Hello All

I thought you would like to see these reports and photos from Fr Sean and Fr Francis. There is a plea at the end of Fr Francis’s report about the boy Joseph. If anyone would be interested in sponsoring him or simply making a contribution towards his fees, please let me know.

From Fr Sean

Hello Eugene

Desks and chairs for the first 24 students at Akarapet are ready.The Carpentry shop (really a classroom) is at my Rotu Mission . .

 Plastering at the new school will start tomorrow.

1st of July, officially “the cold season” should begin and run over July and August.  Temperature today 38C!  Many many thanks to all in Pound a Week Group for the funds to furnish the classroom and finish and decorate the walls of the school.   The £100 for the emergency food programme is much appreciated.   God bless you all from Sean

From Fr Francis

Good Morning Eugene , I am at the moment working on Our Pound A Week Garden in earnest.

I am almost done with the most important part, the circumference fencing. In this region, people practice free grazing and  we have goats, sheep, cows, camels grazing freely. So the 1st thing is to secure the plot. I am yet to add a chain link and a concrete line all around.

We will be doing mixed cropping. We have already introduced grafted mango plants in the garden.

Grandmother Ko-Cherotich

Over the weekend we were able to get 13 goats for Ko-Cherotich thanks to Pound A Week Group funds. We pray that these goats will multiply, fill the earth (and probably subdue some of its hardships!).  See the photo below.

Thank you all on behalf of  Ko-Cherotich and her young family.

The Boy Joseph

This evening I have just received an extraordinary case. A fifteen year old boy came to the mission by himself. When he saw me he was overcome by emotions and started crying. He had walked for 15 km and he was evidently hungry and exhausted. I was moved. I calmed him down and after he stopped crying he told me that he was almost giving up on schooling. He is orphaned and has no one to pay his school fees. He gave me his results slip and lo and behold, he is a very bright student as you will see in the attached documents (Second in his class). He told me the school headmistress categorically told them that no one should go back to school with fees in arrears. Eugene, Joseph has accumulative  arrears of Ksh. 57,700. Joseph lives with his aged grandmother.

I have confirmed that the arrears are the accumulation from the whole of Form 1 up to this 2nd academic term in Form 2. He will be expected to pay Ksh. 25600 for the 3rd Term of this current Year 3. For his Form 4, Joseph will only need Ksh. 55,800 for the whole year, just like Daniel Morino, Ko-Cherotich’s grandson who is on the same school. His extras is approximately Ksh. 20,000.00.

Eugene, I am sorry for being a burden. Could it be possible for you to get someone to help Joseph?

Francis

The documents Fr Francis refers to are at the end of this report, below the photo of Ko-Cherotich and her goats.

We have sufficient funds on hand to clear the arrears of Ksh 57,700 (£375 approx.). The fees for the third Term of the current year commencing in September, come to £166. For his final Year 4 the fees and extras will be £490.

In a further report just received this evening from Fr Francis, he told me that he had visited Joseph’s school and, pending receipt of our donations, he  used some of his Mission funds to pay something towards his arrears. He also used the funds we sent him to pay  the fees for Daniel, one of Ko-Cherotich’s grandchildren. Here is what he reported:

Both boys were very happy, grateful. They promised to work SMART in their studies.

They say: THANKS FOR GIVING THEM A CHANCE IN LIFE.

 Best wishes to all from Eugene

The project currently supports two Missions run by the Holy Ghost Fathers in East Pokot, a remote and impoverished region of Kenya.  The predominant tribe there is the Pokot people, hence the name of the region and our project.  The area is subject to frequent droughts and food shortages, at times approaching famine proportions.

You can find out about the Barpello Mission and Rotu Mission on these pages, along with the Camel Project.  You can also read the POKOT diary of the development on these areas through the generosity of the Pound a Week Group amongst others.

The Pound a Week Group was set up specifically to raise funds for selected projects in East Pokot.  As its name suggests, members try to give a £1 each week or whatever they can afford.  Donations are made in little orange envelopes put in the collection baskets at weekend Masses.  Some parishioners prefer to pay monthly or yearly.  Donations can be Gift Aided and apart from recording those donations for HMRC purposes, no separate record is kept of members or their donations.  Parishioners simply give what they can afford whenever they can afford it.

Since our new Parish was formed in 2006 from the Cranleigh and Bramley parishes, the Pound a Week Group has sent the Missions in East Pokot more than £93,000.  We have supported the camel project, the medical and food programmes; and nine members of the Group are currently paying the fees for thirteen children at the Barpello school.  The Mission there played a major role in tackling a cholera outbreak a couple of years ago and Fr David told us that the Pound a Week Group was the first to respond to his appeal for emergency funding to help tackle the disease.

Reports from Pokot about the work of the Missions are included in the Parish Newsletter from time to time and in the POKOT Diary, but if you would like to know more about “Pokot” and the Pound a Week Group, please contact the Parish organiser of the Group , Eugene McGivern, at emcgivern@btopenworld.com