Educate the future conservationists of Kenya!

Thank you for your past and continued support to the children of Mwituria. In our last report to you, in December 2019, we mentioned that we were closing down the project and scaling it down as we had not managed to raise all the funds required to build the entire dormitory. We had started (and almost completed) Phase 1, which would accomodate 28 children from the school.

Right after we sent this report, we were notified by the amazing team at GlobalGiving that a corporate donor was interested in making a donation of US$100,000 towards our ‘Educate the future conservationists of Kenya’ project! This donation was truly a Christmas Gift for the children of Mwituria and came at the perfect time. It was all that we needed to restore enrolment and attendance rates that have been declining for several years, while protecting both the wildlife and children that share one road. We want to thank the team at Corteva Agriscience (https://www.corteva.com/) for this incredible gift and their amazing generosity! 

Thanks to the gift made by Corteva Agriscience and to all the efforts and generosity you put into this project in the months prior, we are one step closer to completing the dormitories as we had originally hoped. Once the new buildings are up, we will be able to empower Mwituria’s 128 children through education and accommodate for 300 more, pulling in students from further afield. This is a life changing proposition for these children, and you are part of it. Through your donation you have not only enabled this, but you have also helped us, by starting the ‘spark’ of educating them on becoming future ambassadors for our work in conservation.

Here are our plans going forward using the recent corporate donation we received, and adding it to the $21,341 already raised: 

US$90,000 will be spent on:

1. Finishing the current dorm which carries a capacity of 64 students. This will include adding a septic tank, plumbing and indoor bathroom. 
2. Extend the current dorm from a capacity of 64 students to 128 students. This will make it a full boarding institution recognised by the local county.
3. Build three houses for the teachers. It is important for teachers to stay on the property since it will now be a boarding school. Their role will be to supervise and make sure the children are safe. 

We shall use the remaining US$10,000 to furnish the dormitories with beds, night tables, curtains and other necessary furnitures. 

Progress and timelines

As Kenya, just like the rest of the world is struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, things have slowed down a bit for this project as we need to observe stringent safety regulations. Our team was able to meet with the school and community leaders who approved the presented plan and gave us a go ahead.

The Bill of Quantities (BOQ) has been sent out to potential contractors for pricing and analysis. We had originally planned to have the work completed by November 2020 but this date is likely to change because of the pandemic. The lockdown on major cities means that materials are much more expensive to procure at the moment. There are also some health regulations that we need to observe which means we need to have a safety protocol in place for the workers. We are observing the pandemic very closely and really hope that things will re-open soon so that we can move full steam ahead with the construction of the dormitories. 

Next Steps

The next step for this project is to identify the contractor we will work with. We have asked for a number of companies to submit their proposal to us and are awaiting a few more. Once we have identified the contractor, we will start the construction work. 

We will of course stay in close touch with you as soon as the project is moving forward. This amazing development wouldn't have been possible without you and we can't wait to send you photos once we have more developments. 

Thank you again for your support and participation in this campaign.

• Bill of Quantities and Architectural Plans (PDF)