£544.20 to help build a school in Kenya

Joe Miller-Howes is going to Kenya in July this year to help build a primary school at an orphanage (the Ruiru Rehabilitation Centre) near Nairobi. This will make a big difference to the children as the youngest and most vulnerable students will not have to face a long walk, and the very real risk of death, along the dangerous Thika Highway in order to get to school.

Over the next 3 years Bloxham School will raise over £63,000 to fund this project - on Friday 4th April a fabulous group of people enjoyed a Pollicott Belles style Kenyan School Dinner and helped Joe to raise a massive £544.20 toward that target. Thank you to everyone who supported this evening so incredibly generously - every penny donated has been sent to Bloxham school and every penny they raise is going directly the project. 

Belles in the kitchen 

Dinner Lady Belles and Joe

When Lucinda current head of Wilberforce House met Richard Bates a former head of the same house!

Raffle ticket folding expertise gets to work

Marking the Kenya quiz - not surprisingly the former residents of Ruiru (David and Sue Chetham) helped their team to the no. 1 prize!

Our beautiful Belle Annalise, and a drop in special guest, made it impossible for anyone to leave without first giving generously to the cause.

Joe has now raised almost £650 so has fulfilled his commitment to raise a minimum £500 for the project and he can now focus on his A2 exams before getting stuck in to working alongside the Ruiru builders this Summer. The Pollicott Belles will continue to support the project and will post updates as fundraising progresses and the journey to Ruiru progresses and the adventure unfolds. 

We can't change the world but we can change a child's life!

Joe Miller-Howes will be travelling to Nairobi in July this year and we are supporting the fundraising efforts for the school he will be helping to build. 

Here’s Joe’s explanation of the project:

The project is on the outskirts of Nairobi in an area called Ruiru and we will be helping an orphanage, The Ruiru Rehabilitation Centre (RRC), build a two storey nine classroom school on an adjacent plot of land to be used by the children in the orphanage as well as the locals from the surrounding area. The need for the school is great as children have to walk up to four hours every day to and from school along a 6 lane newly built highway; there have been fatalities of young children over the past two years.

Our plan is simple; raise £63,000 to allow the school to be built (in stages), and send a group of 18 pupils (from my school) and 4 members of staff each year from 2014 to help at the school for 3 weeks and then, once the project is self-sustaining (through a small payment from the local children who will use the school) we then withdraw our support as our part of the project will be complete. When successful we may then look to implement the same blueprint at another site in another part of Kenya.

Tonight Andy and Sian are braving a quiz battling our knowledge vs. that of intellects, academics and worldly wise folk at Joe's school BUT then on 4th April 2014 The Pollicott Belles will do what they do best and pull out all the stops to host a Kenyan School Dinner in Ashendon. 

Please let a Belle know if you are able to join us for this (dress accordingly) night out in what was our old schoolroom: Ashendon Village Hall. 

Watch this space for more about Ruiru in our next blog.