2016 Update: MY Kenya Project: Akili School, empowering Youth through Technology

3 October 2016

Cecilia

I shared with you about, our recent advocate/volunteer Jane Body https://www.facebook.com/jane.body?fref=ts&ref=br_tfand a $5000 AUD grant from sunflower foundation Inc Australia http://sunflowerfoundation.publishpath.com/2016

I used the grant to make sustainable showers using left over/broken tiles, used water bottles and natural stones. the girls used to shower in the open and were at risk of rape since some men were reported to be looking at them as they shower. now we can harvest grey water, filter and use it to water our orchard and vegetable gardens. this is because we do not have a permanent water source/well at the school. the results are awesome!

David Omondi

 

1 Dec 2015

Crowdfunding WATER for Akili Girls School

Akili Preparatory School for Girls provides free quality education for underprivileged girls from Obunga Slum, Kisumu, Kenya. Deeper Missions Org, USA is matching all funds raised upto $10,000 to enable us to drill a permanent well 110 meters deep to provide clean and safe drinking water for 30 underprivileged girls attending a boarding school in its Obambo Campus as well as over 300 households living in Obambo village, Kisumu, Kenya.

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

 

11th June 2015

Cecilia’s Summary: This is the achievements from Akili School in Kenya from 2014-2015:

* Construction of the First 4 Classrooms for a new Girls school.

*  Volunteer raised $16,200 USD Boarding House for Girls to be completed by August 2015

*  Sustainable Farming, feeding all children and raising $35 a week from sales of extra crops in local community market.

* Harnassing BioGas for Cooking at the School Kitchen.

*  Meeting with the medical team of a local hospital to work out a plan on how we can test our girls for common diseases and conditions. For Future Health Checks that Vital to the overall health of the community.

* Arrangements for Special Medical needs students: e.g. some orphaned girls are HIV positive and are on daily medication and our caretakers will be informed on this so that they can help them to adhere to their drug regimen.

Things to be done and in need of Donation:

* Drill a well to supply water to the school, build a kitchen and buy utensils, construct toilets, buy beds and mattresses, hire a cook, matron and 2 more teachers and fence the school compound.

Donations Needed to complete the Project: $5000 USD

Please see links provided by David Omondi’s letter below for donation online details! 🙂

And May I say, Well Done, David!

Love to everyone in Kenya from

Cecilia XO

Dear Cecilia

We are pleased to inform you that because of your support, we have accomplished a lot for our girls in the past 5 months (see attached photos). The construction of the first 4 classrooms is almost over. We have done the walls, roofing and installed windows and door grills. All that remains is installing the floor tiles and roof ceiling board and finally painting. Thank you all for contributing towards this work financially and through prayers.

With the help of another volunteer Claudia Tompai who has raised $16,200 we have started building a boarding house for the girls. The foundation work is almost done and we are starting building the walls tomorrow, Friday. We hope that it will be complete by end of August 2015 and move the girls to the new school on September 7th when schools reopen for third semester.

Our farm has continued to do well, we now feed our girls fresh vegetables from the farm and sell surplus to the local community generating up to $35 every week. We are planning to build a zero grazing unit at the new campus in Obambo where we will keep dairy cows to provide milk for the girls and for sale to generate income for the school. We will also harness biogas for cooking in the school kitchen. We are now doing research on this, visiting different dairy farms in Kisumu and learning from the farmers as we prepare to start our own dairy farm.

This week, we are meeting with the medical team of a local hospital to work out a plan on how we can test our girls for common diseases and conditions that they may have so that we are better equipped to manage their health when they join the new school. For instance, some of the girls are HIV positive and are on daily medication and our caretakers will be informed on this so that they can help them to adhere to their drug regimen.

 Before we can move the girls to the new school, we still need to drill a well to supply water to the school, build a kitchen and buy utensils, construct toilets, buy beds and mattresses, hire a cook, matron and 2 more teachers and fence the school compound.

We have been applying for grants from various organizations for water project/well and we are hopeful that they will respond in time and enable us provide water for the girls. We had hoped that we would have another volunteer trip in July 2015 and help us get the school ready for the girls. Unfortunately, no volunteer signed up.

We have been doing small fundraising online and so far we have raised $1,750 on indiegogo which we are saving to contribute towards taking care of the girls at the new school; mainly buying food and supplies.

From 1st June 2015, we joined an online challenge on www.goto.gg/20618 where we are raising $5000 from 40 unique donors in 30 days and competing for a permanent spot on global giving platform with 266 other orgs http://www.globalgiving.org/leaderboards/open-challenge-june-2015/?showAll=true . With 19 days to go, we have raised $245 from 5 donors. We plan to use funds raised from this campaign to build a small school kitchen, buy beds and mattresses for the girls, and fence the school compound. Staying on this platform will enable us to access donors and raise tax deductible funds for our projects.
We are calling on you all to donate and support us so that we can meet our target of $5000. Whatever you give, $10 or more will go along way in bringing us closer to our goal and enabling us to continue to serve our girls and have an even greater impact in our community.

Regards,
David Omondi Otieno
Founder & Director of Operations, Riley Orton Foundation

> www.akilischool.weebly.com

> Akili Prep School & Akili Library & IT center facebook page

5th Feburary 2014

Thank you Cecilia W Yu for sending us the Encyclopaedia Britannica CD for our library. Our students are now able to access lots of learning resources offline!

Akili Library: Empowering Youth through Technology

Akili Library & Information Center has been a beehive of activity since January. The youth from the community, predominantly high school leavers awaiting their national examinations results and out of school girls have been swarming the library to study basic computer applications and read story books.

The students come to the library every afternoon. It takes about 2 months for the students to complete a basic course in computer applications including Ms Word, Ms Access, Ms PowerPoint, Ms Publisher, Ms Excel, Internet and email. They are also taught how to use the computers for research.

We recently received a donation of an Encyclopedia Britannica CD from Ms Cecilia W Yu (余詠詩).  The CD contains over 60,000 books and videos on different topics of interest to the library users. All these books are now available offline in our computers and this is good news for us given the fact that we do not have internet connection yet. We installed the CD into our 10 computers and the students have been enjoying researching information on various topics of interest, reading history and watching videos. Computer training enables the youth to acquire the essential computer skills needed for success in today’s computer-driven society.

The training enables the youth to acquire the essential computer skills needed for success in today’s computer-driven society. Majority of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds. At the end of the training, they are issued with a certificate which they can use to seek employment as data clerks, secretaries or cyber café attendants in town.

This project solves the problem of computer illiteracy by providing computer learning opportunities for marginalized youth in Obunga. The library has provided a conducive environment for the out of school youth who come to study computer enabling them to stay out of trouble in the community.

We are grateful to Cecilia W Yu (www.ceciliayu.com) for this donation that will go a long way in increasing access to information and promoting literacy in Obunga Slum.

You can support this project by sponsoring a girl to study basic computer applications for $25. This goes towards paying tutors, paying for internet, electricity bills and maintaining the computers.

19th October 2013

Hi Cecilia,

I hope you are doing well.

I am David, I contacted you sometime last year asking for help with Akili Youth group after reading your story with the girls you mentor in Uganda.

You asked me to continue reading your blogs and links for opportunities and that you observe groups for 2 to 3 years before you can help.

I wanted to let you know that we are doing well, many things have changed since then.

Akili Library is doing really well, we got a grant of $7,629 from better world books USA and built a very nice library which is now serving over 300 kids in Obunga slums.

We also got a grant of $4,500 from safaricom foundation Kenya, we bought books and 10 computers and now teach the kids how to use etoys and access health information using computers. Akili prep school is now in 1st grade and has 96 kids.

Next year we are expanding to 2nd grade.

We employ women and so far we have 4 young women as teachers. we also developed an exchange program with Freedom Christian Academy, Arizona. 10 girls from Akili Prep are penpals with girls at FCA. We also partner with Columbus School for Girls in Ohio, USA. the girls develop etoys and health modules for Akili Library. We have been so blessed.

In July 2013, we got registered by the kenya government as a national non profit org supporting girls and women in the community.

We are now called Riley Orton Foundation. the name was inspired by a 9 year old boy in Kenwood California who has been raising school supplies for children living in poverty since he was 5. You can check out our website here www.akilischool.weebly.com.

From November 4th to December 20th, we will be fundraising for our org at Indiegogo. I was asking if you could help us spread the word during this time and ask some of your friends to donate from $5 for us. We need the money to construct new classrooms, buy school supplies, pay teachers and support the feeding program.

It is a one time thing.

I pray that you will find it in your heart to support us so that we can be ready for the start of the next school year and continue changing the lives of children in Obunga slums.

Thank you.God bless you.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING THE FIRST ONE TO DONATE IN OUR CAMPAIGN!! YOU HAVE BROKEN THE ICEBERG FOR US! MAY THE THAW CONTINUE!!!! GOD BLESS Yu!!

David Omondi