Our motto:
With education, there is hope
Meeting the right people at the right time can change lives. This happened as is recorded in Matthew 28:9 when the women met Jesus after his resurrection, and it happens all the time in our lives. On March 8th, 2019, I met a young man called Philip Oketch in Germany. He was an actor coming from Nairobi with the New Hope Theatre. After their performance, we met briefly and exchanged telephone numbers. Nothing happened for a long time until he shared his dream with me: a school for needy children on Asego Hill, Homa Bay. Never before had I done charity work, never had I visited Kenya. This was a new challenge which first seemed too big for me, and I postponed it.
A friend of mine, a black German pastor, encouraged me to start it when he himself went to Homa Bay in 2020, setting the foundations for a new school. That made me take over and, with the help of many friends, relatives, and some Christian churches, we progressed despite the Corona pandemic. At the beginning, we erected a temporary building made of ironsheets and wood, housing 4 classes (50 children) and some 5 teachers. As the children could not be fed properly because of the lockdown measures instituted by the Kenyan government, we decided to feed them daily with a warm meal. Initially, we had a temporary kitchen which was replaced with a new one two years later.
In the course of another three years, we invested in a permanent building which had six classrooms for the 150 children (both boys and girls), a staff room, and new toilets, water tanks, electricity, WIFI, and computers. As the primary school is on a slope and because of heavy rains, we had to invest in anti-erosion measures.
Today, the school has 10 teachers, a cook, and the teacher, Philip Oketch, as the Manager of the school. The school pays the salary for its staff. Moreover, food is provided besides all the other demands that a primary school has including teaching materials, writing materials, copy books, and so on.
I visit the school yearly as well as attend important events. I attended two graduation ceremonies which were very impressive. Philip’s dream has come true! Above all, God makes us happy to serve the needy members of the population there. Ten children have recently reached 6th grade and hope to proceed to secondary school. We work together with the local authorities and churches who support us as much as they can.
"I have been working as a teacher at high schools for 43 years in Germany and I am a pensioner now."
