten classes currently, the Head Teacher assured that “if we build it, they will come”, noting that the deplorable condition of the early classroom discouraged parents from enrolling their youngsters in the early childhood classes. “We have ordered 100 little chairs and ten low tables anticipating that Head Teacher John knows what the community wants and parents and toddlers will show up en masse come January,” she noted.
A brass plaque listing all 62 donors to the building project as well as two additional plaques (one for each classroom) were unveiled during the brief dedication program. The Preschool Classroom was memorialized for the late Susan Dodds, wife of Ridgewood Rotarians Bob Dodds, husband, and son, David Dodds. The Kindergarten facility was named for the local chairman of the Kishermoruak Primary School Committee.
The dedication of the new building was accompanied by a community celebration, with pupils performing songs and traditional dances while school officials, tribal chieftains and parents participated. Revered tribal elders blessed the facility and moments after Kallman snipped the ceremonial ribbon, the children and their teachers streamed into the bright, fresh rooms.
Earlier in the visit a less-auspicious dedication took place, when the Administrative Block, completed late last year was dedicated and, at the request of the School Committee, named in honor of Lorraine Kallman. A brass plaque was affixed to the cornerstone.
The Library, one of the four rooms in the building, was named in honor of Lynn Van Adder, Treasurer of the Ridgewood Rotary Club. The Faculty Room, Head and Assistant Head Teacher’s Offices were also dedicated in recognition of principal donors to the project.
Introduced in the fall of 2008, the Kenya School Project began its association with the school by providing hot, nutritious lunches each school day for the 300 students, a program which is on-going. In addition to the classroom and building program, the Rotary Club has provided a deep-water well which serves the school and the surrounding community, a vegetable garden now supplementing the school lunches, a “washing station” where children can wash their hands before lunch; and a variety of learning materials including a multi-band radio and high quality microscope. In addition, seven graduates are now enrolled in high school, supported by the Rotary Club or individual sponsors attracted by the project.
This spring a ‘Visit A School” program was unveiled, encouraging tourists to the neighboring Maasai Mara Game Park to drop into the school as a cultural adjunct to their safari experience. Many visitors from Europe and Asia, as well as the United States have responded to the K-School flyer
and visited the school.
More information on the Kenya School Project can be obtained by contacting Jerry Kallman at kallmancon@gmail.com.