A QUARTER-OF-CENTURY-LONG friendship between a Barnard Castle teacher and an African activist is set to transform the lives of children in a rural Kenyan village.
Sam Forsyth, from Barnard Castle School, first met Kenyan environmentalist Maurice Wanjala while doing an assignment for the BBC in East Africa 25 years ago.
Now the pair have launched a charity which aims to rebuild the dilapidated primary school in the Kenyan village of Kipsaina. The charity, called Kipsaina Education and Environment Partnership (KEEP), also wants to provide a borehole with the dual purpose of providing villagers with clean water and to protect a nearby wetland.
They need to raise £60,000 to achieve their aims and, with backing from 18 pupils from Barnard Castle School, the school might be rebuilt this summer.
Mr Forsyth said: “Kipsaina Primary School currently educates over 450 pupils and it is set to expand. Sadly the Kenyan government is not investing in its school infrastructure and, although Kisaina children are being taught to a high standard, the school buildings are in a dangerous and crumbling state.
“The unsealed mud floors of the school are harbouring crippling foot parasites called jiggers that can permanently disable the children that catch them. There are no sanitary latrines and water is drawn from the local swamp and must be boiled to make it drinkable.”
He added that villagers and their animals are causing damage to the wetland when they collect the water.
At the school they aim to teach hands-on sustainable agriculture, including crop rotation, without having an adverse impact on the environment by encroaching on the these vital wetlands, Mr Forsyth said.
The biology teacher along with 18 of his pupils are currently raising the cash through a variety of activities including a freefall parachute jump and going door-to-door selling cakes in the villages where they live.
They have already raised about £10,000.
Mr Forsyth said: “They are really sticking their necks out to make this work.”
They hope to have raised the cash in time for a two-week trip to Kenya in July when they plan to help rebuild the school.
Central to the scheme is protecting the wetland which, Mr Forsyth said, is key to protecting the community from flood and drought risk.
Along with the two major projects, Mr Forsyth is also collecting books, reading glasses and hand tools for the Kipsaina community.
In particular, he is looking for school text books which can be used at the school.
The hand tools will be used in a training workshop that is being planned to teach villagers carpentry and motor mechanic skills.
Tools needed include hand drills, chisels, planes, screwdrivers, socket sets and spanners.
Mr Forsyth said they were not looking for power-tools.
Anyone with spare reading glasses can deliver them to the Teesdale Mercury Shop and Mr Forsyth is looking for more shops in the town to help collect books and tools.
Anyone who can help, or would like to donate to the charity can contact Mr Forsyth by email at ssf@
barneyschool.org.uk.
