Lisa’s school, Samburu District Kenya

Lisa’s School is situated in the Samburu District of Kenya, close to the small town of Archers Post and the Samburu Nature Reserve. The area suffers from extreme poverty with very high levels of unemployment and very severe drought conditions, which have resulted in the total collapse of visitors to the Samburu Reserve, thus exacerbating the employment situation.

The school caters for up to 60 boys and girls aged three to six years of age and provides both education and basic health care, including uniforms and meals and all necessary educational materials. Lisa’s school is supported by a UK based charity that meets all the costs of free schooling, including uniforms and meals and all necessary educational materials.

The school is named in memory one of its two founders, Doctor Lisa Veron-Brunner. Lisa was murdered in Zimbabwe while working on the World Health Organization’s “Stop TB” Project. The other founder is Brian Freeman, who runs a safari camp in the Masai Mara and is very well known to one of our Rotarians, and has made Crickhowell Rotary aware of the school, the work that it is doing for the local community, and the need for additional funding.

Whilst the principal purpose of the school is to provide education, it has become apparent that poor nutrition was a barrier to learning and so the school now provides a simple but nutritious breakfast and lunch for all the pupils. This has now been extended to providing food parcels to the needy families of pupils in the community and, where necessary, the wider medical needs.

 

 

At the age of six years, the children should move on to the local state-run primary school. However, the state schools in the area are poorly funded, understaffed and lacking in proper equipment and materials. Consequently, many of the children do not attend school and disappear from the system, resulting in little or no education. Lisa’s School provides funding to allow a limited number of pupils to move on and attend the local privately run Umoja Academy which provides basic primary school education.

Crickhowell Rotary currently provides, directly and indirectly through its membership, funding for nine children to attend the academy. We have also funded regular food parcels to the family of two recently orphaned boys.

Whilst Crickhowell Rotary’s primary focus is on our local community, we realise the importance of maintaining a global perspective and although we are a small club and cannot respond to all the needs around the world, we do recognise the importance of ‘Education’ in helping to reducing poverty and ill-health. For this reason, our Club is proud of the work that it is undertaking with Lisa’s school.

For more information visit: lisasschool.org