Last Thursday we presented to the student body at The Trinity School, a private preschool and primary in Menlo Park. They have been a sort of sister school to Achungo since early 2011 when 5th grader and friend, Karen Rader, brought Achungo to her class as a 5th grade service project.
Here Karen is presenting to Monte a gift from Trinity including the school medallion and a letter signed by all the 5th graders.
To the left is the letter and the medallion from Trinity and to the right is the letter from Achungo and the Achungo children in response
On our June 2011 trip to Achungo, we presented the medallion and letter to the children of Achungo and they provided a letter from Achungo back to Trinity, signed by Achungo’s 5th graders.
Since then, the students of Trinity have collected used clothing and shoes and such that supplied many wonderful things to the children of Achungo in addition to writing letters that our children have enjoyed and they have responded with letters and cards to the children of Trinity.
This year Trinity donated 30 used Mac laptops to Achungo. We’ve taken 20 out already and they are in excellent condition. We set them up during our June 2013 trip and the Achungo students immediately began learning on them. These are children who live in mud huts in one of the most economically depressed areas of the world. The computer skills they learn will set them apart from all other primary school students and prepare them to be outstanding candidates for potential employment.
Monte has presented several times to Trinity’s 5th grade class, sharing pictures and interactive discussion of life in rural Kenya while they took notes on their laptops and asked insightful questions. He has presented a few times to the 2nd grade and other classes, and it is always a delightful experience. When Michael Nyangi visited last December, he was able to share with a number of Trinity classes also.
This visit last Thursday Monte shared pictures like those here, including some of the laptops in use, of their past gifts and of the progress at Achungo since they first engaged with us (our classes were in tin sheds at that time and are now in our new campus!). We also had letters from Achungo’s 5th, 6th and 7th graders and cards from the younger classes that we distributed to the Trinity classes.
This is a very special relationship for us all!!