SHARE Africa

2010 FEATURED SCHOOL : We believe Sponsors would like to see the types of schools that the SHARE orphans attend. This year we are featuring Our Lady of Orore, one of the most prestigious schools in Western Kenya, where in 2009 we had 37 SHARE orphans.

Our Lady of Orore is a wonderful boarding school which provides education for grades 1-12. It is located in the small town of Orore which is situated near Lake Victoria, Kenya. The school itself is very self contained and secluded. It was founded by the Marist Brothers of Germany. Today, the Brothers are all Kenyans and the Principle is Brother Josea; he is assisted by Brothers Rogers, Frederich, and Andreas.

In 2008 and 2009 we learned that the post election violence, continuing drought conditions and the abysmal poverty have left little options for jobs for our high school graduates. Accordingly, we are very concerned that we will have a growing population of SHARE sponsored orphans who are not on a college path and have no means of support.

We explored possibilities of capitalizing on our solar oven experience and partnering with the Marist brothers of the Our Lady of Orore Boarding school. Why this school?

In 2009, SHARE orphans participated in a project called Pieces for Peace Mosaic with Youth from Around the World. Over 200 drawings, poems, and essays were created by children from 28 schools in Wetern Kenya and submitted for this project. With much thanks to SHARE Social Workers, Cyprina and Lucy, SHARE brought this program to western Kenya. Many of the sponsored youth in SHARE’s Orphan Sponsorship program called on their own inspiration to create images of what peace has meant to them. Additionally, students from many of the schools where our sponsored orphans attend, joined in as well also inspired by the encouragement that this project provided “…encouraging youth to become active participants in shaping their future”.

The SHARE Orphan Sponsorship Program (SOS) has been in existence for more than 20 years. Over the course of time, a group of orphans have graduated from high school through the generosity of our sponsors, and some of them continued with their education at a University level. During our trip to Kenya in September 2008, we decided to follow up on some of these orphans to see what their lives are like. Today we have more than 8 students in prestigious universities, and each of these success stories is heart warming.

I hadn’t seen a paved road in about 5 hours. We (Usha and I) were traveling from Kisumu to Mbita Point to visit the children, meet the school principals, see the solar oven and check on how the various SHARE programs are functioning. This is no drive for the weary. I couldn’t help wondering if the holes in the roads were deeper than they were last year, or if they just felt deeper because I am a year older.

Last year, Bobby McGuffie and I traveled these same roads to give World Cup soccer balls to the numerous schools where the SHARE orphans live and study, as a present from donors back home. The roads still do not have names, nor do the streets that pass through the small villages along the way. The villages consist mostly of mud huts, or makeshift houses with sheet metal roofs. Sheep and chickens walk in the streets; young people appear to be standing around without much to do. There are very few older people. Life expectancy in the Suba District is 37.

During Summer 2007, five Emergency Medical Services (EMS) volunteers from the U.S. embarked on a two-week mission to Kenya to continue SHARE’s humanitarian public health work while building local relationships and resources. David Violante , George Contreras, Phil Suarez, Katie Drasser, and Scott Snyder did just that through training and development in the EMS System and Disaster Preparedness efforts, evaluating SHARE sponsored programs and assessing needs, and by building relationships in the rural healthcare centers and central Ministry Of Health.

SHARE sponsored orphans have recently won several academic achievement awards as Best in District for school year 2006 in the Suba district (population about 155,000), Nyanza Province, Kenya.

The award ceremony was a part of Parents Education Day held at the end of the school year, in December 2006. During the ceremony, Mr. Oguma of the Education Office presented SHARE orphans and SHARE social worker with 9 awards for:

• Best Adademic Performance
• Leadership Responsibilities
• Co-cultural Activities
• Best Sponsorship and Guardianship

In her free time, 83 year old Dr. Martha MacGuffie likes to walk, garden and ride horses, but twice a year, she travels to Africa, where she works with other doctors, nurses and lay people who dedicate themselves to the universal goal of improving the quality of life for Africans.

KENYA, Nov. 2006: We were flying low over the plains from Nairobi on our way to Kisumu, Kenya. I looked down from the airplane at the vastness below, and wondered how many soccer fields would fit end-to-end across that mass of land. I might as well have also wondered how many players would be AIDS orphans.

“It is a long way to go for a goat…”, Dr. MacGuffie commented dryly as she saw the commotion of chasing the little goat baby or kid as it is known. “Aha”, proclaimed everyone as a little boy emerged with the kid from behind the hut. Cyprina, the SHARE social worker, insisted that a photo be taken so we can show the two Ushas to the world on our web site. And so, dutifully and gingerly, I inched closer to the small but very frisky kid and prayed no one will ask me to put my arms around it. And so here is the photo!