Loisaba Community Conservation Foundation
Inc. in Kenya was awarded a Soroptimist
Global Initiative Grant, which will be used to
provide computer and Internet access to the
Ewaso Primary School’s 425-plus students and
teachers.
Providing computer and Internet access to
the school’s students and faculty will increase
the educational opportunities for the community,
Soroptimist officials said. The grant will
go toward supplying secure, dust-free space
for the computers, a computer technician,
and training and support for Ewaso teachers.
Access to the Internet will give Ewaso teachers and students increased educational opportunities and awareness of world news. Many of the teachers live several hours away from their family and friends. Internet access will provide a higher quality of life for the teachers, allowing them better contact with loved ones, officials said.
For the past six years, the students of Ewaso Primary School have been exchanging pen pal letters with students at the Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs and the Scotia-Glenville Middle School in Scotia. Once the Internet connection is in place, the hope is to institute Skype sessions between the pen pals.
This on-going program has greatly enriched the writing and communication skills of the students both in Kenya and the U.S. as well as given them a first-hand experience with their different cultures.
Loisaba Community Conservation Foundation is a non-profit organization which serves the Ewaso community located in the Laikipia Valley in Kenya, 100 miles north of Nairobi. Information can be found at www. LoisabaCCF.org.
Through LCCF’s efforts funds are provided to employ elementary school teachers, build housing for students and teachers, new class rooms and a dining hall, to provide for a nurse and physician’s assistant for the Ewaso community, and to sponsor scholarships for high school, college and professional students.
LCCF recently received news that one of their first scholarship students has graduated from medical school and will be returning to the region to practice medicine. Due to LCCF’s sponsorship the first female student from Ewaso has been accepted into medical school.
To date, LCCF has sponsored over 50 secondary, college and university students, as well as provided teachers, classrooms and supplies for over one thousand Primary School students and services for Nursery School children.
Local trustees include Jim Towne and Susan Bartkowski, both of Towne, Ryan & Partners, P.C.
LCCF also provides support for conservation and animal husbandry and has just joined a local rapid response anti-poaching campaign to support efforts to stop the slaughter of rhinos and elephants.