If you are reading this, you have probably bought some greeting cards. Many thanks for your purchase. So far we have raised about $300 most of which has already been spent on the school.

The first thing we bought was 100kg of maize flour which is being used to cook porridge for school lunches. We also met with the parents and figured out how much it would cost for the semester for lunch daily. The semester cost is 3500USH which is less than $2/student. The parents are currently paying this and the maize flour helped them get started, get a cook lined up, etc.

We have also bought 8 hoes to help expand the school garden as well as 6kg of bean seeds so they can interplant maize and cassava.

Additionally, I have bought about 20 books for the teachers to use to help improve their teaching. These are books most of the private schools use and the teachers requested them as they have older books that are not as good. I also bought glue, markers, posterboards, colored pencils, crayons, chalk, balls, 4 magnifying glasses, magnets and iron filings as well as a chalkboard sized geometry set. So, the teachers are decked out and ready to go. I still have a bit of money left and will use that as the needs arise.

Already the teachers are saying that the mood in the school has improved as children are eating during the day and are performing better in the afternoons. Last year about half of the kids did not "pass" the Primary Leaving Exam at the school which means they cannot continue on to Secondary School (about 8th grade and up) and must either repeat P7 or cannot continue in school. We are trying to raise these test scores and keep more kids in school longer.

Thanks so much for your help in doing this. I will take pictures shortly and post them up!
~Dana