Emanuel Subvillage

Recalling my early blog about Neema - she later lived (as a house girl) on a corner that is the junction from the main thoroughfare to the subvillage of Emanuel. The village was expanding as a result of the population increase in the Ngarenanyuki area and sprawling into the dry savannah country.

I was first invited there to a meeting of the church congregation to raise up an new church building. The old building was wooden and dilapidated - it had been there for a long time by the look of it.

Of course they were keen to plant trees and care for the environment, but they also wanted funding support from our project funds.

In these cases I had to reply to in an off-the-cuff, unrehearsed speech in Kiswahili. Politely as possible saying that such building projects were outside our project brief but that we would be pleased to help with  tree planting and connect a water pipe at least as far as the church - should the lie of the land permit it.

 The group were very hospitable towards me and some of the church leaders were present. It was clear that the old building was past its use-by date. The new building seen just behind in the pic is impressive and ambitious for the area and is a credit to the congregation.
We had repaired an old water supply and we were able to take a branch line to the new church and to the primary school.

The new Emanuel Primary School is located just beyond the the new church and the Head Teacher was a woman who had taught at Olkung'wado. She seemed an expert in teaching the very young kids that were the first intake of the school. Later she had an assistant but at first she was sole charge of a very large role. It was not obvious where all the kids came from, but some would have walked some distance.
These kids were very responsive a easy to work with.

The teacher with her charges. Generally it can be seen the the uniforms are bright blue, so most student had new uniforms to start school. The material fades quickly and some kids must wear hand-me-downs from older siblings.
The kids are filing into the classroom to hear our environmental seminar - of course made simple for young kids.

All African kids sing, and sing well, but one day I took some of our guests to Emanuel Primary School and they were interested in our work there. The kids sang to them and also sang 'Tunapenda' our environmental song.
I suggested that the sing their National Anthem, and they sprang to their feet, saluting and singing the whole of the anthem with fervor and delight. The emotion of which brought our guest to tears! I'm never far away either!

They made a small pond around the standpipe we erected - that's some of the pipe offcuts in the pic. The pond collected spilt water that could be used for irrigation.
The school had few teaching resources and we were able to supply text books and some chalk. The primary schools project had ended by this time but were were able to use donated money.

The kids were physically too small to dig planting hole, so even though I gave a demonstration, I knew that older people would do the digging. However, the kids will remember because they carried out the actual planting and regular irrigation.




I will always remember the school at Emanuel and I wonder if the now young adult pupils will remember their primary teacher who taught them the value of a sense of order.