Download
1 / 6
E N D
Welcome to our latest newsletter. We have had an exciting few months fundraising, developing our projects and making new friends. I hope you find the newsletter interesting and informative but if you have any ideas about how we can improve it please let me know. Even better if there is someone out there who would like to have a go at the next one, due in Spring 2014, please shout out! I cant believe its almost a year since our last AGM and this year we will be meeting in Market Drayton so I do hope that lots of you will come and join us. Sue Price and I have just returned from Kenya where we met so many inspiring people and had a chance to see how all our projects are doing. There will be stories to tell and photos to show so do please try and join us. We are also looking for new trustees with event management, fundraising or project monitoring skills; ideally we need someone who can volunteer time equivalent to one day a month to help us to run the Charity. Please contact myself, Keith or Hazel to find out more – mail@zfl.org.uk. Thank you all for your continued support, Best wishes, Karen Jones, Chairman NewsletterAutumn 2013 Fundraising successes: Andy Price raised £741 by doing the Tough Mudder Challenge; this will pay for Victor’s 1st year at Uni (see page 4) Tilstock Zumbathon raised £90, the Barn Dance £430 both for general funds Karen has raised £7000 from grant making trusts for Siatok, Innis and Miriu libraries and for core funds New!....Donate via EBAY Just follow the ‘donate some of my profits to charity’ link when compiling your advert and choose Zest for Life from the list of registered on the scheme Thank you! In this issue: Schools News Community and women’s enterprise University students news AGM invitation on Page 6 Notice of the Annual General Meeting 13th November 20137.30pm at Church Street Community Centre (formerly St Mary's Parish Hall), Church Street, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 1AF £5 Christmas Challenge For the price of a stocking filler you could: Give one teenage girl the chance to go to school every day of the month by providing a years supply of sanitary towels or Be part of our malaria prevention scheme by providing a mosquito net for a Miriu student Please help us to make a difference with your gifts this Christmas. (For more details see articles on Pages 2 & 3)
Miriu and other Secondary School NewsSponsorship programme makes a difference and offers better life chances The focus of our visit to Miriu was the continuation of a more focused student sponsorship scheme. The trustees have been discussing with Head teacher, Gordon Dulo, and the Board of Governors how best to make the scheme more focused, easier to manage and of more benefit to the students supported. This has resulted in an agreement to move forward in 2014 with sponsorship for 50 students of very limited means and offer more support for post-secondary education. We have reached this decision following drops in our income levels coupled with an evaluation of the current scheme that illustrated the need to support fewer students at a higher rate of subsidy. Similarly the school have put much thought and effort into setting up a committed Partnership team with whom we will be communicating more frequently and on a more meaningful level. Karen and Sue had the opportunity to discuss at length the selection process for students coming on to the scheme, monitoring methods and the additional support needs of the committee in terms of communication and reporting costs. Karen presented the committee with a laptop donated by a well-wisher that will help with communication (see right). We also discussed the need for IT training for teachers and undertook to investigate this with Tom Kore (our project manager in Kenya who accompanied us on our visit) with a view to sourcing training through the Millennium Business School. A subsequent meeting with the management board of the school was similarly positive and productive. We also met representatives of the student body who told us their ideas about how the scheme could be of wider benefit; this included support for students leaving Miriu who wanted to go on to vocational courses e.g. nursing, social work, carpentry etc. These students gave us some powerful stories about the way your support is helping vulnerable teenagers to stay in school. We heard from one young lady who is at the top of Form 4; the youngest of 8 children she is the first to reach Form 4 level in her family. She now has a real opportunity to do well in the end of year exams and to gain a place at university or college. Another young man asked about help for students who want to do more vocational courses; he was keen to help us to understand that there are many students who leave school with little hope of furthering their education beyond secondary level. Zest for Life has pledged to look at helping with vocational courses alongside aiming to fund one young person each year at University. Some 20 Year 4 students were temporarily boarding at Miriu to enable them to stay at school for extra study in the run up to the national examinations. In the girls’ ‘dormitory’, of the 12 beds only 2 had mosquito nets, the boys’ was the same. We also heard that very poor girls still struggle to attend school every day of the month as they can’t afford sanitary towels (or, often, pants). As a result Sue and Karen returned home determined to raise funds through a Christmas Appeal to help with both issues (see front page). If you can help, you can donate through any of the usual channels including Just Giving and of course by cash or cheque to any of the trustees.
AIC Innis:Access to books and sanitary provision is making a real difference to 400+ children Sue and Karen visited Innis twice during their stay to be greeted both times by happy children, positive staff and very evident community support for the work we are all doing to improve the life chances of these young people. On the first visit we saw the newly refurbished classrooms and were given a tour of the rest of the school. Karen and Sue were invited to plant trees with the help of elected representatives from each class. This year Moses Awiti (Head teacher) has encouraged the children to elect prefects that are named after government posts e.g. Class 7 has a President and Prime Minister, Class 6 Senator and Governor. Sue was aided in planting her tree by the President, Karen was helped by the Prime Minister. We also visited the relocated library where we met the two teachers who have taken on the responsibility of managing this very successful resource together with the 6 library monitors. Moses told us how the library has contributed to a dramatic increase in end of year scores across all year groups. The scores lists were on display in the library. We also heard that stock levels have been increased to 900 books and that newspapers were also purchased daily so that the children become more engaged in the wider issues affecting Kenya. Moses told us that girls especially are benefitting as the majority of book borrowers. Teachers also told us that they had seen an general improvement in written work and vocabulary as a result of the wider reading the children are undertaking. The Head teacher and staff requested that we consider funding a further expansion of the library both in terms of physical space and to provide more reference books, dictionaries and science books. As a direct result of the success of the library project 4 very able girls gained places at national secondary schools. MrAwiti asked us to consider sponsoring these girls. Similarly, the Siatok group asked that we consider supporting one orphan girl. We are very pleased to say that we have been able to do this and now have 2 girls at Nyakach Girls School one at Kenya High, one at Ngiya Girls School and one at Kisumu High School The new latrine block funded by Zest for Life has also had an impact on school enrollment, attendance figures and lesson attendance by girls. In all classes girls not only outnumber boys but they achieve the highest marks and attendance rates. Moses requested that we consider installing another 2 latrines and a washroom. We were also asked about funding a supply of sanitary towels for older girls. Often the girl will not attend during her period and if she does the lack of means to buy underwear or effective sanitary protection can lead to embarrassment and shame (see appeal on page 1). We also saw the porridge programme in operation and learned the importance of this vital first meal of the day for these small children. Bishop Phillip Asoro told us that the programme has contributed to the increase in enrollment and that the school was gaining a reputation as a good option for poorer families.
Supporting women and familiesWorking together to improve family income and offer real hope for the community The focus of our second visit to Innis was our ongoing support for women’s groups. The Jefna ladies talked to Karen about their successes with the sewing machines we donated last year (see 3 ladies trained as tailors below). They also requested that we consider supporting more of their activities. At Siatok, we were treated to cakes baked in the oven we donated last year and given a tour around the projects underway on site. We saw the brick making enterprise that is very successful, banana plantation, goat and chicken rearing, bee hives and a new tree nursery operation funded by a local government initiative. We met some of the ladies that had benefitted from our revolving loan scheme and the subsequent small business training day organised by Mr Tom Kore on our behalf. Last year, we were asked to consider funding an extension to the feeding centre where the group cares for 20-40 orphans at any one time. Over the last few months we have been working hard to find a solution to this issue as the suggestion of building an extension on Siatok – owned land was not viable due to legal issues. A good solution was put forward by Bishop Philip Osoro; that we request the AIC Church to give permission for a new building on church land adjacent to AIC Innis. This has proved a popular and practical option as the building could be put to a variety of uses as a feeding / training centre for the women’s groups, a kitchen where women can be trained, space for an extended library for Innis and an IT room to offer access to online training for teachers. Both the latter can also be made available to the wider community outside school hours. With this basic plan in mind, Sue and Karen attended a ground breaking ceremony and prayer service and witnessed the main parties, Innis, AIC and Siatok, signing a 10 year lease agreement. The land has been donated free of charge. We also witnessed the setting up of a management board consisting of members from each representative group. Zest for Life’s part will be to try to raise sufficient funds to complete the building from business sponsorship and grant making bodies in the UK. We are very keen to hear from business or groups interested in helping us to develop this project that will make a huge difference to this very poor, rural, isolated community.
News about our sponsored University students During our visit we caught up with (from left) Hasting, Martin and our new student Victor (see spotlight below). We also met Joseph Odhong, a Miriu teacher currently on study leave at Maseno, and we met for the first time baby Sheri with Mum Millicent who hopes to return to her teacher training course in September next year Spotlight on Victor Asoro We would like to extend our congratulations to the latest of our Miriu sponsored students to gain a place at University; Victor will be studying for a BSc in Physics starting in January 2014 at the Maasai Mara University near Nairobi. Having become a total orphan at an early age, Victor was sent to live with a distant uncle who did not treat him well. He returned to the Miriu area to live with his grandmother. It was at this point that he came to the attention of the school and was put forward for the sponsorship programme. Victor worked very hard at school, always appreciating that education was the way to improve his situation. In 2009 he came to the UK as part of the British Council’s Global Schools Partnership scheme with Thomas Adams School. He stayed with Andy Price and Sam Gainsborough and inspired Andy by his profound statement “it doesn’t matter how little we have there’s always enough to share”. Andy and Victor became firm friends, Andy visiting him on a return trip to Kenya. Victor continued working hard and despite many hardships including the poor health of his grandmother he eventually gained a B+ in his final Form IV exams giving him the chance to go to university. As a result of the friendship Andy and Victor formed, Andy has helped raise some of the funds Victor needs to start University. This together with some ZfL support means that we can help Victor to fulfil his dream. Victor is presently teaching in a local primary school whilst he awaits the start of his course, living with his grandmother’s sister. On our recent visit we presented Victor with a donated laptop to assist him with his studies at university. We look forward to watching his progress.
Notice of the Annual General Meeting 13th November 20137.30pm at Church Street Community Centre (formerly St Mary's Parish Hall)Church Street, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 1AF AGENDA 1. Welcome 2. Apologies 3. Minutes from previous meeting 4. Chairman’s Report 5. Financial Report and presentation of audited accounts 6. Appointment of charity trustees Serving trustees who wish to continue will be elected en block Please see the information on the FAQ page of our website about the appointment of trustees. To reappoint Mrs Karen Jones for a 6th period of one year (currently the Chair). To reappoint Mr. Keith Edwards for a 6th period of one year (currently the Treasurer). To reappoint Mrs Hazel Rees for a 3rd period of one year (currently the Secretary). To reappoint Mrs Vicky Heath for a 5th period of one year. To reappoint Mrs Susan Price for a 4th period of one year. To reappoint Mr Michael Revell for a 4th period of one year. Trustees will appoint their officers for the coming year at their next meeting. Proposed resolutions Additional proposals for resolutions from members (sponsors) should be sent to the Secretary at Cherry Tree Cottage, Coton, Whitchurch, Shropshire SY13 3QL or by email to mail@zfl.org.ukby 6thNovember 2013. If necessary a revised agenda will be issued at the AGM. 8. Networking with Trustees and refreshments. By order of the Board of charity trustees Karen Jones, Chairman, October 2013 Nomination form for prospective trustees. *I, ………………………….. (Please print name) wish to stand for election as a Zest for Life Trustee. *I, …………………………... (Please print name) wish to propose …………………………(Please print name) for election as a Zest for Life Trustee *I / we understand that the election of trustees is subject to the restrictions outlined in the constitution. *Please delete as appropriate Signed (nominee)……………………………………………………. Contact details………………………………………………………… Signed (sponsor member)……………………………………………. Contact details………………………………………………………… Sponsor member: Please tell us why you think your nominee will make a good trustee. Nominee: Please provide a brief biography, reason for seeking election and the skills you will bring to thetrustee board.
