Kachiuru leadership team and the new amublance
Stanley Moroyan Lemukut
STANLEY MOROYAN LEMUKUT
Sunrise - 1949 Sunset - September 12, 2021
Our dear friend Stanley Lemukut passed away unexpectedly on September 12, 2021 due to complications from leukemia. At 72, Stanley was a respected elder in the communities at Lake Baringo, where he had been a teacher and strong supporter of education in the Rift Valley Region. He served as the chairman of the school boards in 3 communities, and he was a founder of the Longicharo Primary School in 2004.
Stanley was born in 1949 in Ilmekuri Village on Kokwa Island and was the eldest of his parents’ 19 children. With his 3 wives, he had 14 children of his own. We met Stanley in 2004 when Mike Lawrence, our partner at the time, took us to Longicharo Village to begin construction on a school Stanley wished to build for the children who lived in the village. Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife provided the funding for the one-room school that would later become the Kirepari Primary School on Kokwa Island after the community was forced to move from Longicharo because of insecurity in the area. Today, the Kirepari Primary School has an attendance of over 150 children in nursery through Class 6 and is registered with the Kenyan Government Ministryof Education. There are 6 teachers.
Stanley was committed to peacebuilding at Baringo and in 2008, helped to create the Ruko Conservancy which was formed by the Il Chamus and Pokot communities to promote peace and help the local communities achieve development and resilient livelihoods through sustainable use of the land. The Conservancy was recently involved in removing endangered Rothschild’s Giraffes from Longicharo due to flooding at Lake Baringo.
Mike Lawrence and Stanley discuss the construction of the Longicharo School in 2004
Stanley loved his small herd of cows whose milk he shared with people in need. His children’s words below are a tribute to his kindness and concern for others:
“Daddy, thank you for your generosity when you were blessed with the herd at Longicharo. All who had no animals enjoyed the privilege of milking as well as owning your cattle both as family and village. We grew up knowing that both cattle and goats you had were meant to help all.”
Stanley listens to post election violence news on the radio in 2008
Stanley’s wisdom, his vision for the children in his community, most of whose parents had not been to school, and his commitment to their education was a great gift to them. For us, to have known and worked with Stanley over the past 17 years was also a great gift. We will miss his calm presence, his smile, and his wonderful laugh each time we visit Kokwa Island. And we’ll remember him with great affection.
Back to School
In July 2020, Kenyan education officials announced that they were canceling the 2020 academic year and that students would have to begin the year again in 2021. The decision to scrap the academic year, taken after monthslong debate, was made not just to protect teachers and students from the Coronavirus, but also to address glaring issues of inequality that arose when school was suspended in March. After schools closed, some students had the technology to access remote learning. Others didn’t. The decision to suspend the academic year affected more than 90,000 schools and over 18 million students in pre-primary through high school, including 150,000 more in refugee camps, according to the Ministry of Education. National exams usually taken by students in their last year of primary school and high school have were also postponed, and there will be no intake of new students in 2021. Some schools were able to support review sessions for students in Class 4, 8 and for students in their final year of high school. FKSW provided funding for these sessions at Baringo, Kachiuru and Endonyio Sidai.
January 4th was the beginning of the 2021 school year and 127 students supported by FKSW in Primary and Secondary Schools and college have returned to classes. While we don’t know how the year will evolve, we’re very grateful to the donors who sponsor these children. Thank you so much for helping them take advantage of this opportunity!
Elvis Tiniini Lesautet
20 Years Old
Marigat Integrated Secondary School
Form 1 (Freshman)
Dorcas Sileit 17 years old ………………… Ewuaso Girls Secondary ………………………….. Form 1
Tall, Taller and Tallest
In the 4th grade class at Kirepari Primary School on Kokwa Island, the students in the English class learn the concepts tall, taller and tallest.
Taking notes on the lesson
A nursery student learns to write numbers, count and write her name
A Boy from Kokwa Island Learns to "Speak" with his Hands
In 2008, we met 8-year old Mulan Lekaranga on Kokwa Island in Lake Baringo. Deaf from birth, Mulan had never been to school and Grace Koinale, the nursery school teacher there told us that he seemed like a bright boy and asked if we could help. After assessments determined that Mulan could begin school, FKSW provided a scholarship for him to attend Ochii Primary School for the Hearing Impaired and he enrolled late in 2008. In Ochii, Mulan did well, learning sign language and studying traditional subjects. In November at the age of 17, he will graduate from the 8th grade! FKSW will continue to support him with a scholarship for the next four years of secondary school. We visited Mulan at Ochii in late September and he signed to us that eventually he hopes to become a teacher of the hearing impaired.
AT KACHIURU, THE COMMUNITY'S DREAM COMES TRUE
The Kachiuru community is hours away from the nearest medical facility and many of the residents here have never seen a doctor. A new dispensary, opened on June 28 and staffed by a Clinical Officer and a nurse will bring much needed health care to the residents. The Meru County Government has been a partner in bringing this dream come true!
