This spring Inverness County Cares will revisit their long-range plan for their involvement with The St Charles Lwanga School. As all guardians we hope to see our project ‘grow up’ and become independent and self-sustainable. To realize this, the school needs to move to an area where there is ample space for the school compound and areas for gardens and fields for crops. The present day St Charles Lwanga School in Ruai, Nairobi had developed a reputation as an excellent educational institution. With this status they will be able to attract fee-paying students and continue to serve the students who cannot afford to pay fees.
The school administration has identified an area in Western Kenya in the Lake Victoria vicinity where the soil is fertile and rainfall abundant. Purchasing land in this area would take children from the influences of the city of Nairobi, and most importantly enable the students to concentrate on agriculture, which will supply the school with food and an income to support the needs of the school.
The University of Vermont and volunteers from GoGlobal have developed a program where students from St Charles Lwanga School will work cooperatively with the Perma-Culture Institute of Kenya and form alliances with the University of Nairobi. It is the intent of the Vermont delegation, to train students at SCL in organic farming practices, in order to provide the new school with guidance and expert help to develop their agricultural program. It is the expectation that this program will transition into a community agriculture college where the students from SCL will be able to acquire post secondary diplomas in agricultural practices. Following this trend it is the belief that this college and its graduates will be able to disseminate and share the agricultural expertise with the nearby communities. Sharing this knowledge of agricultural practices will enable residents to take part in community based initiatives to improve the agricultural knowledge and increase their standard of living.
Thanks to the generosity of their supporters Inverness County Cares has been able to reach their goal of $60,000 per year for the past three years. The new school land requires an additional $30,000 of which generous supporters have already donated $16,500. When the land is purchased, other funding partners (not ICC) will begin negotiations to determine the specifics of the new school and the funding particulars.
Betty Jane Cameron will return home on the 29th of April with many stories and new insights into the St Charles Lwanga School. We thank our supporters who make all this possible. For more information see our webpages.
