Congratulations to the 11 students who worked extremely hard and achieved many great successes as part of the Africa Challenge trip which took place during the first two weeks of the summer holidays.
These students were all in last year’s Year 11 and some will now be in Year 12; they are Daniel West, Tommy Lee, Jack Malone, Devon Pacey, Molina Hannan, Ryan Kent, Lauren Morley, Lucy Evers, Alex Boddy and David Preston-Rider. We were also joined by Georgia Ellery from St Mary’s School.
At the start of our two week expedition we took part in a three day community project at Island School near the town of Rumrutti, about six hours drive to the north of Nairobi.
In this short time the whole group made a huge effort and left the school with a new classroom and veranda for the children to benefit from. We also painted the outside of the classrooms and designed and made some new desks. At the end of each day we also found time to share some songs, dances, games and sports activities with the Kenyan students.
Seeing what we at JRCS have done over the last six years at Island school is amazing - our efforts have made a great impact on the whole location. Our contacts there, John and Amanda, have been great over the years They guide and support JRCS and Island School with logistics, local knowledge and communication skills and without them so much could not have been achieved so thanks to both of you.
I would like to thank Moses, our trusty mountain guide who has supported us safely over what is a truly spectacular mountain three times and who is a very professional and authoritative operator in his own right. He always had a smile on his face and had a great rapport with the students. I will miss this great man! I would also like to thank Clive and the team in Nairobi for their support and smooth running of the trip. The whole expedition from start to finish spells organisation and expertise thank you again Clive and the KE staff. The Head teacher of Island School, William, told us that when foreign visitors come to the school, they normally just play with the children, but what we had done was a really wonderful gift.
I want to pass on sincere thanks from the students, parents, governors and teachers of Island School to all the students, parents and staff who helped with the fundraising effort that ensured we could complete the project. We learned so much and made many good friends amongst the pupils and teachers of Island School and hope to continue this friendship into the future. I would again like to sincerely like again to thank Rob Fraser, our KE guide for his true professional guidance in Kenya. Vicky and I trusted and respected him, as did the students, and we realised how integral he was to the expedition – without him we may well have felt anxious, but instead we felt safe and assured.
Thank you Rob, from JRCS and the 2011 team, and also many thanks from,
Paul Hargreaves and Vicky Thain.