Letter of the Month Club

 

Welcome to the first installment of our Letter of the Month Club (LOTMC)!  This is a new feature on the blog that we hope will help you develop a deeper relationship with your sponsored child through letter-writing.  We will have a post in the first week of every month that school is in session.  Since we are all in different stages of getting to know our sponsored kids, each post will contain two to three suggested topics – a basic “Getting to Know You” topic, our “Topic in Focus,” and when appropriate, a “Holiday/Seasonal” topic (since letters take up to three weeks to be delivered, we will be working a month ahead for seasonal topics).  You can choose the one that works best for you and your sponsored child.  We will also give suggestions for “extras” to send along with your letter.

This Month’s Topics:

Getting to Know You: Your Family

Describe your family to your sponsored child.  Tell them the names, genders, and ages of everyone in your family.  Tell them the occupation of you and your spouse, and the school grades of your children or grandchildren.  Let them know what city and country you live in, and its approximate location.

Suggested Extras: Family photo; or country map with your city marked

Topic in Focus: The Death of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was one of the great freedom fighters of the Twentieth Century.  He was an inspiration to people all over the world, including our Nairobi Kids.  He valued education, resilience, equality, and peace.  His life and quotations hold many valuable lessons for our sponsored children (see our blog post for more information on Nelson Mandela).  Tell your sponsored child how this African leader inspired you and others in your country.   

Suggested Extras: Clipping or printout of a news story on Nelson Mandela’s death

Holiday/Seasonal: Valentine’s Day

Describe how Valentine’s Day is celebrated in your country.  Tell your sponsored children that you love them. 

Suggested Extras: Valentine’s Day greeting card; stickers; or connect the dots page

Reminder: The purpose of the LOTMC is to facilitate getting more letters in the mail to our Nairobi Kids, so please do not get bogged down in worrying about writing the perfect letter or gathering the “extras.”  If you are short on time this month, just drop a postcard or greeting card in the mail with a few short lines to let your Nairobi Kids know that you are thinking of them.  

~submitted by Brooke

Goals for 2014

 

As the New Year begins, we at PAB have worked with Fanuel, the school director, to develop a set of goals for 2014.  This year we are taking a “back to basics” approach that emphasizes the fundamental features of our sponsorship program.  Our primary goals for 2014 are:

1.    Increase the number of children sponsored

Packages and gifts from the Online Shop are certainly appreciated, but the single most important gift that we can give our Nairobi Kids is the gift of sponsorship.  Sponsorship provides these children with the financial and emotional support they need to stay in school and earn their secondary school diplomas. 

If one of your sponsored children has graduated or moved away, please consider picking another child to take their place.  We will also be focusing on getting the word out about our programs in an effort to expand our sponsorship base.  In the coming months, the blog will be featuring simple ways our supporters can help us spread the word about our Nairobi Kids. 

2.    Complete the new classrooms for the Galilee Primary School

Our large project this year will be to raise funds to complete the new Galilee Primary School classrooms.  Thus far, we have raised the funds to complete one classroom and are only $1396 away from complete funding of the second classroom.  We hope to build a total of six primary classrooms through our Buy-a-Brick Campaign.  For more information on the Buy-a-Brick Campaign, visit www.plantabook.org. 

3.    Encourage deeper relationships with sponsored children through letter-writing

The encouragement of a sponsor can have a very positive effect on a sponsored child’s school performance and general outlook on life.  This year we would like to foster deeper relationships between sponsors and their sponsored children by increasing the number of letters, cards, and postcards sent by sponsors.  We will be instituting a “Letter of the Month Club” on the blog to help sponsors remember to write and to provide some ideas of interesting topics to explore.

4.    Improve Textbook Ratios

Fanuel reports that insufficient textbooks is one of the biggest obstacles that the school faces in providing the children with a quality education.  At WHS, the textbook ratio is now approximately one textbook to every four students.  The ratio is better at GPS due to a large donation of textbooks in 2011, but students still currently share at a ratio of approximately one textbook to every two students. 

Some of the textbooks used are paperbacks and must be replaced every few years due to wear and tear.  In wealthier countries these types of texts are replaced on annual basis.  Please consider purchasing textbooks this year for your sponsored child and/or the classroom.  A full set of textbooks is available from the Online Shop for approximately $50 (depending on the grade), and individual texts can be purchased for $5-7.  Buying your sponsored child a textbook provides three blessings: (1) your sponsored child has use of the book for the school year; (2) it reduces the overall text to student ratio for the class; and (3) when the school year ends, the text will remain with the class to be used by students next year.

Thanks to all of our sponsors, donors, and volunteers for your continued support this year as we work to reach these goals and help our Nairobi Kids get a quality education!

~submitted by Brenda and Brooke

Child of the Week

 Meet Terry - GPS651

Birthday ~ December 1

 

Terry is eight years old and will be advancing to Standard 2 at the Galilee Primary School in January.  Terry lives with her unemployed parents and two siblings in the Kayole-Soweto slums of Nairobi.  Terry enjoys reading storybooks and wants to be a teacher when she grows up.  Can you make 2014 a wonderful year for Terry by giving her the gift of sponsorship?

You can sponsor Terry for only $12.50 a month. 

For more information, please visit www.plantabook.org or email info@plantabook.org.

Please make a difference in the life of a child today.

~Submitted by Brooke

2013 in Review

 

 “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”

-Ronald Reagan

            As 2013 draws to a close we reflect upon all that we have accomplished this year for our Nairobi Kids at the Galilee Primary School, Waddington High School, and the Holly House orphanages.  Our group of sponsors and donors may be small, but together we have accomplished great things.  In 2013 we were able to:

·         Sponsor 156 Galilee Primary School Students (22 of whom live at Holly House)

·         Sponsor 90 Waddington High School Students (40 of whom live at Holly House)

·         Raise the funds to fully construct one classroom in our campaign to replace the leaking, temporary Galilee Primary School classrooms with safe, permanent structures.  We are only $1396 away from fully funding the second classroom.  Construction of these first two classrooms began in December and is expected to be completed in early 2014.

·         Raise funds for the Standard 8 students to take the KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) exam.

·         Raise funds for many Form 4 students to take the KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) exam.

·         Fully fund a special Christmas dinner for the children at the Holly House Orphanages.

·         Raise funds to pay for the hospitalization and medical treatment of a Holly House student.

·         Purchase feminine hygiene products for our female students, which dramatically reduces school absences among our older girls. 

·         Celebrate Waddington High School’s best ever KCSE scores for our graduating Form 4 students, class of 2012.  Many students achieved scores high enough to qualify for the Kenyan government’s University loan program for top achievers.

We are deeply appreciative of the efforts of our sponsors, donors, and volunteers who made 2013 such a successful year for our Nairobi Kids.  We wish you and your loved one peace, joy, and happiness as you celebrate the coming of the New Year.

~submitted by Brenda and Brooke

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! From the School Director

 

Dear Friends,

 

With the holiday season upon us, as we reflect on all that we have to be grateful for, we are most grateful for YOU. You, our global community of friends from near and far, are our partners, our supporters, and our inspiration. You give us encouragement, you give us your hearts, and you give us your courage.

As far away as we may be from each other in distance, we are always close in spirit because of our collective efforts to make the world a better place.

The year has been a big success for us all and we hope that the coming year will bring with it better things for our children. My appreciations go to all of you who have sponsored and continue sponsoring children in our schools and children's home, those who have recommended to their friends, relatives, colleagues to consider sponsoring, those who have been buying gifts for their sponsored children from the OLS shop, those who continue writing letters of encouragement to their sponsored children, those who have send packages to their sponsored children, those  who contributed towards the construction of GPS classrooms. The classrooms are going to be a big improvement in the learning environment for our children and teachers. As much as we have many more classrooms to construct in the coming days this has been a great achievement for us, all for the saying goes that a journey of 1000 miles starts with the first step. All these has acted as assurances to the children, that whatever hard times they are undergoing in their young lives, they are not alone and that there are people around the world who love and care for them.

Thank you so very much to our volunteers who have worked tirelessly making sure photos, letter and other important information reach sponsors, those who are working on OLS, photos, the blog, letters, cheerleading in fundraising etc, your efforts have been instrumental in the success we  have had this ending year.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous year 2014.

Thank you

FANUEL

Happy Holidays to all!!! 

 

Fanuel Okwaro, 

The Director, 

Galilee Primary School, Waddington High School, Holly House children's homes

Merry Christmas!

We wish a very Merry Christmas to all of our sponsors, donors, and volunteers around the world!  Thank you all for the kindness and generosity that you have shown the children at the Galilee Primary School, Waddington High School, and the Holly House Orphanages.  As you celebrate Christmas with your loved ones, please know that you have made a difference in the lives of our Nairobi Kids. 

Christmas Dinner for Holly House children 2012

 “May peace be your gift at Christmas, 

and your blessing all year through!”

-Unknown

from Brenda and the Plant-a-Book International Staff