a message from Alice, Sepember 2007....
<check out the progress images>
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Jambo friends of Beverly School of Kenya,
When I sent out this email a week ago, I really wanted to share some of
the significant progress that we have made visually with all of you.
Please take a moment to celebrate with us these steps of hope that we
have made in the past couple of months, thanks to all the support that
you all have extended to make this dream possible. Our friends who
visited from Hillside School and Kimball Union Academy were our heroes
and heroines this summer. Watch them at work as we began construction of
the first structure at the Beverly School Site - the agriculture class.
We shall be proud to be part of making a difference in this rural
community when the borehole water drilling pocess to provide clean and
safe water is completed at the end of Sepetember.
Sometime in July 2007 I sent out an email thanking all of you for your
generosity and support towards the Beverly School, as I departed from
the States for Kenya. l arrived safely in the country on July 8, 2007. l
am extremely pleased to share with you once again all the great
achievements and challenges that we have faced as we pursue our goal to
establish the Beverly School.
The greatest joy I experienced was when I saw a shy Vincent and very
outgoing Hillary playing outside with the neighbor's children in their
new home in Kisumu, where they live with Grace, Abdi's sister. Hillary a
rather talented artist is working on his second Beverly School card and
is also collaborating with Colleen Maher to put together a Beverly
School T- Shirt which will soon be posted at the Beverly School website.
These are the kinds of happy faces of children that we will strive to
nurture at the Beverly School. Please take a moment to check out this
website which has been put together by Erjon. I want to thank Jim Gillis
a friend of Beverly School who has so generously assisted us to organize
the website. You have done such a wonderful job.
The greatest achievement has been the procurement of land. We have since
settled all legal matters and completed the final sale on the 40 acre
parcel of land which included a verification survey completed by an
independent surveyor. We have been allocated an allotment letter and
have in our possession the title to a most scenic and beautiful piece of
land near the Abardares, in North Kinangop a ninety minute ride west of
Nairobi City.
With your financial support, the Board of Directors, have made it
possible for me to procure a tractor which will be essential in getting
us started with the farming component of the project as soon as
possible. It is the intention of the board to make Beverly School self
reliant in food production as well as assist neighboring farmers have
access to a tractor to improve their food production for better family
nutrition and access to cash. Hand ploughing can be difficult and time
consuming. We are starting on the farm to accelerate growing and storing
of food. Towards achieving this goal, we have made an initial part
payment as our funds have trickled in.
Some of you can recall when you watched the Beverly School video tape
when Tom and Abdi visited Kenya early this year, the dire and absolute
need for safe drinking water as a means to reducing waterborne diseases
and poverty. Indeed the families and communities around the school site
have no access to safe drinking water. Thanks to all our friends for
making it possible for us to engage a water engineer who will begin
drilling a borehole as soon as the license permit is obtained from the
Water Development Authority. By mid September 2007 the Beverly School
shall have made the dream of accessing safe water a reality for the
surrounding school community especially women who have to trek for miles
to the nearest source, and the water is not always safe for consumption.
Abdi and Tom will be returning to Kenya during the second week of
September to interview and select a team to proceed with the
architectural design so that the construction of the school
building/guest house and medical clinic can start.
I wish to thank you all for making it possible for us to put up a site
house which is nearing completion by the end of this week. We intend to
convert this structure into a classroom for instruction of agriculture
when the school is up and running.
In close vicinity to the site house and future agriculture class is the
barn. We have finalized the plan of constructing a 50ft by 100ft - 5000
square feet (about 500 square meters) structure. Here we shall carry out
all farm activities including keeping our dairy animals, chicken, sheep,
pigs as well as storage area for farm implements and equipment and food
for the school community. The barn has also been designed to house the
emergency generator and to secure the borehole control panels. We
anticipate completion of the barn by mid September.
During the course of the month of July I was honored to make contact
with potential Beverly School children in Kisumu, in Western Kenya and
Isinya in the Rift Valley Maasailand. We were honored to interview fifty
eight children and their mothers and guardians. Some children have been
left completely on their own. l want to thank you all for making it
possible for me to make this initial contact. Due to extremely poor
roads it is essentially impossible to get to these communities that so
desperately need our assistance and the children that would be served by
the Beverly School.
l want to take this opportunity to thank some very special people in the
States. First I want to thank all the children of Kimball Union Academy
in New Hampshire, Hillside School, Boston College High School, Pingree
School and the two Nativity schools - Esperanza Girls Academy in
Lawrence and Nativity School of Worcester in Massachusetts. This is the
great spirit of children helping children. l also sincerely want to
thank David Beecher, Brian Maher, Peter Cowen, Laurie Bottiger and Matt
Brunell. I sincerely want to thank Jenny Grogan of New York City and
Mike Schafer for the wonderful boxes full of books and furniture. Thank
you for encouraging the teachers from Kimball Union Ben Sheehan, Chad
Weiss and their travelling companions Megan, Teresa and Michelle to come
to Kenya to experience something so wonderful. Kate Tanguay, l want to
thank you and the boys at Hillside for preparing such a wonderful
musical piece dedicated to the children of Beverly School. To Kathleen
Dee, Easthampton High school for books donation, Denise Dee for the many
school supplies, Tom Alperin, Ted Tye, Jack O'Neil and Steve Kinsella
from National Development for the warehouse space in Lowell MA. It would
have been difficult without your assistance. I want to thank Joyce
Hansen for the videos, Paula and John Daher, Starbucks and Fresh City
Andover for helping in the organization of the June events in Andover. I
want to thank Patrick and Sheryl Dunleavy for the NY event at the Union
League Club. A big thank you goes to the team of all our friends Diane,
Miriam, Brent, Todd, Rose, Rick and their families, who worked so hard
to make the Holy Cross event in May so successful. Many thanks to the
Holy Cross Community especially Henry, Sharon and Tom in Graphic Arts
for all your patience and understanding.
I want to thank the Board of Directors for their hard work in
identifying and expanding the team as they have continued to seek
support to include Bridget Shaheen, John Duffy and Patrick Dunleavy on
our board. To the new members of the board, welcome aboard. l feel
honored to walk this journey alongside you.
In closing a constant reminder of our mission keeps recurring in my mind
and which in part states that "The Beverly School of Kenya will exist to
give hope to the economically disadvantaged children of Kenya,
particularly the orphan children who will call the Beverly School their
home. In a loving and supportive environment, we will provide a
comprehensive approach to learning. We have made a commitment to
nurture children from depressed environments. To provide them with an
opportunity to thrive and be the best they can possibly be. It takes
courage and heart to be frontline as you all have been with all your
support. As Phillip Makumi and Magdalene Wambui's grandchildren keenly
watch us bring strangers into their grandparent's smoky hut in Kinangop
with the promise of a school for them to attend, it is seemingly
apparent that the promise must be kept. We have made great progress in
the last two months. There is a lot of work still ahead to be completed
before these children can sit in the classrooms they have heard us
constantly mention called the Beverly School. We shall continue to seek
your help to accomplish the work ahead of us. Every dollar contributed
shall make a difference. Please kindly take a moment to go to the
Beverly School of Kenya website at www.beverlyschoolofkenya.com to share
an incredible story as told by the eyes, ears heart and spirit of Ben
Shaheen a teacher at Kimball Union Academy who visited with some fifty
eight beautiful children in Kisumu and Isinya Kenya this summer. I
welcome more of you to visit us when the guest house is ready sometime
early next year. If you have an opportunity for us to speak at a school,
church, club or college, please invite us, we will come. Tom Maher can
be reached on telephone # 617.721.5536 and his email address is
tmaher@easterndevelopment.com, Abdi Lidonde on telephone # 508.498.5371
and email address abdi@beverlyschoolofkenya.com and Spenser Huston
telephone # 212.782.6962 and email address shuston@us.sc.mufg.jp . They
will be more than happy to make an appointment to come and share with
you the Beverly Dream and Mission.
Once again thank you all for your support. Thank you for making the
Beverly School, this Dream for Kenya possible. We would appreciate your
continued support particularly now as we embark on some major building
projects to open our school in July 2008. We would appreciate any ideas
from all of you on new fundraisers. We need lots of support.
Warm regards
Alice Mudiri - Head of School
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