SCHOOLING
The children in Kisumu can not afford to go to school. You have to pay to go to school in Kenya and uniform is compulsory but not provided. When your family has no income, the idea of gaining an education and one day a job to provide for your family is just a dream. Life is all about survival, and the odds are not good.
This was the situation in Kisumu when Reverend Roger Carter first visited the village and was the beginning of a life time of work.
With help from a small but dedicated team of volunteers and money raised through sponsorships he aimed to build a school in the village. He hired the villagers who turned up in the morning hoping for a job and promptly set them to work.
Albeit a basic building with a tin roof, the school was soon built, a teacher was hired and the school in Kisumu was opened.
As the families here had no income, Roger himself, bought the children uniforms and paid their school fees for the first year.
The children love going to school but if they can't keep up with their payments they are sent home. Heartbroken!
The Wilderness Trust Ministries has been paying for as many children as possible to go to school. In 2019 over 80 children were placed in school for the year. In 2022, 330 children went to school, but to keep them there we need your help.
Education is the main way to help the people of Kisumu, an educated school leaver will have enough qualifications to get reasonable employment in the city and hopefully be able to provide for their own families in the future.
In the meantime, however, life is grim!
ADULT EDUCTION
Each day the Wilderness Trust Ministries employs as many of the local villagers as they can to carry out much needed work. They are expected to do a work hard and in return will be given a lunch and a full day's wage to buy food for their family. We help as much as we can but do not believe that handouts are the best way to help. By gaining employment the men can provide for their families themselves keeping a sense of pride and hopefully learning new skills.
Through his many contacts, Roger Carter was able to obtain an old manual Singer sewing machine and after appealing for more donations of the same was able to set up a sewing school.
As soon as places became available they were filled by eager ladies wanting to learn. They were given donated material to work with and every single person on the course achieved their diploma at the end of the course.
To help, Roger rented a small outlet in the nearest town from where they could sell their newly made clothes enabling the new seamstresses to buy more material and earn money for food.
Two years later, the sewing school is still running.
Putting their new skills to use yet again, the ladies were taught how to make reusable sanitary towels for themselves and their daughters which were not available to them previously.
A major success story for the WTM but more importantly for the ladies of Kisumu.
PRACTICAL LEARNING
Roger teaches the children about sustainable fishing in the photograph above and in the photograph above left we see the children who have just received training in first aid with their certificates.
Roger's approach is not to give handouts to the villagers of Kisumu but to teach them how to fend for themselves and hopefully become self supporting in their future. Once they are old enough to learn how to help, he teaches them how to do the work needed on the land be it farming, carpentry, etc..
With help from the WTM a lake has been filled with fish which have bred successfully. The children and men have been taught how to fish successfully and the importance of not overfishing. He also puts them to work when they wish, hoping that they will learn enough to survive as they grow older and pass these skills on to the next generation.
