In July 2022, Drs. Shea Kerkhoff and Michelle Falter led a team of educators from Missouri and North Carolina to Kitale, Kenya, to work with Wekhonye Primary, Hilario Secondary, and Lukosi Salvation Army Secondary Schools. The three schools are under the leadership of Chairman of the Board of Governors Dr. Peter Wanyonyi. Drs. Kerkhoff, Falter, and Wanyonyi have been partnering with these schools since 2018.
Builders
Team members Dr. Terry Daily Davis, Dr. Michelle Falter, and Dr. Javania Webb are pictured with the Kenyan engineers who helped to build the dormitory.
The team’s first assignment was to assist the construction crew in building a girls’ dormitory for up to 80 students. The crew became the teachers as the educators learned how to mix mortar, lay bricks, and saw wood for window frames. This girls’ dormitory is important to the community because many girls walk two hours or more each way to school. And, since school starts at 7am and goes until 4 or 5pm, the two hours on either side of the school day can mean girls are walking in the dark along rural dirt
paths and on the shoulder of busy roads. This time walking along the side of the road is a vulnerable time where girls can be targets of sexual assault or victims of car accidents. Providing a dormitory for these girls means that they would not have to walk back and forth to school every day, lowering the risk of harm profoundly. It also means that girls whose parents will not allow them to walk so far everyday because of safety concerns may be able to attend school. The construction of the dormitory was an opportunity for our team to go from teachers to students learning how to build. There were times the construction crew had to slow down their production to help our team learn the appropriate techniques. This was the first time many of our team members had ever been exposed to mixing mortar, laying bricks, or climbing scaffolds. Our team was happy to participate in this project to support the girls’ education.
The education and construction crew building the girls’ dormitory at Hilario Secondary School.
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