written by: Bart Abbott October 27, 2008

While in Kenya, Emerge project manager, Tyler Hoegger, also helped build and deliver desks, chairs, and tables at schools for 560 children. One of these schools was an Early Childhood Development program (Nursery school) which is located in a rural area where students sit on the dirt floor to learn. Our organization manufactured benches and tables for the children to sit and learn on. The tables that we manufactured are in the shape of trapezoids because they encourage child-to-child interaction, and group learning. In this project, different age groups received different learning surfaces. For instance, at Ezra Gumbe Primary, we manufactured 150 chairs and desks with built in storage lockers for 150 eighth grade students. We also crafted 75 desks which sit 3 children per desk for students at Pandpieri Primary. These types of desks are suitable for children between the ages of 8 and 12.

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written by: Bart Abbott October 26, 2008

The classrooms at our partner schools are not the only facilities which are being improved. We have just installed 8 brand new toilets at Migosi primary school. This project has doubled the amount of sanitary facilities available to 1,000 young woman who attend school every day. The ratio of girl students to toilets has been cut in half, and we have also positioned a 5,000 liter rain-water catchment system directly inline with the toilet facilities so that kids are able to wash their hands after using the bathroom.

We built the floors of the bathrooms using ceramic tiles which is a major innovation for government primary schools in Kenya. Practically speaking, using tiles is more sanitary. Tiles are non-porous so the smell does not get absorbed into them, and they are easier to clean than cement. Another reason, besides sanitation, that we built the bathrooms using tiles was to challenge the beliefs of many in the community who think that children at Migosi are not worth investing in. Migosi primary is often referred to as a 'slum school' because many of the children who take refuge in its learning environment are living with single parents or grandparents in the Nyawita and Obunga areas of Kisumu town. The living conditions inside of these areas are very harsh. The low-income households place enormous challenges on the students and it takes a special type of school to accept and nurture these young people. That is why it is so unfortunate to hear about social stigmatisms being perpetuated by other schools in the area which have children who are from higher income families. The most tragic side of this situation is that students attending Migosi are affected by these beliefs and over time they learn not to believe in their own value. We installed tile, which is viewed as luxurious in Kisumu, because we wanted to make a statement to the children at Migosi and everyone in the surrounding community. We wanted everyone to see how valuable the children are who attend our partner school. As we constructed the latrines, our desire to demonstrate the precious value of the students at Migosi began to work. Members of the surrounding community began to refer to the project as the "ultra-modern" pit latrines. Then in September, the bathrooms were visited by both the Mayor of Kisumu and a national Member of Parliament for the area. Today, the latrines are in full working order - preserving the health of young women. In the coming months we are planning to build new bathrooms for the boy's at Migosi Primary as well, so stay tuned...

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written by: Bart Abbott October 20, 2008

In our September newsletter, we reported that we had painted 18 classrooms At Ezra Gumbe Primary. Today, we are happy to report that we have painted 57 other classrooms at 4 different schools for over 4,000 children. Pandpieri Primary, Ezra Gumbe Primary, and our newest partner school, Saint Mark's Primary, have all received dramatic face lifts.
Painting these classrooms which used to have dark blaack and brown stains on them caused immediate and observable improvements in the energy and positivity of the students. Tyler Hoegger was the project manager responsible for the entire project. In August he traveled from his home in Salida, Colorado to volunteer for two months with Emerging Humanity in Kisumu. When the project was finished Tyler could not walk through the halls of a school without a student or teacher saying 'thank you tyla!', or 'thank you tiles!''

  Before                                         After

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written by: Bart Abbott |October 18, 2008

We are very proud to announce the establishment of a partnership agreement with a wonderful new school in Kisumu. St. Mark's Primary School is located in a flood-prone section of the Nyalenda community, Kisumu. The school has approximately nine hundred students enrolled. Many of the students come from extremely vulnerable backgrounds and as a result the school has meager resources for their education. As an Emerging Humanity partner school, St. Mark's Primary will gain access to funding for a series of projects which are designed to create a holistic transformation of the learning environment. St. Mark's has enthusiastically agreed to maintain a high level of community participation and ownership in order to fulfill its portion of the partnership agreement. Last month, over 60 parents and members of the community volunteered by planting trees as part of a flood mitigation strategy. Eucalyptus trees, which have an extremely high water uptake, and several other species of tree were planted along the upstream portions of the campus in order to increase the absorption capacity of the area which floods on an annual basis. Over the next six to eight months, Emerge will be helping St. Mark's Primary with rain-water catchment systems, flood-mitigation strategies. We are currently helping them build a school lunchroom, and establish a tree nursery and environmental club for students. Last month, we painted all 17 classrooms in the school as our first project under the partnership. Above: The parents of children attending St. Mark's Primary school in Nyalenda attended a mass tree planting on a Saturday as part of a community participation campaign launched by the headteacher of the school, Mr. Dominic Wachio.

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written by: Chelsea Neal-Ricker July 19, 2008

One of our Emerge volunteers, Pete Nkengasong, worked hard at creating multiple sets of wooden alphabets and numbers for the nursery school classes at Arya primary. These materials will provide more tangible interaction with education to over 150 children, ages 4 to 6 years. The alphabets and numbers were painted on six square inch wooden boards, ensuring their long term durability. While distributing the materials the children were very excited and the teachers very thankful. We are grateful to Pete for his hard-work and meaningful contributions to our projects.

Right: Pete Nkengasong and another Emerge Volunteer, Shadi Saboori, paint and varnish the flashcards on a veranda in Kisumu. Left: Young ones in the Early Childhood Development class at Arya Primary show off their new learning materials.

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written by: Bart Abbott July 10, 2008

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has donated a total of 4, 5,000 liter water tanks as part of the rain-water catchment systems which we are installing at Migsoi and Arya primary schools. We loaded and delivered the tanks on Tuesday. As we parked the truck at Migosi, the oldest boys in grade eight ran to help us unload them. We have learned from the rain water systems that we installed last year, that catching rain water causes enormous improvements in the sanitation and hygiene situation for children at school. We will begin the installation of the tanks and the rain gutters this weekend. The two systems, once installed will provide daily access to 20,000 liters of safe water to school children for over one third of their school year. Once completed, this will mean that Emerging Humanity is almost half-way to our goal of installing 48,000 liters of rain-water catchment capacity at schools in Kenya.

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written by: Bart Abbott July 7, 2008

We are proud to announce that we formalized an official partnership with Migosi primary school which will increase the toilet access for students by over 50%. The school management committee of Migosi primary has agreed to raise funds to pay for the labour costs of constructing 8 pit latrines and Emerging Humanity will purchase all the materials as well as help with management of the project. Yesterday, the School Management Committee of Migosi began raising over 3,000 dollars, a monumental effort, in order to pay for the labor.

Our organization is also planning to install over 20,000 liters of rain-water catchment at Migosi, which has no piped water and an enrollment of over 2200 students. The project will provide 2 litres of water to every student each day for three months out of the school year.

Above: Headteacher of Migosi, Paul Kaunda (left), Bart Abbott, and the Chairman of the School Management Commitee, Simon Otok (right), shake hands after forming an official partnership to help the children at Migosi.

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Written by: Bart Abbott July 4, 2008

I spent this week visiting the some of the projects which we completed last year at our partner schools. Below are some of the pictures of the projects that we completed last year:

Top left: The curriculum-based murals and the classroom paint jobs we completed at Ezra Gumbe have maintained their brighteness, and the young students look lively and happy in class. For the paint jobs we used oil-based paint instead of Latex paint which is normally used in Kisumu. Stains do not wash off of the latex paint so it quickly takes the color of Kisumu dirt, but the oil based paint stays bright and shiny. Top right: the playground at Pandpieri Primary is getting a great deal of use. The swings have broken from over use, so we're planning to fix them with a better design soon.

Left: The school forest which we planted at Migosi primary school has grown tall enough to conserve water and produce shade. The teachers and the student environmental club are now growing local vegetables such as kale, and maize underneath the f

orest canopy. Right: I shook hands with Gabriel, one of the students who brings water from his home each day to water his tree which is growing in the newest part of the forest.

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written by: Bart Abbott June 27, 2008

James Oindo met me at the airport when I arrived in Kisumu on Saturday. James and I are close friends and it was great to see his smiling face the moment that I set foot on African soil. After we dropped my bags off at the house where I am staying, we headed to the Bustani farm which is the youth employment initiative that Emerging Humanity has started on the outskirts of the city. As you will see from the photos on this page, James and the hard workers at Bustani have done an amazing job at transforming land which was once harsh and barren into a productive farm that is now providing full-time employment and lodging for 5 young people. Our goal is to invest in Bustani until it is able to employ 30 youth full-time and it is engaged in commercially-viable activities which allow it to be self-sustainable.

Above left: In this small quarter acre patch of land Bustani farm is growing kale, papaya, passion fruit, maize and neem.Above right: On the left is Dalmas, and on the right is James. In the middle is Pete Nkengasong, a student at Brookwood high school in Atlanta, Georgia. Pete is visiting Kisumu and offered to help us out on the farm. In the picture the three men are removing maize from the cob so that it can be dried in the sun.

Above left: One of our Emerging Humanity values is getting technology into the hands of those who would never have access to it otherwise. In this picture Dalmas is learning how to use a battery powered saw that we brought from the U.S. This saw should make construction on the farm easier while simultaneously expanding the minds and skills of the employees who work there. Above right: Bonface is a new employee at Bustani. Each young person on the farm receive a six month, renewable employment contract which empowers him/her with a stated weekly salary and a health insurance package in case of injury or illness.

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