Got Matar Community Development Group
Building a school :: Building a future
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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. See a map showing the location of Got Matar in Kenya The Group, acting under the leadership provided by Mrs. Grace Ochieng Andiki, Head Teacher at Got Matar Primary School, has decided that…
Progress
Fund-raising for the construction of the school started in August 2006. The decision to begin the first phase of construction was taken at the end of September of the same year. Detailed planning began immediately, a contractor was selected through local tendering, and construction of the first buildings started in November. By 5th February 2007, at the beginning of Kenya’s academic year, the school was ready to take on its first pupils. During this very short period the Community Development Group had arranged for the construction of a block of 4 contiguous classrooms, of which one would be used as a school office in the first year, leaving 3 rooms for the 3 streams of 50 pupils each into which Form One was to be divided. The classrooms are separated by folding partitions, enabling the building also to be used as an assembly hall. The Group also completed building of a washroom block and a kitchen, as well as of a perimeter fence to keep out animals. In the same period, the Community went ahead with selecting and hiring staff, particularly teachers, and with enrolment of the first pupils. They also bought desks and chairs and text books. The first…
The Future
Location
Got Matar is situated in the Bondo District of West Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria. The nearest airport and major town is Kisumu which is approximately 100 km away. View Larger Map
Donations
The total amount of funds so far raised is equivalent to approximately Euro 314,000. This has paid for the cost of school buildings, furniture and equipment (approximately Euro 250,000, or less than Euro 500 per each of the school places created). It includes approximately Euro 16,000, raised by George MacMillan’s 80th birthday appeal, that has enabled the school to install 20 low-power consuming computers and related equipment. It also includes funding for construction of a Women’s Centre, provided by the Chave Collison Trust, as well as the resources used to purchase equipment for recently started skills training programmes (clothing manufacture, wood-working, and nutrition, food preparation and catering). Donor funds have also met the costs of 173 bursaries that enable orphans and children from very poor families to attend the secondary school. All funds contributed by donors are provided to the Community, as Andrew and Roberta MacMillan meet all administrative and publicity costs from their own resources. List of current donors. Within Kenya, the Ministry of Education continues to pay for senior teaching and administrative staff, including the principal, and is responsible for maintaining the facilities. Other elements of the operating costs are met through fees paid by parents and, in…
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New Photos – Jan 2020
Jan 4, 2020
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