Dear friends, sponsors, brothers, and sisters in Christ.
I would like to thank you all on behalf of Light of the World Academy for your relentless support, for your constant prayers and words of encouragement. It is thanks to you at large and God of miracles, that we can see great things and progress being done in Kwademu.
The reason I am writing to you is to update you about the current situation in Kenya. Last weekend, the President of Kenya extended the quarantine/lock down period for another 30 days. The bans on moving between cities and public meetings, as well as the curfew, remain in place. Hotels, churches, and schools will remain closed until further notice. There is a chance, however, that schools will reopen in September, although this is not certain, especially with the growing number of coronavirus cases. I know that most of you still send support for children, even though the children are not attending school. Thank you for your trust and persistence in what God called you to do. Because of the lock down restrictions, we are unable to prepare meals for children. Breaking the restrictions would result in us being put in quarantine. However, the school has a lot of other needs for which there is no budget. We do not always mention all of them as it would certainly look like a bottomless well for some. We all know that the school has been growing at a fast place, but there are still a lot of things to do. First of all, most of the teaching staff are from outside the village - when a teacher takes up employment, they look for accommodation as well, and unfortunately, we are not able to offer it yet. We used the tank elevation project to create 3 rooms for teachers, the work is in progress. We hope to create more staff accommodation in the future. We have just entered the rainy season, and like every year, the school grounds were hit with a multitude of water and was full of mud. Getting from one end to another was a problem because there was stagnant water everywhere, so we had to build a draining system to remove the excess water. Additionally, we started work on footpaths, and to be able to complete them we must first insert another gate for lorries and trucks. The reason for this is that large vehicles that deliver building materials to the rear of the school plot (where main construction works take place currently and will continue in the future) could destroy what we have done so far on the ground. Someone could also ask why are these footpaths needed? They are necessary, especially in the rainy season, otherwise, children will walk in the mud and bring it on their shoes to the classrooms. We have not yet completed work on enclosing the school with a wall, some parts are still only fenced, which makes it easy for snakes to sneak in, we have noticed a few recently. Due to the increase in pupil numbers, we need to build additional toilets for girls in a spot currently occupied by a temporary shed (covered with metal sheets). The shed is used as storage for building materials but we need a more solid and safe permanent storage. These are just a few things we would like to do and plan to do in the near future, step by step, of course, depending on funds available. Not to mention the still in progress well project, for which we are all the time fundraising and praying for. It needs the pump and strengthening of the school's electricity system, otherwise, the power will be too weak to run the pump. Currently, there is no budget for all these things, but if you agree to allow us to use the funds that are being sent, despite the fact that they are meant for lunches, to be used do part of these works, we will be grateful for your understanding and support. We also fully understand if you would prefer that the money you sent is used exclusively for lunches. In that case, we would like to ask you to pause the lunch payments until the school reopens. We are well aware that the economic crisis has reached many in different countries, not only us here in Kenya, so we fully understand whichever decision you make. Continuously thanking God for each of you and keeping you in our prayers!
''I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." Eph.1 16-17.
