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| SchoolTools in Kenya |
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It’s 5:00 a.m., and the morning sun greets the 60 children at the Cheppema Children’s Home outside of Nairobi, Africa. The children quickly prepare themselves for the day. Daily devotions begin at 6:00 a.m. and are followed by breakfast, and then school.
These children all share one thing in common—they’re all orphans. Many lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. Others were driven from their homes to the streets of Nairobi by parents who could no longer care for them.
The children walk to school and arrive at the one-room structure held up by frayed wooden poles, tin walls, and a roof badly in need of repair. The children rush into the classroom with its dirt floors and single table that they all share as a desk.
These children all vary in age, but together they’ll learn how to read, write, and do basic arithmetic equations at the same time. They have between them just two books—one which they all share, and one which the teacher uses. Both books are tattered and falling apart, worn out from being used year after year to provide children with the essential education they need.
Soon it will be lunchtime. Today’s lunch special—the same as yesterday’s and tomorrow’s—will be cabbage and small amounts of corn, beans, meat, rice, and maze for soup.
The children don’t have many luxuries or possessions of their own. But today is a special day. After lunch, the children will reconvene in their classrooms where a few visitors have already assembled, bringing with them the special gifts of SchoolTools kits. One by one, each child receives an individual kit, containing paper, pencils, crayons, erasers, and other items the children have never before had to call their own.
These humble gifts instantly produce big smiles on the children’s faces. “Many of the children cried when they received the kits, because no one had ever given them anything so nice before,” recalls Dean Salisbery, one of the gift-bearing visitors.
These gifts are vital for each one of these children living at the Chippema Children’s Home. The orphanage and school lack the funds to purchase school supplies or books for the children. That’s why these kits from SchoolTools are so precious.
Each of the SchoolTools kits given to a child was assembled by church groups, students, and individuals from the United States and donated to World Vision. World Vision then distributed the kits to various local and international ministry partners to get the school supplies in the hands of eager students ready to learn.
“To receive the kits is truly a blessing for my students,” shares Pastor Williams, the children’s teacher. “I know the children will use and treasure these kits for a long time to come.”
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