As community members from the Ntimigom area watched the success of the first two schools, they began to envision the same dream for themselves. Could they build a school for their youngest students, saving them a 30-minute walk to town? Could they make their church site, a crossing point of two rural roads, a place that would draw community members? Could they imagine having a medical clinic and a primary school to boot?
They answered with a resounding “Yes”. The local tribe donated 10 acres of land to The Kilgoris Project. Church members began offering trees and cooking skills to further the work.
With a preschool taking just two acres, there was room to imagine what else the land could hold. To reflect their hopes, they renamed the site Oloorupa, meaning “a place on a hill that can be seen from far away”.
Though the project wasn’t scheduled to begin until early 2008, church and community members eagerly began construction in Fall 2007. By January 2008, they had enough of a struct
ure to open the school for the beginning of the Kenyan school year.
The two teachers and about 80 students hold class sitting on benches made from rocks and scrap boards learning the alphabet from letters sewn on a discarded feed sack. They still lack the basic classroom furnishings and play equipment needed to complete the school.
The daily feeding program provides each student with a bowl of filling, vitamin-enriched porridge and cup of tea. Since many students come to school without breakfast and/or without a lunch, this enables them to have energy for their school day.
The school also lacks a clean water supply. Currently the teachers fill heavy cans of water at the pumps of neighboring farmers and haul them for a little student drinking water. Still the children often drink from stagnant puddles on the walk to school or at recess and, as a result, often have diarrhea or stomach problems. A fresh water collection tank (rain water tank) would provide ample clean water for school and church activities.
Despite the school’s unfinished state, it is a source of excitement for the Ntimigom/Oloorupa area. Church and community members are now plotting their dreams for the remaining eight acres of their place on a hill.