Mercy Children's Centre, Kenya: The Year in Review

By Lew, Lili and Sadie Fulton

(Written November 24, 2008)

As 2008 comes to a close...

We thought it would be a good time to let you know how things have gone at the Mercy Children's Centre this year. Kenya's had a tough year - and what follows is not completely uplifting - but the fact that we are stable and in some ways moving ahead, is itself a great achievement. This is primarily due to the continued commitment of our supporters and the great leadership of Charles and Pius and their team of teachers at the two school campuses in Kawangware and Bumala.

The year certainly started out with great difficulty, as Kenya experienced violent upheavals after the December 2007 elections. By March things had mostly calmed down, and during Sadie and Lili's March trip to Nairobi and Bumala they saw a lot of new hope in everyone's faces.

Unfortunately, for many Kenyans (including children and teachers at the Mercy Centre campuses), this hope was accompanied by a very real shock that can only be diagnosed as "post traumatic shock syndrome". The country had veered very close to a Rwanda style genocide, with plenty of small and a few sizeable atrocities, but then miraculously pulled itself out before experiencing death and destruction on a mass scale. The trauma this inflicted highlights the real need of all Kenyan children, especially orphans and "vulnerable youth" for a peaceful, safe and nurturing environment and good education - so that they can learn how to be the caring responsible adults who will be pivotal for Kenya's development.

At the two MCC campuses, we therefore made a renewed commitment to provide a safe haven, schooling, and a daily meal to each child and so far we are keeping up with that commitment - though meals became increasingly expensive during the year as we got hit with a second major challenge - rising food prices. Prices of basic stables like corn and vegetable oil doubled or tripled (or worse) as food prices rose around the world between March and July of 2008. Since August, prices have moderated somewhat but are still well above pre-2008 levels.

Another setback (we'll get to some good news soon!): we had hoped to get support from Feed the Children but they let us down despite having a verbal commitment of support if we met their hygiene and food storage requirements, which we did (at considerable expense). It turns out that successfully navigating their bureaucracy requires more time and resources than we have available. Clearly, the poorest of the poor remain neglected, even by food charity organizations.

So we continue to pay market prices for food, and in our 2008 budget we have been able to allocate around KSH 20 per child per day (about $0.30, which means $8 per month or $1600 for 200 kids). This is the absolute minimum to provide some maize and vegetables each day, and meat on rare occasions. It would be great to increase the budget (and food) per child, but we must also factor in cost increases associated with adding new students in 2009.

During the year, we also implemented a proper (if small) salary for all teachers. This amounted to KSH 3000 ($50) per month per teacher for 15 teachers in the two schools (a total budget cost of $750/month). Gaining some stability for the teachers (especially in the face of their own rising food and living costs) has been a major achievement, and gives the Mercy Centre a little more leverage in terms of choosing teachers and ensuring that they do their jobs properly.

The Budget Picture

As mentioned, the average expenses for food and teachers during 2008 were $1600/mo and $750/mo respectively. In addition, rental costs (in Kawangware, including the dormitory for 25 kids) came to about KSH 30,000 ($500) per month, and school supplies and operating budget came to another KSH 10,000-15,000 ($150-230) per month. All in all, monthly expenses have been about KSH 200,000 ($3,000) per month. Of this, we were able to cover about $2000 per month with external contributions (thanks everyone!), and the rest was raised by MCC staff (Charles and Pius) from the local community and even from their own pockets.

During 2009, these costs will rise as we add a new "baby class" to the 2 schools. Costs should also rise due to increases in spending for food and teachers, but this can only happen if we can significantly increase the level of support we receive through donations. At Bumala, a 5th class will be added (Baby through Class 3), whereas in Kawangware, as mentioned, we will need to decide whether to expand the school through class 7 or even 8.

Some Good News! Construction Continues at Bumala Campus

Funded primarily by our Canadian NGO partner One Child's Village (www.onechildsvillage.org), during late 2007 and in 2008 at the Bumala school, the following construction projects were completed:

• (Just finished in November) an assembly hall that doubles as a 3-classroom building, ensuring sufficient class rooms through 2009.
• 5-classroom school with administration and storage offices
• Kitchen building (kids are ensured lunch each day)
• water well
• 4 stall latrine

OCV also provided a host of important supplies to both Kawangware and Bumala.

Second Phase of Construction

In early September 2008 the second phase of construction began in Bumala. As of late November we are nearing the completion of a large meeting hall at the school in Bumala which will double as a 3-classroom facility for the children. Prices for construction have gone up dramatically since building the main school last fall, but Charles has worked tirelessly to negotiate fair prices on almost everything.

OCV proposed construction plans for 2009 include:

• Increased library and computer room facilities
• 2 additional acres of land for future food production and expansion
• Improved kitchen facility
• Additional and replacement desks, uniforms, textbooks, and school supplies for the school year

OCV is also putting together a plan to create several volunteer guest housing complexes on site so that volunteers and well-wishers can stay right at the school and participate in programs such as teaching, gardening, construction, or community outreach to the orphan's homes. This will hopefully be achieved during 2009. Want to come to Kenya?

In sum, we are hanging in there. We hope we can get greater levels of support, and more supporters, during 2009 so we can continue to grow and help more kids in Kenya. Lew is hoping to visit Kenya in late December or early January and will send back a fresh report on things there. Anyone interested in joining him on this trip is most welcome.

Finally, we sincerely want to thank all our supporters during 2008, as listed on our website (www.mccentre.org). A special thanks to Knox Church and Renee Fulton in Acton, Ontario for their amazing fund-raising efforts, and to Elisa Dumitrescu of Nairobi for being such a dependable supporter!

We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season!

Lew, Lili, and Sadie Fulton