I recently returned from my third trip to Kenya in the last 8 months with our Founder and President, Abdi Lidonde.  Our Head of School, Alice Mudiri (now living in Nairobi) is fully engaged in her new job and in Kenyan life juggling many tasks from meeting prospective students, interviewing teachers, the coordination of the construction of the barn, and finalizing the architecture of the school building, dormitory, guest house and medical clinic all scheduled to begin in late November.

During our stay, we oversaw the drilling of a new well for the Beverly School, known in Kenya as a borehole. After going down 130 meters, we finally hit water.  At first, I did not comprehend the significance of the event given the abundance of clean water in the northeastern United States.  However, as I heard Alice cheer and cry out “Tom, we have brought life to a community”, I finally realized the significance of this event, an important first step in bringing hope to the children of Kenya.

Before school, children fetch water most mornings, traveling 4 and 5 miles, carrying several gallons on their head.   The water they bring back home to their mostly mud hut homes is not clean, but they have no choice.   This water is used for drinking, cooking and unfortunately the same water used by animals. Donor contributions have enabled us to bring clean water to North Kinangop, Kenya and will improve the health and well being of these children and their families. While HIV/Aids has killed many in Kenya and Africa, dirty water leads to so many serious medical conditions such as dysentery and typhoid.

We also had the chance to visit Hillary and Vincent, who are now doing well living with Abdi’s sister in Kisumu. It is hard to believe that these boys are the same children living alone as orphans in January, scrounging for food in a nearby dump. Hilary is thrilled to see his artwork positioned on the front of the new Beverly School of Kenya t shirt available at www.beverlyschoolofkenya.com.

I can’t wait to see Hillary and Vincent join us as the first Beverly School of Kenya students.

Tom Maher, Vice President & Treasurer, Beverly School of Kenya