Keep Maasai Girls Learning in Kenya

OLMESUTIE’S DAY SECONDARY SCHOOL NEARS COMPLETION!

Our new secondary schools are built through partnerships with existing primary schools and villages in Kenya. The community sets a fundraising goal and then we offer a 100% funding match and help guide their construction efforts. Later, after seeing the tangible progress of the finished classrooms, local government officials will often kick in to help finish a final needed classroom or lab space.

Inspired by the success of the community of Mausa, which celebrated their new secondary school opening in February, the village of Olmesutie finished fundraising for their school in March and broke ground on their final classrooms in April. Supported by our matching funds, they’ve now nearly completed their third classroom and the science lab and administrative space required by the Kenyan government to officially register and begin supporting their new secondary school. We are incredibly happy and grateful to see this school finally come to fruition, as it will allow the many bright and motivated students in the Olmesutie region to finish high school.

 PLANTING TREES FOR SUSTAINABILITY

To offset the harvesting of local trees used in new classroom construction, we are partnering with our partner school communities to replant five tree seedlings for every tree cut to build new classrooms. Most seedlings are native trees; we also purchase a handful of fruit trees at each school to help feed local families. For the Good purchases the seedlings and the community plants them and takes responsibility to nurture them into maturity. On the last day of May, the students, teachers, and community members of the village of Mausa, along with our staff, planted 100 tree seedlings near the school. Several days later, students and teachers at Olmesutie did the same.

We’re heartened by the caring of these awesome young people, their parents, and teachers. Every small act of restoration matters, and little by little, they add up to heal the planet as they also transform our own lives. Our relationship with the planet is reciprocal, and, in the words of one of our favorite writers, Robin Wall Kimmerer, “As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us."

Links:

• For the Good's website