Hope and Kindness - in West Kenya

The next morning we were officially welcomed by the teachers and students of the school with the most incredible assembly. We had welcome songs and speeches, and really felt an incredibly positive energy from everyone. The school was setup in 2002 by a British couple, Terry and Judi Mott, after they spent a year volunteering in West Kenya with their two children. So moved were they by the extreme levels of poverty many of the families were facing, that they setup a children’s home and a school that year.

We found the school nine years on, thriving, and with a student population of over 150, with 36 orphans living in the home adjacent to the school. Many of the students were either orphans or from single parent families. Often the cost of schooling is too much for the families to deal with, and therefore the cycle of poverty continues. What ‘Hope and Kindness’ contribute towards is at least helping to ensure as many local children as possible receive primary education. Even if that is all they get, it can make an incredible difference to their lives, and help them to overcome some of their problems.

Terry and Judi regularly visit the school, and when they are in the UK still manage to run the project from afar. They are helped by the incredible School Manager, Mama Ben (Mary), Duncan, who is full of energy and fronts the farming initiative, and a great group of enthusiastic teachers. In addition to this they have regular volunteers from overseas, and right now have two thoroughly lovely and committed helpers, in the form of Hilda and Ian, who were at the early stages of a 12-month stay. They will be supporting Terry and Judi with the development of the agricultural training scheme, and also be helping with the other major stem of Hope and Kindness’s work, community development.

In addition to the school, the charity also has a desire to help the local community to develop, and supports many of the least privileged people in a number of ways. We were lucky enough to visit some of the families who had been assisted in building new homes by Hope and Kindness. Previously their homes had very little space, and would sleep several people to a room. In addition to this, they often had leaking roofs, and were just generally detrimental to the overall health and wellness of the family members. Having been assisted with building materials, their living conditions had been improved dramatically, and the change this made to them was clear. One of the ladies we had the absolute pleasure of meeting, Persilla, commented, that ‘Hope and Kindness’ had made her not to feel like a widow, after her husbands death. They had helped her in a multitude of ways, and had truly helped to transform her life.

The agriculture scheme was up and running already, and we even got stuck into a little bit of digging ourselves. Duncan was in charge, and the children were more than happy to muck in. This initiative is set to be increased drastically in scale, however, with Terry keen to setup an agricultural training centre. Unfortunately, job opportunities in the area are still few and far between, and a massive percentage still relay on farming. Thus, it is immeasurably valuable to offer children training in this department. It won’t be for all, and still there is a drive towards getting students into secondary school, and even further to University, but the reality is that farming will play a big part in many of their lives.

In a recurring trend that we have witnessed in several countries, there is an issue with the cost of secondary education. We take it for granted in the UK, but really secondary education is still very much a luxury in many countries. It is my belief, and the belief of many others that education is a key component of development, it is however, an incredible challenge to get it right. The balance between getting numbers into schools, and ensuring a quality education is often difficult to find, and thus one or the other is lacking. Hope and Kindness are not responsible for this, and the work they do for these children and the community is amicable, and extremely important. It is imperative that charities like this are supported, as they offer immediate support to children and families now, who otherwise would be left behind. It is, however, equally crucial that some of the larger NGOS and the governments of developing countries begin to get secondary education right; ensuring it is both quality and inclusive, and that it doesn’t follow an elitist path that simply widens the gap between the haves and have-nots.

We left Hope and Kindness, once again too soon, and we were really grateful for their incredible hospitality and warmth, and only wished we could have stayed longer. We did, however, have a long drive to Mombassa in the diary, where we would visit Kenyan charity number two, ‘Mustard Seed’, and once more be introduced to the issue of education, community development, and vocational training. We would also be stopping off in Nairobi to catch up on some much needed editing, blogging, and rest, and also a little TLC for the Yellow Beast.