Latest News from Unity School

After weeks of heavy rainfall, Unity school remained un touched by floods that have hit much of the coast region.  (Unlike the above picture from earlier in the year.   The situation is so bad that the Government ordered a one week delay to the start of the new term.  Then came the news of a cyclone off the coast of Tanzania, possibly heading towards Mombasa.   The cyclone appears to have expired without causing damage.

As Unity School returns to something like “Normal”, the examination results are the best ever. See “Latest News” to read the report from School Manager Mr Norbert Were.

Congratulations to all our students and Well done to our teachers for all their hard work in providing learning materials for our students when school was closed.

Students in Standard are the first to benefit from the projector provided by our supporters, together with the lap-top giving access to information from the internet. This is a huge step forward in giving our students access to information that in the UK we take for granted.

Whilst we have been on ‘lockdown’ in the UK and practising social distancing, Kenya too is no exception and the Kenyan people are really suffering from the Corona Virus. The Kenyan Government have closed all schools and have many restrictions in place similar to us. The school closure has hit our poorest families hard since the feeding programme has been suspended.

As Trustees we have a responsibility to make sure everyone at Unity School has our support and we are helping in whatever way we can.

Unity School has had to make some difficult decisions and we have been liaising closely with their Management Team. They have been able to retain their senior teachers, the cooks and the day and night watchman but on reduced salaries. Sadly the rest of the teachers are now on unpaid leave.

There are quite a few children who will travel to the countryside with their parents to stay with grandparents or other relatives until Unity School re-opens. The population in the countryside is less dense which will help the children and parents to stay well and hopefully less chance of contracting the virus.
The 8 pupils who were living in the orphanage have been taken in by local
families for a short period and this is reviewed weekly.

So………where does all this leave Friends of the Mombasa Children?
Our fundraising events have of course all been cancelled, at least for the next six months or so. We are very grateful for the continued financial support with our monthly and annually supporters, plus regular donations. This will support those managers and senior teachers still in place, plus any outstanding fees for our further education and medical treatment. We have recently finalised our three year budget and looking at this year, 2020/2021, our monthly support will be £300 short because of the cancellation of fundraising events.
The management team and senior teachers are integral to the future of Unity School. Good teachers are hard to find in Mombasa.

We are aware that people are suffering financially here in the UK, but if you were able to help by just a small amount each month, either to extend the amount you are already giving, or just an additional amount as and when you can, we would be so grateful.

Please help us to keep Unity School going during their lockdown so that the pupils have a school to go back to!

With your support we would like to continue the medical programme which we have reluctantly suspended for the time being. We would also like to help our poorest families by purchasing food for them.