One of the many untold stories from the last few difficult years was the visit to the school last summer by Charly’s brother Jean-Jacques. Jean-Jacques is the director of operations at Sketch, of one of London’s busiest, best and definitely most beautiful restaurants. He took time out of his very hectic schedule however, to visit …
At least that is what they say round here. Girls can’t ride bicycles, only boys can and, even if they could, they shouldn’t because they should be fetching water, or firewood, or milking or cooking or making tea for the men. We see things a little differently at Olng’arua and rejoice in upsetting the apple …
One of the most important things we teach at Olng’arua School is how to keep wounds clean. In a tough environment like ours wounds are common, treated with care however, most need not be a problem. Unfortunately it is difficult to keep wounds clean when all water used for cleaning wounds must be boiled first, …
Lovely people continue to send us wonderful books. So many have obviously been chosen with great care and thought for what might appeal to young readers in northern Kenya. In fiction we have received English language classics as well as stories from other cultures. There have been poetry and art books, reference books, books that …
We have a confirmed outbreak of cholera in the area around the school. 80% of cholera cases are mild to moderate, 20% can be severe enough to kill within hours. It is not the cholera that kills you it is the massive dehydration that a bad case of cholera can cause. While we have had …
Earlier this year the school lost a good friend and champion. I had known Sandy since I was a child. A passionate man with great energy, he was always interested in the school and provided much encouragement and support. Reaching out, from the small rural community on the West Coast of Scotland that he was …
Our playing field is still flooded and as they say ‘if you can’t beat it, join it’ so we have been making the most of the water around the school while we can. On Friday, instead of playing football, the whole school went down to muck about in the river. There was football, of a …
The area around the school has changed unbelievably in the last few weeks. After years of drought this new soft green world is very strange, and very lovely. None of the children in our school have ever seen as much grass or as many flowers. The small ones are walking through a chest high jungle …
In February last year we were visited by a group of friends from the U.S.. They brought with them first aid supplies for the school and provided first aid training sessions for adults and children (Old friends and new ideas – Feb 2017). We live in a tough and dangerous environment, accidents are common and …
A little over a year ago the Lion group took over the management of the Olng’arua School kitchen supplies. Since the school opened there always seemed to be problems with the management of the kitchen supplies. Orders would be forgotten, stock too low or perishables gone to waste. You never quite knew if there would …