Siw-Inger Halling from Rosendalsgymnasiet

Here is a travelstory from one of our visitors Siw-Inger Halling:

“In February  my daughter Matilda and I had the oppurtunity to visit Kisumu, Joseph and Friends Pioneer. The main purpose was to prepare for a field study coming October with students from Rosendalsgymnasiet, Uppsala but we also brought two laptops from INUG in Sweden to Google yourself out of Poverty       (the internet café in the container).
Joseph invited us to stay in the Guesthouse in the slumarea and  during daytime we visited Tip Top School with the young children and St. Joseph Secondary School with the teenagers. It is very interesting to come and by your own eyes see what you have heard so much about. Joseph is a very big entrepeneur and is very much respected and appriciated by the people in the area. Both the schools are well maintained and it is a very positve atmosphere among the children and stuff.
We very much look forward to our cooperation projekt between Friends Pioneer and Rosendalsgymnasiet. 10 October we are coming with 25 students from The International Program to study developing issues in Kisumu for two weeks. Some of them will work with VI-skogen but most of them will work with Friends Pioneer and the children in the schools. It is a great oppurtunity for swedish students to learn about living conditions in a developing country and to see how initiativ from one man and a lot of work and support from others can change the life to the better for many children and their families. Siw-Inger Halling”

Joseph with the computers we brought!

KIDS UMBRELLA

KIDS UMBRELLA  is a network to support community based organisations in Kenya, who work for more children to read.
Friends Pioneer participates in this network. Sven Tumba launch KIDS UMBRELLA at a press conference in Marbella/Spain today (April 27) and at a charity event organized by the Swedish Embassy in Bern/Switzerland on April 28.
 
For more information about KIDS UMBRELLA, visit their website at: www.kidsumbrella.org

 

Guest house going well, and IT-café, and school!

Guest House

The guest house constantly has new visitors.
Five students from Folkhögskolan in Kildare has just been there and now continued to Mombasa, before returning home to Sweden,  April 9.
The studnets helped us with the promotion and study of IT café as well as helped at the school, and visited a number of children supported by FriendsPioneer 
 
IT café now has an income of 800-1200 kes/day and a cost of 12,000 kes/month + salaries. Earnings 8000 kes/month before salaries. 8000 kes represents a monthly salary. The new computers are working well, and we will now install Open Office on them.

Have a look at TipTop schools old toaletts:

old

Because the school will soon have new lavatories!

Then the plan is to build a gate and then planted trees.
Installation of gas rings in the school has gone well and they have just bought a larger burners to speed up cooking, though this has proved to be very expensive. So we are considering options that biogas or solar.
We have 4 students coming to us soon that will investigate alternatives to coal-fired stove in Nyalenda, during May to August.