THURSDAY,
4th JULY 2013, 7pm
at
In February this
year 36 students and 5 staff from Ponteland High
School embarked on an expedition to
Kenya . Having flown to Nairobi
the group travelled north to Lake Baringo , stopping en route at the equator for the compulsory
photographs, before pitching camp on the shores of the lake.
Whilst at the lake
we enjoyed nature walks to discover local flora and fauna, including both carpet
vipers and scorpions. The early morning boat trips to watch dawn rise over
Lake Baringo
were spectacular, and included sightings of so much wildlife, including hippos,
crocodiles and fish eagles. From Baringo we headed south to Olorte via
Lake Naivasha .
At Olorte, we stayed in an Eco Camp and involved in local community work,
helping to paint furniture at a local school and to build a new “wallow” to try
to encourage the wildlife to return to the area. A particular highlight was to
spend a night under the stars at Enchorro Naibor, a truly inspirational
viewpoint visited by very few Westerners – estimated at less than 200 Europeans
to date.
From Olorte, we
travelled to Labentera, a small village which hosted its first “international”
football match between Ponteland students and their Kenyan counterparts. It was
at Labentera that we were introduced to Moses who is the chief of a small
Maasai tribe which lives about 5 miles outside the village.. The children of
Moses’ village have to walk these 5 miles every day to attend school. It is a
physical impossibility for the infants to walk this distance and consequently
the younger children are not receiving an education.
Part of the motivation
behind our recent trip was to support the efforts of Moses and the villagers in
their attempts to raise funds to build a nursery school. This school will be
built close enough to the village to enable the younger children to attend. If
further motivation was required it was most certainly encouraged by the
hospitality the tribes folk showed us. They welcomed us into their homes and
organised a wonderful evening of song, dance, food and ceremony in our honour.
Wonderful times were had delivering outdoor lessons to the children who, whilst
initially sceptical and cautious, soon became involved, enthusiastic and
appreciative.
To date Ponteland
students have played a small part in helping to prepare the site for the new
nursery school and have worked with the villagers to remove the bushes in the
area and to mark out the parameters of the building. Using the money Ponteland
staff and students have already collected, the building work has already begun.
It is our intention to raise sufficient funds to complete the building and
furnishing of the nursery school. To that end we are holding an auction at
Ponteland High
School on Thursday 4th July at 7pm. We
are hoping many local residents will come along to bid for the variety of ‘lots’
on offer. Many generous donations of items to auction have been received from
parents and local businesses.
Examples include:
·
7 day, 7 night adventure in
Maasailand , KENYA in October
2014
·
Trip in light aircraft over
Northumberland
·
Trip in micro light over
Northumberland
·
Cruise on Tyne for 8 – 10
people
·
Passes for Ponteland Leisure
Centre
·
Tickets to Dare to Dream at Metro
Radio Arena
·
Many vouchers / items from local
retail outlets
A return to
Kenya in February 2015 is in the
planning – hopefully Ponteland students will be able to see the nursery school
in action.