The Got Matar Community Development Group
was formed by local residents in 2002. The Group has
focused its energies on improving education in the 10
primary schools of East Yimbo Location. The Group is
efficiently run and has made very good use of modest
resources subscribed by friends.
Improvements made by the Group over the past 4 years include
rebuilding of 2 pre-primary schools, repairs to classrooms,
construction of tanks for rainwater collection and
development of school gardens. The Group has also supported
school attendance by orphans by providing them with uniforms
and school kits.
Got Matar lies in Bondo District in Western Kenya on
the shores of Lake Victoria, the source of the River Nile.
Bondo is ranked amongst the poorest districts in Kenya and
suffers from the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the
country. About 2,300 of the 7,000 school-age children in the
area served by the secondary school are
orphans, living with relatives’ families. The economy is
based on small-scale farming and on fishing.
 |
The Group,
acting under the leadership provided by Mrs. Grace
Ochieng Andiki, Head Teacher at Got Matar Primary
School, has decided that the highest priority for the
community is to build a secondary school.
The aim is to
enable children who qualify for entry into secondary school
to continue their studies while staying close to their
homes. Because there is no secondary school within easy
walking distance, many of the children who are qualified for
secondary school are unable to continue their education.
Only those from relatively well-off families can afford the
cost of boarding at more distant schools – and they seldom
return to their communities, creating an effective “brain
drain”.
The Ministry of Education supports the Group’s proposal and
is assisting in the design of the school.
The Group has requested Dr. Andrew MacMillan, whose
family and friends have provided some funds for primary
school improvement over the past few years, to assist with
overseas fund-raising for the Secondary School. Andrew, who
has recently retired from serving as Director of Field
Operations at the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, has accepted the request, because he is
confident that funds raised will be applied diligently and
make a great difference to the livelihoods of large numbers
of children from very poor families in and around Got Matar.
Donors’ funds are being managed and transferred to the Group
by registered charities in Italy (Associazione
SONIA) and in the UK (PEAS).
SONIA is also helping with fund-raising, while PEAS is
sharing its experience in school construction and management
in Uganda with the Group. See the
Donations Section.
|
