MARCH 2018
Dearest friends
Just returned from our
long overdue visit to MJS School in Kenya (above photograph). It's always a wonderful trip
for us, but this year was extra special and pleasing to see how well
under Alfred's leadership the School is being run, and the progress of
all the 100 children.
Ten years ago we built one classroom and enrolled 20
children in kindergarten and now these 20 children are
ready to sit their Kenyan Certificate of Education. It's difficult to
believe that some of these children screamed then when they saw us,
never having seen a white person before, and now they are happy,
confident teenagers, speaking English as well as they speak Swahili and
their individual tribal tongue. We are very proud of them.
Four lucky ones will be awarded a scholarship to
study O and A levels in High School beginning next January. They sit
this exam in October and the results are out in December. Alfred their
English teacher, and Denis their maths and science teacher, say they
are very, very pleased with the dedication and commitment shown by each
child in this class and anyone of them is worthy of a scholarship.
So it could be very difficult to decide who gets these
scholarships. Please pray with us that when we say goodbye to them in
December, that the rest of the children in that class will find
work in Mtwapa or even Mombasa.
In January as usual, we will have the
difficult task of choosing another 20 children out of the 100
plus who will be queuing at the gate hoping for a place in
the kindergarten class.
Many thanks to the children and parents at St
Margaret's Church for donating so many books as requested. We
actually took four suitcases of books, each case weighing 20 kilos. It
was difficult but worth it as the teachers were ecstatic and the
children were spellbound.
One child remarked with great pride, " no other
school in Kenya has a library such as ours "
All this would not be possible without you wonderful people and the
support you give us.We cannot thank you enough.
With Love and Blessings
Mike and Kath
OCTOBER 2016
Dearest Friends,
On our arrival at Michael James School on our first visit for 12 months we were greeted with big smiles, big hugs from all the staff and tears from some, but it wasn't until the children in the playground came rushing over saying " welcome home Mama, Papa , welcome home". Then we cried.
We were very impressed with Alfred , our head teacher who has been with us nearly 12 months and he came to the first meeting well prepared with lots of notes and ideas for the future of the school. He is as anxious as we are that every child should reach their full potential. He will be off school for two days soon to attend his degree ceremony in Nairobi, a proud moment for him.
The children in the top two classes have gained enormously from being able to borrow books from the library we set up last year, and the books have been well looked after. We took a further supply of books which were eagerly welcomed by Osmond, the librarian and Yvonne his assistant. We actually took 100 kgs of luggage in five bags, mainly books and we thank everyone who contributed.
There was great excitement throughout the school when we gave every child and every member of staff a Friendship bracelet complete with it's own small bag. Many thanks to Sandra for that.
We welcomed Denis, the new teacher, a replacement for Regina who left to have a baby. He is straight from teacher training college but Alfred is pleased with the way he has settled in and his willingness to put in extra hours if necessary.
The children going into class 7 are still 18 months away from taking the Kenyan Certificate of Education exam and three lucky ones will get a scholarship to go to high school. Their teachers encourage them all to work to their best and the excitement and anticipation in that class has to be seen to be believed.
The staff have asked us to leave the registration of the school," in the hands of the Lord a little longer" and not to pay any bribes. We may not necessarily agree with this at this late stage, nevertheless we are very happy that each member of staff has such a strong Christian faith.
We feel very proud of the staff, children, and everything they have achieved at Michael James school so far and we hope we have conveyed this to you, for without you lovely people and your support and prayers this school would not exist.
Thank you, We love you all.
God bless you
Mike and Kath
October 2015
We have recently returned from our usual wonderful visit to Michael James School in Kenya where the children continue to amaze us especially with their vitality and enthusiasm for all things connected to learning. So refreshing.
We wish you could see the children in the kindergarten class, they really are gorgeous, their skin and hair is now looking so good. They continue to pester Stella their teacher to speak English to them. Apparently they want to speak like the other children in the school because, " English is so beautiful ". Strictly "curriculum" they should still be speaking only their tribal tongue and Swahili.
We had a very successful trial run of the once-a-month Saturday feeding programme for children in the community who don't attend the school. We fed over 100 hungry children, which took a bit of organising so they didn't join the queue for seconds. This is about the limit with the cooking utensils, plates etc. which we have at the moment. Jocelyn the cook gave her services for free as did two of the teachers.
However with a bit of planning we think we could feed 150 to 175, perhaps to get some parents involved, we are not sure if it's fair to ask the staff to give up their family time on a regular basis. Still praying about this. The children certainly appreciated it very much, so thanks for contributions.
The library is now officially opened on Saturday mornings from 10 to 12. All the books have been catalogued by Osman, the librarian, assisted by Yvonne. That day Yvonne wrote a letter to a friend she corresponds with in England and signed her letter off with ' Love from Yvonne, (assistant librarian )', aged 11.
Thanks to everyone who contributed books, especially Rosie Withers and family for the magnificent collection of boy's books they contributed. Very much appreciated by the children as they think it's wonderful to be able to take a book home to read.
The children in standard 6 were very excited to hear we have two scholarships available for High School, the Derek Newing scholarship and the C. K. Jackson scholarship which will take them to study O and A levels. This is a huge motivation to them and all think they are in with a chance and are working even harder according to their teacher.
We are thrilled to be able to tell you that Rhona, a friend of ours and sister in Christ, is going to visit the school in November. She is going on her own and it's her first time in Kenya. Please pray for her 22nd Nov to 3rd Dec.
Thank you to all you lovely people for your prayers and your massive support, for making this school possible
May God bless you abundantly.
Kath and Mike Blears
PS. We will be enrolling another 20 children and a new teacher in 12 months time which will make 100 pupils and will
make the school complete. Would appreciate your prayers about this
FEBRUARY 2015
Thank you so much for your prayers whilst we were in Kenya, we believe they kept us safe and whilst we were both a bit under the weather, we were able to achieve all the things we had planned.
We took new uniforms for all the children and amazingly they all fitted. We also took back-packs for standard one as they now have homework.
Our new teacher Regina is settling in well and is a welcome addition to our staff. She is teaching standard 3 at the moment but is also qualified to teach in the upper school if need be.
The teachers were very pleased with the range of skirts , dresses and tops which we took for them, mainly from the charity shop.Also shirts for Rama who must surely be the best dressed nightwatch man in whole of Kenya.!!!
We now have 80 children in 4 classes and what a joy it is to sit in each of these classrooms and see how well the children are progressing, not only physically and mentally but also spiritually.
At enrolment this year we had 130 children queuing at the gates with their parents hoping to join our school. We are used to 80 or 90 each enrolment but this is the largest number so far. They came from much further afield than our catchment area but word has apparently got around that M.J. School is academically ahead of other schools, even better than some who charge large school fees, and some parents even offered to pay fees in our school. It is heart-breaking and takes two days for us to select 20 children from the very poorest families, and we have never waivered from this policy, and we have been richly rewarded by seeing the progress of the children in all the different classes.
All thanks to God for the talented and dedicated staff led by Genny who has grown into the position of Head Teacher so beautifully.
To say the children loved the Christmas cards and T-shirts sent by the children at St Margarets Sunday school is an understatement. They were ecstatic. The T- shirts were really lovely, so colourful and individually designed and labelled by the children. Several children said they were the most beautiful thing they had ever had.
Even after several weeks of having half an orange twice a week, Tues and Thurs are greeted with great excitement . The children like the oranges so much, they also eat the peel. What do you say to a child who wants to save their half orange for a sibling?
We can now afford to give the children brown rice instead of white which is more expensive but much better nutritionally and more satisfying.
We always take as many books as we can, we are limited to 23 kilos each in 4 big bags and we have this off to a fine art now and we are usually within a kilo or two . The library is increasing but we are particularly short of reading books for 10 to 14 year old boys. If anyone can help, please let us know.
We want to say to each and everyone of you, a massive thank you for your prayers, support and financial help, as without you Michael James School would not exist.
Be blessed
Kath and Mike Blears
Hola Trust is a Registered Charity No. 1125781
NEWS
"Words cannot describe how this school has transformed the lives of not only the children, their parents, and other villagers, but also the staff and their children." - Genny, former head teacher