There’s lots been happening, it’s all good, and we’ve given you a short overview here, or you can download the full update and read all the news in detail.
We now have five girls in our safehouse and our two teacher/”housemothers” have recently completed their training in child protection. You can read more news about the safehouse.
We’re working to raise funds to expand the facilities so that we can take in a total of 10 girls, sadly it’s needed.
We received a very kind donation from St Peter’s Aid For The Needy so that we could give every child a solar lantern. Most of our children don’t have electricity in their homes, so they were struggling to do their homework in the evening. That wasn’t an excuse (an alternative to the dog ate my homework), it’s reality. The kids have worked really hard all round this term.
As you’ll see from the photo, conditions still aren’t ideal (this is typical of most students). Would you have done your homework in conditions like this ….
Even without proper sports gear, our kids had started to get involved in inter-schools sports events. We had a very kind donation from a charitable trust to provide basic sports outfits which definitely helps. So much so that the school came second in their most recent inter-schools competition.
One of our pupils, Mwatela, did exceptionally well. he won his disciplines of running, discus and javelin. Before the event he’d never even help a discus or a javelin, but with a quick training session he was on form and got through to the regional event. He’s a budding footballer and we’d love to find him a mentor.
As a consequence of her rare genetic condition, one of our pupils, Blessing, was likely to have poor eyesite. Thanks to the Cambridge opticians D W Murphy and their customers, Blessing was able to have a proper eye test. When it was discovered that she needed glasses, Tim Tucker, one of the opticians in the practice, paid for her glasses.
Science is one of the favourite lessons and it seems like it’s caught on with the parents as well. Our Year 8 pupils recently gave a science demonstration and talk to their parents.
Tesco’s proved that every little helps by donating 500 items of school clothing. DHL and Land Rover allowed Sally, our chair trustee, to speak at a recent Environmental, Social & Governance conference about the Bombolulu schools project. That’s a charity minded group of people who have been so helpful over the years. There’s been help from a number of people and organisations (special mention to the Cauda Trust), but probably none more interesting than the 11 year-old Ryan Hulence, who started the charity “We Can” in Solihull. He’s collected aluminium cans, crushed and sold them, then used the money he’s raised to donate to local foodbanks. He spoke at the DHL and Land Rover conference about his charity, and after seeing Sally’s presentation he’s been buying items (he know how to get a deal) for the children at Bombolulu.
The April holiday officially started on 8 April 204. But our teachers and students had a different plan. A number of students petitioned the headmaster to say they wanted to spend their holiday weekdays at Bombolulu Secondary School. So the teachers came in at no extra cost having organised a two-week remedial programme to help students in their weak areas. They also went to work on their general reading, writing and presentation skills. Now this also meant the children got to work, play and eat in a friendly environment, but all credit to them and to the teachers who are so focused on helping the children to thrive.
You can read more and see some super photos that show what’s going on in the school in our regular update here.
We’re getting closer to being able to commit to the next phase of expansion so we can keep our school licence. The teachers and staff (we have two new ones) have been keeping up to date with their professional development. The kids love keeping in touch with their sponsors, we’ve got a new parent representative on our board of governors, and the kids have been sitting their internal exams. Plus there’s a Rotary conference coming up in October where we’ll have some members of the Kenyan team coming over to say thank you to Rotary who do so very much to support the school.
And finally thanks to all our donors and supporters for giving these children an opportunity in life and hope for the future.
New year, our second year’s intake, full of hope and ambition for the future It’s the second year at Bombolulu Secondary School and the new class has been in for their very first day. We’re super excited and so were…
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Bombolulu Secondary School – A very successful first year It’s been a very successful first year operating as a lower secondary school. Here’s the quick highlights of what’s happened and what’s been achieved. Or if you want, you can download…
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We received several generous donations as part of The Big Give donation matching initiative, and that’s been a great help to our children.
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