On Everybody’s Lips

Monday 19 November. ”Hannah-Emuriakin – Congratulations. Hongera! – Sir, your school did so well! Wonderful! – Please take these soda-drinks to the students!”. The news spread like a fire through Loki the same day. 

Suddenly, the  Hannah-Emuriakin was on everybody’s lips. The results from the KCPE -the 8-graders national exams had just been released on the internet. It soon became evident that our school’s first ever 8 grade class with 35 students, even had the best results in the whole of the Turkana West sub-county and were number two in the whole county, with an average score of 352 out of 500. In addition, 3 students had exceeded the magical 400-mark. And the group of eight students, (who were amongst the one hundred from the ”School under the Tree” who Birgitta was introduced to 10 years ago) scored a mean 363 points! Next year there will be a lot more students from the tree, sitting the KCPE exams. Quite fantastic, almost incomprehensible. We’re moved to tears trying to understand what has happened during these years in Loki!

And on TV

And then the  Nation Media Group team makes the long journey all the way to Loki to do a TV footage about the  Hannah-Emuriakin miracle where Lucy, Birgitta and students are interviewed and which is aired at prime evening time on the nation-wide NTV.

Still today, 3 weeks later, senare, people will come forth to congratulate. The TV-footage can be seen here: https://youtu.be/peF7FxxeNMo

A Prayer about a Dream

Who could imagine this 10 years ago….?  The children who were called ”emuriakin = forgotten” in their village! Extremely vulnerable, many without clothes, hungry, and in great penury!  Then, in the open, in the scorching 40 degree sun, with sand whirling, Birgitta surrounded by some of the villagers, prays a simple prayer, hands raised towards the heavens, ”Lord we lift this dream to You, about a school for these children. They have the same right as any other children to have a proper school, good teachers and sufficient study material!”

A Miracle Journey

The rest is history. How I and Birgitta get a MAF-appointment to come and work in Loki in 2009. How Birgitta’s school in Sweden, the Hanna-school, with staff, students and parents, respond to the call for a school for Emuriakin in Loki and start the first fundraising initiative. How one after the the of volunteers appear on the scene to help with construction and various other tasks. How we realise the need to register a local organisation with our local partners – becoming LEDO, Lokichoggio Emuriakin Development Organisation. How hundreds of friends and friends of friends come alongside to provide financial support in order to run the school. How we strike water when we sink our borehole (in an area where others had tried and failed) – that in it self a great miracle!  How we realise that in order to assure that trained and competent teachers would be willing to stay on and work at our school in Loki, they would need a decent and competitive salary. And how many of them have played a great part in the excellent achievement of our eight graders’ national exams.  How the Children’s Mission Sweden ”adopted” our Loki-projects in 2016 when our contract with MAF had come to an end. Yeah, the list can go on on.

Great Expectations

And now, all of a sudden, we’re here with another 35 students who with great expectations and excitements will receive calling letters from various Secondary Schools around the country. Some of them from some of the very best schools! And where education is not for free but will cost an average of 40 USD per month per student. And then knowing that most of the parents/guardians (many are true orphans) have no financial means whatsoever! Some may have a chance to get scholarships from various institutions, but what about all the others…? 

Student Sponsor

Could we also extend this cry plea for support to You – to become a sponsor of one of these young highschool students? That would enable us to include them in our Mapendo Student Support program, where we support some of the most vulnerable – enabling them to continue through secondary school and college education. Every little contribution will surely make a difference! 

One smart and cost effective way to send money today is through WorldRemit. https://www.worldremit.com! To the Mpesa – a widely used and safe money transfer system.
Send it to LEDO’s Mpesa number +254-707 799 878. And please just send us a note to our LEDO email address: ledoloki(at)gmail.com. God bless You!
If you doubt that a contribution will make any difference – please read Triza’s story below!

My Stepfather was Going to Marry me Off!

”I would like to thank you and my sponsors through LEDO and all the people who have touched my life in one way or another. Thank you very much for being so generous and sponsoring my education for the last 8 years. I’m so thankful to have come this far. I remember some years back when my father died  and my step father wanted to marry me off at the age of ten, to an old man. I had no hope in life. 

”But when I approached you and Birgitta, you showed me love and kindness and gave me a chance to go school. I remember you asking me what I wanted to become in life and I replied that had dreams of becoming a lawyer and right now am living my dream. Words cannot explain how appreciative I am for touching my life, taking me to the best schools which my humble family could not afford at all. And being from a marginalised community where a girl child has very little value makes the future bleak. I’am ever so grateful!”

Christmas in Kenya

We’ve just arrived in Nairobi for a well needed break from our hectic lives in Loki. This year we will celebrate Christmas in Kenya and will indeed miss our great crowd of grandchildren and their families. But in exchange we will enjoy spending some time with Birgitta’s brothers, their wives and some of their adult children.

Thanks so much for prayers and support to us and our work in Loki. We hope that all of you will have a blessed Christmas and New Year’s holiday where fellowship with family, friends and our risen, living Christ will be the essence of the celebrations.

Yours as ever KeA & Birgitta

SOME PICTURES FROM RECENT EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES