Shihalia
Kenya
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Kenya
Help build a community center and upgrade a school in Shihalia, Kenya
Orphans’ Heroes is pleased to collaborate with Vincent Kwarula to install a water pump and build a school in the village of Shihalia, Kenya.
Abbreviated Bio +EXTENDED BIO
Vincent was born and raised in Kenya. At the age of two, Vincent began playing football, and this sport has become an integral part of his life –– through school, as captain of the Kenyan National Football Team (the Harambee Stars), and today as coach to many young athletes in New York and Connecticut.
Vincent believes “knowledge is power,” and this belief is what has motivated him to help the children of his native land. Vincent recalls as a teenager that he wanted to drop out of school on many occasions because his parents could not afford to pay for school related fees and supplies. As a result of his own experience and his belief in the value of education, Vincent supports 30 children through educational scholarships, and is eager to broaden this effort to include more children. Vincent’s larger dream involves renovating a school, building a community center, and installing a water pump in his ancestral village of Shihalia.
About Shihalia, Kakamega County, Kenya
Kakamega is one of the most scenic counties in Western Kenya. The area contains the only tropical forest swath that begins in the Congo Basin. This forest is home to thousands of flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the world. It is said to be Kenya's last remnant of the ancient Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once spanned the continent. The population of the Kakamega region is a little over 73,000.
The village of Shihalia in Kakamega County is where we are constructing the water well and plan to renovate a school as well as build a community center. The population of Shihalia is approximately 3000 people, mos
t of whom depend on farming and animal herding for a living.
The Water Pump
In this part of the region, people rely on rainwater and a few rivers and streams as their main source of drinking water. The water is neither clean nor purified for consumption. Lack of clean fresh water has led to outbreaks of water born diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, dysentery, and parasites. Vincent understands the threats of unsafe drinking water very well, as he has witnessed many friends and family suffer from illnesses during his years in Kenya. Most recently, his mother has been plagued by a neural infection stemming from a bout of typhoid.
In the spring of 2011, we began the construction of an electric water pump in Shihalia. We are in the last stages of this project, which involves installing electricity in the village, and anticipate the water pump to be operational by mid-September. Water will be pumped into a large holding tank and ready for consumption every morning.
How You Can Help
Renovating the School
Shihalia Primary School consists of 9 classrooms and educates over 500 students. There are many challenges the administration faces to provide an adequate education for the children. The existing structure is in need of repairs such as plastering and painting the walls, fixing broken windowpanes, installing drop ceilings, repairing the floors, and building desks.
Overcrowding of classrooms is a challenge to both the teachers and students, with the highest number of children to one classroom being 74 pupils. As such, we plan to build 3 additional classrooms.
The total cost of the renovations is $42,000.
Building a Community Center
The community center will serve as a gathering place for both adults and children and will offer additional educational opportunities and extracurricular activities such as small business classes, sex/health education courses, a library and computer center, and a playground. Detailed plans are being drafted. Please check back at a later date for more specifics.
Donations may be made online, or by sending a check to
Orphans’ Heroes, PO Box 333, Bedford Hills, NY 10507.
To sponsor a child from Kenya, please click the orange button.
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